Cat owner claims popular feline food brand quietly changed their formula, causing their allergic kitty to have a severe reaction: ‘The food is visibly different’

Blake Seidel • Managing Editor & Brand Manager

May 27, 2026 3:00 PM EDT

Not even the Great Wall of China could stop us from uncovering the reason why our cat needed an unexpected visit to the vet, especially if we thought we were being lied to.

Cat allergies are no joke. We're not talking about the hoomans with a sneezing problem, we're talking about cats with legitimate food allergies, like beef, fish, chicken, or sometimes even lamb or rabbit. When their cat had an allergic reaction to the same food they've been buying for years, our pawrent complained to their (very widely known) feline food brand and demanded to know why their "non-chicken" food all of a sudden had chicken in it. The company answered them, but as soon as they demanded compensation, the company ghosted them.

The pawrent in Reddit's r/Pets subreddit did some research and found that they did change some formulas in 2019, but not their package of whitefish food. And yet, their cat still had an episode which caused them to be rushed to the vet because of an extreme allergy… to chicken. No one can explain it, but something here seems fishy, and it's not just the cat food.

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via Toa Heftiba

A cat waiting patiently by its food bowl
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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via elcaminorealreal
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via elcaminorealreal
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via elcaminorealreal
Some stunning customer service, eh? “Why don't you just sum up your complaint because I don't feel like reading through your whole message,” gets you a 5-star rating in our book. We get it, she's probably not paid very much and doesn't care, but as someone who used to work in customer service, you have to try and put yourself in the customer's shoes. In this case, this pawrent went through a terrifying expurrience with their cat. If it was your cat that went through that, wouldn't you also want answers to your questions?
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via elcaminorealreal
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via elcaminorealreal
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via Konstantinos Feggoulis

A cat eating cat food in a pet bowl
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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via elcaminorealreal
Mistakes are made, it's a part of being hooman. Our only pawssible theory is that they actually bought a can of mislabeled food, which can definitely happen if the food is mass-produced in a factory.
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via elcaminorealreal
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via elcaminorealreal
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via elcaminorealreal
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via elcaminorealreal
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via mabaff's Images

Wet cat food in open jars over pink background
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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via elcaminorealreal
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via elcaminorealreal
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via elcaminorealreal
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via elcaminorealreal