10/06/2026
Hi everyone,
From replying to someone about this very topic, over the years I've seen chicken, beef and the like commonly labelled as problematic ingredients for our carnivorous pets in terms of "allergies" and "intolerances".
Far less often ā in fact, almost never ā have I seen the true underlying causes and facts considered.
So I'm adding this here, as the underlying causes really matter, and would help so many pet parents across the world really understand what's going on with their cats and dogs!
This is what happens:
A cat or dog starts developing a variety of symptoms ā itchy skin, ear infections, licking their paws excessively, or digestive issues and sloppy poos/diarrhoea.
These symptoms are so common, aren't they?
Either from advice given by their vet, or self-diagnosed based on reams of information on the internet or social media, they conclude chicken, beef, or lamb is the cause. Most of the time, switching to a different kibble, such as fish, kangaroo, or some other "novel" protein, leads to a quick improvement (which solidifies the belief that the chicken etc. was the cause ā and everyone loves to be right!).
But is the chicken or other protein the real cause?
I would strongly argue the point is being missed, as are other very important factors which affect the health of our cats and dogs.
Here are two important points which should always be considered, but very rarely are:
1) Dietary intolerances develop over time This isn't a radical statement.
It's a very well-known, widely researched fact.
If we ourselves eat a very limited diet for every meal, from childhood through to adulthood, it's very common to develop an intolerance to something in that diet, such as chicken or beef.
With that in mind, how does that translate to how we feed our dogs and cats?
Most of our carnivorous pets across the world are weaned on chicken (or to a lesser extent beef) kibble, and that's what they're fed for every single meal.
It therefore comes as no surprise they begin to develop the symptoms mentioned earlier, and the solution is seen to be switching to another kibble which is likely more expensive, grain free, limited ingredient, hypoallergenic, or novel protein.
Problem solved... until you realise your dog or cat now has dietary intolerances, and you're still feeding them a limited diet for every single meal.
2) Most kibble doesn't have as much chicken (or beef) as you think If you consider that a kibble ā even one with meat as the first ingredient ā may have a mere 20% meat (and sometimes less!), why aren't we or our veterinarians considering all the other significant ingredients that kibble is made from?
It's a bit of an oversight, don't you think?
Then, when you consider most dry pet foods across the world are made significantly from cereal grains, and some with added colouring agents, additives, or preservatives true to form in their nature as a processed food product, why aren't we considering those?
I see wheat and cereal grains or cereal by-products as very problematic for our pets, so why aren't these considered before concluding our pet has a "chicken allergy"?
Cats are carnivores, largely fed grain-based kibbles.
Dogs are very similar biologically to cats ā much more similar than they are to us as omnivores ā yet they too are largely fed grain-based kibbles.
If you watered your plants with 1 part plant food to 4 parts vodka, and your plants died, would you blame the plant food?
Does all that make sense?
