The scores
Stella & Chewy’s Chick Chick Chicken Freeze-Dried Raw Dinner Morsels Cat Food: A (90/100) — 98% chicken-plus-organs-plus-bone. SecureByNature HPP documented. Four probiotic strains. Single-protein formulation.
Primal Freeze-Dried Nuggets Chicken & Salmon Formula Cat Food: A (90/100) — Dual-protein chicken + salmon. 10 organic produce ingredients. Test-and-hold third-party-lab pathogen testing plus probiotic competitive exclusion.
Both sit at A/90 under Fresh Food Rubric v1.0. Measurable ingredient quality is a tie; the differences are formulation philosophy and pathogen-control pathway.
How the ingredients compare
Stella & Chewy’s (Chick Chick Chicken): Chicken with ground bone, chicken liver, chicken gizzard, pumpkin seed, potassium chloride, sodium phosphate, choline chloride, fenugreek seed, four probiotic fermentation products (pediococcus acidilactici, lactobacillus acidophilus, bifidobacterium longum, bacillus coagulans), taurine, mixed tocopherols, dandelion, dried kelp, proteinate-form trace minerals, full vitamin complex.
Primal (Chicken & Salmon Nuggets): Chicken with ground bone, chicken livers, salmon, organic kale, organic squash, organic carrots, organic apples, organic pumpkin seeds, organic sunflower seeds, organic parsley, organic broccoli, organic blueberries, organic cranberries, organic apple cider vinegar, dried yeast, montmorillonite clay, salt, taurine, fish oil, cod liver oil, organic coconut oil, vitamin E, organic kelp, organic alfalfa.
Stella & Chewy’s is structurally spare: chicken-plus-organs-plus-probiotics-plus-vitamins, with animal content at 98%. Primal is structurally broader: dual-protein animal open (chicken + salmon) plus a 10-organic-produce supporting cast, with animal content at 90%. Both hit the rubric ceiling through different paths.
Where Stella & Chewy’s pulls ahead
HPP documentation. SecureByNature is explicitly a high-pressure processing step (FDA- and USDA-recognized anti-pathogen treatment). HPP is the most widely recognized pathogen-control pathway for raw pet food, and Stella & Chewy’s documents it prominently. Primal’s freeze-dried line uses test-and-hold plus probiotic competitive exclusion — equally rubric-valid, but less widely recognized as a pathogen-control approach by consumers researching raw pet food. (Primal’s frozen-raw line, scored separately as Primal Pronto (A/90, dog), does use HPP.)
Animal-ingredient concentration. 98% vs 90%. Every percentage point of produce added is a percentage point of animal content removed; for owners prioritizing maximum animal density, Stella & Chewy’s is the more concentrated choice.
Probiotic stack density. Four distinct strains vs Primal’s probiotic competitive-exclusion layer. Both brands have probiotics, but Stella & Chewy’s guarantees higher strain diversity. Shop on Amazon →
Where Primal holds its own
Dual-protein spectrum. Chicken + salmon in the first three slots provides amino-acid variety and native EPA/DHA from salmon that single-protein chicken formulations lack. For cats with chronic inflammation, skin-and-coat concerns, or early-stage CKD (where ACVIM 2023 consensus recommends EPA+DHA support), the fish-forward backbone is clinically useful.
Full-organic produce layer. Every plant ingredient is USDA-certified organic — a distinctive commitment within the premium category. The 10-plant phytonutrient diversity (carotenoids, anthocyanins, sulforaphane, quercetin) is broader than Stella & Chewy’s more-minimal plant inclusion (pumpkin seed, fenugreek, dandelion, kelp).
Whole-food supplementation philosophy. Primal leans into whole-food sources of micronutrients (dried yeast for B-complex, montmorillonite clay for trace minerals, organic alfalfa, kelp) rather than synthetic vitamin supplementation. Owners who prefer whole-food-first approaches to pet nutrition will recognize this pattern. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
Both earned an A (90/100) under the Fresh Food Rubric v1.0 — a measurable tie. The decision is philosophy. Owners wanting maximum single-protein animal density with HPP-documented pathogen control should pick Stella & Chewy’s Chick Chick Chicken. Owners wanting dual-protein spectrum with heavy organic-produce inclusion and whole-food supplementation should pick Primal Freeze-Dried Nuggets Cat. Either way, this is the top of our cat-food catalog.
Compare Stella & Chewy’s & Primal Cat →