Pros & Cons of DIY vs. Commercial Raw

Raw feeding offers a range of choices, and one of the first decisions many pet owners face is whether to make their food at home or feed a pre-made commercial blend.

Each approach has its pros and cons. As someone who spent years preparing my pet’s meals at home before switching to commercial options, I want to share the key trade-offs between both methods. I’ll admit I have a bias, but everything below is an honest representation of my experience with homemade and commercial raw. Every pet and family has different needs, and I hope the information below helps you make the best choice for your pets! 

A reputable commercial pet food will be formulated and tested to ensure it’s Complete & Balanced and contains all the nutrients your pet needs.

You can use software, recipes, or work with a nutritionist to balance a homemade diet, but it’s often hard to know which sources are reliable. Depending on how in-depth you research, there’s a lot of nutrition, math, and science involved in crafting recipes at home. But even with a good recipe, I was never fully confident that my meals were balanced since I couldn’t actually test the nutrient content.

Reputable brands work with nutritionists and veterinarians to create recipes and, most importantly, perform regular testing to monitor and adjust nutrient levels.

Commercial raw blends make it simple to rotate proteins, including harder-to-find options like duck, rabbit, and lamb. Sourcing these on your own can be inconsistent or expensive, which is why many DIY diets stick to chicken, turkey, or beef.

At Viva, we make rotation easy with five single-protein recipes—chicken, turkey, beef, duck, and rabbit—and offer limited-time seasonal options like venison, elk, and bison throughout the year.

Creating single-protein meals at home is tough. I often had to mix cuts from different animals based on what I could find—duck hearts, beef liver, pork kidneys, etc. That’s great for variety, but not helpful when dealing with allergies or sensitivities and looking for single-protein diets to help determine or avoid triggers.

With commercial raw, feeding one protein at a time for elimination diets is much simpler. Just be sure to check the label—some commercial products will be labeled with one main protein but still include other, lower-cost proteins in the ingredients.

Homemade diets require a lot of space and equipment—grinders, scales, storage bins, and more. In contrast, commercial raw food significantly cuts down on prep and cleanup.

Since switching to a commercial diet, I only need a bit of counter space, a few containers, and sometimes a scale. It’s a cleaner, simpler process that saves time and mess while still letting me prep ahead for my pets.

Homemade meals can be less expensive since you’re avoiding the markup from purchasing a commercial brand. The cost savings mainly come from buying ingredients in bulk sizes (30-50 lbs), so be sure you have enough freezer space. You will likely find savings using common proteins such as chicken, beef, and turkey. Novel proteins like duck and rabbit will likely be priced similarly to commercial options since they are more challenging to source.

For some pet parents, preparing each meal by hand is both an art and a love language. It offers the satisfaction of being involved in every step, from selecting ingredients to cutting, weighing, portioning, and making thoughtful decisions tailored to your pet’s needs. While pre-made foods allow for some customization with toppers and supplements, there’s something uniquely rewarding about creating a meal entirely from scratch.

If you want some DIY feel without the hassle, using our Pure recipes as a base mix is a great alternative. You can still add personal touches by adding ingredients like whole fish, mussels, or chunks of muscle meat!

While commercial recipes suit most pets, you can’t customize the ingredients. This can be challenging for pets with allergies, sensitivities, or specific dietary needs.

If this is a concern, our Pure formulas may be a good fit —they’re designed to allow pet parents more control and customization based on their pet’s unique requirements.

Commercial diets undergo rigorous formulation, sourcing, and testing processes. While these steps are essential to nutritional quality and safety, they also drive up costs. The total expense also varies depending on your protein selections.

With the convenience of commercial diets also comes less visibility in the food preparation process. It can be hard to know or trust that companies are using quality ingredients in their food or using best manufacturing practices.

We pride ourselves on how much we share about our production and sourcing practices. You can even explore the farms we partner with, including our duck and cattle suppliers.

Making your pet’s food can be rewarding, but it demands a major time investment. Between shopping at multiple stores or farms, planning meals, sourcing ingredients, grinding meat, and cleaning up, prepping raw food is often a full-day commitment. It’s hands-on, detail-oriented work that adds up quickly, especially with multiple pets.

Planning is just the beginning—finding reliable sources for quality ingredients can be even harder. If a specific protein or organ isn’t available, you may need to adjust your entire plan. Less common proteins like duck, rabbit, and lamb are often harder to find and more expensive, while even basics like chicken or beef can run short at smaller suppliers due to seasonality. Limited availability can disrupt your prep schedule and make consistency difficult.

It's easy to overlook key nutrients without guidance from a veterinarian, nutritionist, or other qualified professional. Over time, imbalanced diets can lead to stunted growth, a weakened immune system, poor digestion and skin health, and increased vulnerability to disease.

Nutrient levels in whole food ingredients can vary significantly. For example, chicken heart contains around 112.5 mg of taurine per 100g, while beef heart contains only 65 mg. Relying on ingredient averages often leads to nutritional imbalances, especially without the ability to test for specific values. Unlike commercial manufacturers, most pet parents don’t have access to nutrient testing, making it harder to ensure meals are consistently balanced.

If you're not sure where to start, use our feeding calculator for personalized feeding recommendations and recipe suggestions.