ApplawsChicken Breast & Chicken Liver Recipe in Broth

The most common protein in pet food, and for dogs one of the most common food allergens, with beef and dairy. If chicken is what your pet reacts to, it hides everywhere: chicken fat, chicken broth, chicken meal, natural flavor. On a label, chicken listed first is weighed with its water still in, so a food leading with fresh chicken often has less chicken protein than one leading with chicken meal. Neither is better; they are different measures.

The liver of the chicken, used both as a nutrient-dense ingredient and as a flavor. It is rich in vitamin A, iron, copper and B vitamins and most pets find it very palatable, which is why it turns up in treats and as a coating on kibble. Because it is chicken, it counts as chicken for a pet with a chicken allergy, even when it appears far down the list.

A grain used as an easily digested carbohydrate. White rice has had the bran removed; it digests fast and is the classic bland-diet starch. Brewers rice is the small broken fragments left after milling, nutritionally the same as white rice despite its reputation as a cheap filler. Rice bran is the outer layer, mostly fiber and oil. Grain allergy is rare in pets; rice is one of the least reactive grains.