Cats with food allergies often need a carefully chosen diet. This page brings together the main types of food used for allergy management, along with links to UK options.
These are the most common food types.
Hydrolysed Protein Diets
Cats with allergies usually have trouble with specific food proteins. eg. chicken or fish. Hydrolysed proteins involve proteins broken down so small that the immune system doesn’t recognise them. These foods are often recommended by vets.
View hydrolysed protein foods available in the UK here.
Novel Protein Diets
As food allergies are usually caused by specific proteins vets sometimes recommend trying foods made with less common proteins like rabbit or venison. These are novel, or new, to the cat so they’re unlikely to have an allergic reaction.
View novel protein foods available in the UK here.
Or check out our pages on the most common novel proteins.
Rabbit
Venison
Duck
Kangaroo and exotic foods
Chicken-Free Cat Food
A useful starting point if your cat may be reacting to chicken.
View chicken-free foods here.
Limited Ingredient Diet
Some owners have success by managing their cats diet carefully, choosing foods with fewer ingredients to reduce potential triggers.
Many premium cat food brands use high quality human grade meat and no or few grains. Some owners prefer a raw food diet which mimics the no carb diet a cat would eat in the wild.
View limited ingredient foods.
| Approach | When to use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrolysed | Severe allergies | Vet recommended. Limited food options so fussy cats can become bored of the diet. |
| Novel protein | First elimination trials | Popular choice. Some owners prefer this as the food is less processed than hydrolysed food. |
| Chicken-free | Mild suspicion | Easy starting point. Chicken is the most common food allergy. |
| Limited ingredient | Mild suspicion | High quality limited ingredient diets can be a good starting point to test a cat’s response to foods. |
Not sure where to start?
How to run an elimination diet
Symptoms of food allergies