casein
Casein is milk's main protein — and the usual culprit when "dairy allergy" is real. Caseinates, the allergy-vs-intolerance line, and what the engine sees.
Also appears on labels as: sodium caseinate · calcium caseinate
What it is
About 80% of milk protein is casein; on labels it appears as casein or as sodium/calcium caseinate — functional forms that emulsify, bind, and enrich. It's low in lactose: the milk sugar mostly stays in the whey when casein is separated out.
Why it's in pet food
A slow-digesting, complete milk protein with useful texture behavior — it holds fat and water together in soft treats and pastes. When dairy-PROTEIN allergy exists in a pet, casein is the protein usually responsible: allergy is to protein, intolerance is to lactose, and casein sits on the allergy side.
How Bowlmark scores it
Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.
No engine flag: casein and caseinates neither earn nor cost points in any position. For a pet with a flagged dairy allergy the relevant Bowlmark surface is the Fit check on your pet's profile, which highlights matching ingredients — the Universal Score stays a property of the product, not of your pet.
For cats
Cats are among the species where dairy-protein allergy is reported with some regularity; a cat with confirmed dairy allergy needs casein and caseinates avoided, not just milk.
Foods that list casein
Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.
- Fancy Feast Medleys White Meat Chicken Florentine Paté With Cheese & Spinach79
- Purina Pro Plan LiveClear Kitten Chicken & Rice Formula76
- Purina Pro Plan Adult 7+ Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon & Rice74
- Purina Pro Plan Kitten Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon & Rice Formula74
- Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Chicken & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy73
- Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Tuna & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy73
- Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Turkey & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy73
- Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Whitefish & Cheddar Cheese Feast73
Compare foods that list casein
Same species, same form, both scored — closest scores first, so the comparison is a real one.
- Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Chicken & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy vs Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Tuna & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy
- Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Chicken & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy vs Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Turkey & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy
- Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Chicken & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy vs Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Whitefish & Cheddar Cheese Feast
- Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Tuna & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy vs Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Grilled Turkey & Cheddar Cheese Feast in Wet Cat Food Gravy
Sources
Related ingredients
Further reading
Cite this page
Bowlmark. "Casein in pet food — what it is and how it scores." https://www.bowlmark.com/ingredient/casein
- Engine
- Methodology engine v1.1.0 · config 13c99e2f
- Verified
- Last verified August 12, 2026
No stored score to stamp yet — the engine and config above are the ones a scan runs today.