Viva La Kitty Cat Food Review

Kate Barrington / Cats.com

Viva La Kitty is exclusively sold by PetSmart and offers an array of complete meals and treats. With a variety of poultry- and fish-focused flavors to choose from, this brand appeals to cat owners seeking to balance cost and convenience. But how does Viva La Kitty hold up against the Cats.com standard? Find out in this detailed review.

The Cats.com Standard—Rating Viva La Kitty on What Matters

We’ve analyzed Viva La Kitty and graded it according to the Cats.com standard, evaluating the brand on species-appropriateness, ingredient quality, product variety, price, customer experience, and recall history. Here’s how it rates in each of these six key areas.

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Ratings

Species-Appropriateness – 9/10
Ingredient Quality – 8/10
Product Variety – 6/10
Price – 8/10
Customer Experience – 8/10
Recall History – 10/10

Overall Score: 8.2/10

We give Viva La Kitty a 49 out of 60 or an A- grade.

Why Trust Cats.com

In my 15+ years as a cat owner, I’ve spent countless hours researching and shopping for cat food. Because I do most of my pet food shopping online, sometimes store-exclusive brands fly under the radar for me. This was the case with Viva La Kitty, but I quickly realized the brand is pretty well-known (and well received) by PetSmart customers.

To test Viva La Kitty, I purchased an assortment of products at full retail price and brought them home to try with my two cats, Munchkin and Biscuit. While my cats offered their opinions on flavor, aroma, and general appeal, I evaluated the foods for their nutritional quality and species appropriateness. I also spent some time researching the Viva La Kitty brand, though information on the brand’s history is sparse.

About Viva La Kitty

Kate Barrington / Cats.com

Viva La Kitty is a PetSmart-exclusive brand, sold only in PetSmart stores or through the brand’s website. While the exact launching date of the brand is unknown, it appears to have been somewhere between 2022 and 2024.

When Viva La Kitty was first launched, the brand focused on freeze-dried treats, wet food toppers, and other products intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding. More recently, however, the brand has released an array of nutritionally complete wet foods in several different textures.

Viva La Kitty’s products are very protein-forward, made exclusively with poultry or fish. PetSmart markets the brand’s products as free from corn, wheat, soy, and artificial additives, and Viva La Kitty appears to be considered one of the higher-end store-brand pet foods.

Sourcing and Manufacturing

Most of Viva La Kitty’s cat food products are made in Thailand, one of the largest producers of wet cat food in the world. Though PetSmart doesn’t offer specific details about the brand’s ingredients or manufacturing, it’s likely that the food is made with poultry and fish ingredients sourced from Thailand.

Viva La Kitty doesn’t offer any dry cat food products but they do have a few flavors of freeze-dried cat treats. These products appear to be made in the USA but there’s no information available about the sourcing of ingredients. The only other detail on Viva La Kitty packaging is the name of the US-based distributor, Pacific Coast Distributing LLC.

Has Viva La Kitty Cat Food Been Recalled?

Viva La Kitty does not appear to have been involved in any product recalls to date. It’s unclear exactly when the brand was first launched, however, or the name of the manufacturer.

What Kinds of Cat Food Does Viva La Kitty Offer?

Viva La Kitty is primarily a wet cat food company, known originally for its cat treats. Today, the brand offers about a dozen different products, including lickable cat treats, freeze-dried bites, fish fillets, and wet cat food in cans, cups, and pouches. The wet cat foods are fairly equally divided between supplemental foods (called Appetizers) and nutritionally complete meals.

Also Read: The 9 Best Lickable Cat Treats—We Tested Them All

All of Viva La Kitty’s cat food products feature poultry or fish as the main ingredient. The most common proteins in the food are chicken, duck, tuna, and salmon, with oceanfish, turkey, and shrimp featured in a handful of flavors.

Viva La Kitty’s nutritionally complete wet cat food comes in smooth pate and shreds in gravy or broth. Here’s a list of some of the most common flavor combinations:

Chicken
Chicken & Pumpkin
Duck
Duck & Chicken
Salmon
Tuna
Tuna & Shrimp
Oceanfish
Turkey
Chicken & Salmon
Tuna & Shrimp
Seafood

The brand also offers six multi-protein shreds in broth and a chicken-based shreds in gravy formula. There are two canned kitten foods (chicken or salmon) and two mousse-style kitten foods in pouches (chicken or tuna).

What Did Our Test Cats Think?

Kate Barrington / Cats.com

To test Viva La Kitty cat food, I purchased a variety of different flavors and textures. My cats generally seemed to prefer the pate and mousse products over the broths and gravies. In fact, I couldn’t even get them to sample the Chicken Recipe in Gravy or Duck & Chicken Recipe in Broth. They both took one sniff and walked away.

It’s hard to tell whether my experience is consistent with other cat owners, given the lack of negative reviews on PetSmart’s website. I did, however, come across several posts about the brand on Reddit in which multiple users noted that their cats refused the food or vomited after eating it.

Most cat foods received mixed reviews (since cat preferences vary). What surprised me about the Viva La Kitty brand is that it seems cats either love it or hate it. A few reviewers said their cats ate some but didn’t finish it or that interest in the food waned over time, while others said it’s become their cats’ favorite brand.

Viva La Kitty Cat Food—Top 3 Recipes Reviewed

Product Name	Food Type	Primary Protein	Calories Per Ounce	Price	Our Grade
Viva La Kitty Salmon Recipe Pate Kitten Wet Food	Wet	Salmon	34	$0.33 per ounce	B
Viva La Kitty Chicken Recipe in Gravy Adult Wet Cat Food	Wet	Chicken	17	$0.31 per ounce	B-
Viva La Kitty Duck & Chicken Recipe Shreds in Broth Adult Wet Cat Food	Wet	Duck	18	$0.33 per ounce	B-

#1 Viva La Kitty Salmon Recipe Pate Kitten Wet Food

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One of two kitten-specific canned foods Viva La Kitty offers, this recipe features salmon as the primary ingredient. Fish is next on the list, though it’s not specified what type of fish, and the recipe also contains poultry liver and poultry heart. Sunflower oil is the main source of added fat, though it’s quickly followed by fish oil.

Viva La Kitty Salmon Recipe Pate Kitten Wet Food

Kate Barrington / Cats.com

Measured as dry matter, this recipe contains over 45% protein and 27% fat. It’s pretty calorie-dense at 34 calories per ounce and it’s packed with hydrating moisture. The food has a smooth pate texture that’s easy for kittens to eat and it’s low in carbohydrates.

Of the three nutritionally complete canned foods I tested, this is the only recipe my cats were interested in trying. It’s only sold in 3-ounce cans but with 101 calories per can, small kittens may only need to eat one can per day, which makes it very cost-effective.

Ingredients

Salmon, Fish, Fish Broth, Poultry Liver, Poultry Heart, Natural Flavor, Guar Gum, Inulin, Sunflower Oil, Fish Oil (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols), Cassia Gum, Xanthan Gum, Minerals (Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Potassium Iodide), Potassium Chloride, Salt, Choline Chloride, Vitamins (Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Marine Microalgae Oil (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols), Magnesium Sulfate, Pumpkin, Taurine.

Ingredients We Liked: Salmon, Fish, Poultry Liver, Poultry Heart, Fish Oil

Ingredient We Didn’t Like: Guar Gum, Cassia Gum, Xanthan Gum

Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein: 10%

Crude Fat: 6%

Crude Fiber: 1%

Moisture: 78%

Ash: 3.2%

Taurine: 0.05%

Dry Matter Basis

Protein: 45.45%

Fat: 27.27%

Fiber: 4.55%

Carbs: 8.18%

Caloric Weight Basis

Protein: 37.92%

Fat: 55.25%

Carbs: 6.83%

What We Liked:

Top 5 ingredients are all animal-based
Rich in hydrating moisture
Smooth pate texture is easy for cats to eat
Relatively calorie-dense option

What We Didn’t Like:

Contains some vaguely named ingredients
Some cats may be sensitive to gum thickeners

#2 Viva La Kitty Chicken Recipe in Gravy Adult Wet Cat Food

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Featuring chicken muscle meat as the main ingredient, this recipe consists of meaty shreds in a savory gravy. It’s a very moisture-rich recipe as well, though there’s some added starch to thicken the gravy. It also has tiny chunks of tomato in it.

Viva La Kitty Chicken Recipe in Gravy Adult Wet Cat Food

Kate Barrington / Cats.com

Measured as dry matter, this formula contains over 61% protein. It’s low in carbohydrates, despite the thickeners, and doesn’t contain any artificial colors or flavors. It’s also a single-protein recipe which could be a good fit for cats who are allergic to proteins other than chicken.

While this recipe is packed with animal protein and hydrating moisture, it’s very low in calories—only about 17 calories per ounce. Depending on your cat’s daily calorie requirements, this means they might have to eat pretty big portions to meet their needs. My cats showed absolutely no interest in trying this recipe, or even licking up the gravy.