Why I Built PetEats: A Story About Standing in Pet-Food Aisles
A short, honest story behind PetEats: a cat with a chicken sensitivity, hours lost in supermarket aisles, and the decision to build a small tool to fix it.
The version most pet owners will recognise
I have a cat with a documented chicken sensitivity. She started reacting badly around year three: itchy skin, soft stools, less interest in food. The vet said avoid chicken protein where possible and we figured out the rest in the supermarket.
What I did not expect was how long every food run was going to take after that. Reading the back of every bag. Trying to figure out if 'meat and animal derivatives' included chicken. Putting things back. Buying the same brand by default because the alternative was another forty minutes of squinting.
What changed
After enough of those trips I started writing things down. A spreadsheet of what we tried, which products contained 'named animal protein' versus 'animal derivatives,' which ones triggered a reaction and which ones did not.
A spreadsheet is a strong sign you have a tool problem, not an information problem. The information was on every bag. The tool to read those bags quickly did not exist.
What the app is and is not
PetEats is the version of that spreadsheet I wished I had two years ago. Scan a label, get a clear verdict, and if a flagged ingredient is present, surface it before anything else.
It is not a veterinary tool. It cannot replace a real conversation with a real vet about a real medical condition. It can save you from the slow accumulation of food choices that quietly do not fit your pet.
Built for people standing in aisles
The whole product was designed for the moment you have ninety seconds, your kid is asking for ice cream, and you are trying to decide between two bags of cat food. If it cannot answer that question in five seconds, it is not useful.
Everything else is secondary.