Viva began in 2020. The founders are Jenn Wu and Zach Ao, and their dog Karoo. They’re based in Hillsborough, NC. They produce 2 lines of chunked and ground raw dog foods with 10 recipes. They’ve recently added a puppy food. They also produce a line of cat food. They make their foods in a third-party kitchen in North Carolina.
For our Viva dog food review, we’ll look at the food ingredient quality and safety of each line of food. Our dog food reviews are based on these criteria.
Is Viva A Good Dog Food?
Viva is a pet food company that scores high by our criteria. It ticks off a lot of boxes when it comes to ingredient quality and safety of their dog foods. Pet owners have no need to guess. Viva has 2 lines of raw dog foods. They are low risk according to our evaluation criteria.
The company is quite responsive to customer inquiries. It’s also very transparent about its sourcing. They use certified organic fruits, vegetables and supplements. This means there are no high pesticide or GMO ingredients in their dog foods. They have a high ingredient quality and safety score.
The company uses wild-caught fish when possible. It’s found in marine products like fish oil or cod liver oil. This is good to know as farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish. It does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. Fish farming also threatens wild fish species. Viva also provides the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. This is on their website. This is good information to have as AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.
Viva has a strong focus on sourcing animals that are humanely treated. The company sources its meat from USDA-inspected smaller farms. They don’t use hormones or antibiotics. They’re also certified humane through third-party audits. Global Animal Partnerships (GAP) or the American Humane Program are 2 programs. The chicken and poultry ingredients are certified by a third-party animal welfare certification. Shop With Your Heart recognizes this certification. It’s a program of the ASPCA. The company is also working to certify 100% of their beef and turkey as animal welfare certified. They aim to do this by the end of 2023.
Overall, this is a high ranking raw dog food with several single protein options.
Viva Raw Review
Score: 9.5/10
Package Ingredients Viva For Dogs Rabbit: Rabbit with ground bone, lung, liver, kidney, organic carrots, organic cranberries, organic broccoli, organic green beans, organic flaxseed oil, organic ginger, organic icelandic kelp, cod liver oil powder, organic wheatgrass, vitamin E supplement, organic shiitake mushrooms, green mussels
Viva Raw has 5 recipes. They average 70% protein. There are negligible carbohydrate. This is calculated on a dry matter basis to compare with dry foods. Foods are lightly processed. Ingredient safety scores 10/10. The line contains no added vitamins or minerals. This means better quality ingredients. They don’t need fortifying. The only concern is the addition of an inflammatory seed oil in each recipe.
This line has 5 single protein recipes. They include bone and organ meats. They’re made with organic ingredients. That means there are no high pesticide or GMO crops used. The recipes all have a lower percentage of fat than protein. This is desirable in a raw food.
Viva Raw Benefits
- Lightly processed
- No added amino acids
- No added vitamins or minerals
- No GMOs
- Organic produce
- Negligible carbohydrates
- High protein
- Contains less fat than protein
- Provides omega-6:omega-3 ratio
Viva Raw Concerns
- Seed Oil
View The Entire Review on Dog Food Reviews
Viva Pure Review
Score: 10/10
Package Ingredients For Viva Pure Duck: Duck with ground bone, heart, gizzard, liver
Viva Pure has 5 recipes. This line scores 10 across all 5 recipes. It’s a low risk dog food by our criteria. They average 83% protein. There are negligible carbohydrates. It’s calculated on a dry matter basis to compare with dry foods. These are exceptional levels. The recipes all have a lower percentage of fat than protein. This is desirable in a raw food. Foods are lightly processed. They don’t lose points for ingredient quality or safety. The line contains no added vitamins or minerals. This suggests better quality ingredients. They don’t need fortifying.
Viva Pure Benefits
- Lightly processed
- No added amino acids
- No added vitamins or minerals
- Negligible carbohydrates
- High protein
- Contains less fat than protein
- Provides omega-6:omega-3 ratio
Viva Pure Concerns
View The Entire Review on Dog Food Reviews
VIVA DOG FOOD RECALLS
Viva has not had any dog food recalls.
Evaluation Criteria
We evaluate and score dog foods based on two criteria:
Are the Ingredients High Quality?
Here are some common low-quality ingredients or markers we look for:
- Is there excessive carbohydrate content, which can cause gut imbalances?
- Does the food contain unnamed proteins, which are low quality?
- Does the food use cellulose (wood pulp) as a source of fiber instead of real food?
- Are there excessive vitamins and minerals added in place of real food nutrition?
- Are there excessive added amino acids or plant proteins instead of expensive meat protein?
- Does the food contain inflammatory processed seed oils?
How Safe Are the Ingredients?
Many ingredients come from unhealthy, inflammatory sources or are full of pesticides so we look for:
- How processed is the food?
- Does the food contain known genetically modified foods?
- Does the food contain ingredients known to be high in pesticides?
- Does the food contain natural flavor, which are often MSG or animal digest?
- Does the food contain rice, which is high in arsenic?
Each food is objectively evaluated by these criteria and a score is assigned using the average of ingredient quality and safety. This is NOT a paid list and there are no affiliate links. Dogs Naturally has partnered with DogFoodReviews.com to make sure dog owners have unbiased, objective criteria to help them choose the best dog food on the market. You can view the full Evaluation Criteria at DogFoodReviews.com.
