Royal Canin (Indoor Adult)
Rating: 
| Price: $$$$ | Website
Royal Canin is quite a mixed bag for me. It has the potential to be a really good food, but trips over its own feet when they start using bad (and quite frankly, useless) fillers where they don’t have to.
Let’s look at what they’ve done here. First, chicken meal starts the ingredient list, and that’s great to see. Any “meal” product leading it off is very welcome. Then we have two grains, both rice. That’s fine, as rice is a great grain. The main concern is that the grain content may get a little high, but so far so good.
SO what’s next….oh, crap. Corn. Then corn gluten meal. There are few ways to derail a food from being great faster than throwing in corn gluten meal.
There’s a small rebound with chicken and pea fiber, which are both fine. Rice flour and rice hulls are about the worst way to put rice in a cat food, but it’s still better than putting in corn or wheat. Speaking of wheat, that’s what’s next. Good ol wheat gluten, since cats apparently love wheat (not really).
From there, it’s up and down. They do put in eggs and anchovy oil, which are great for proteins and omega fatty acids respectively. But then, salt is a bit high on the ingredient list too. Also, brewers yeast makes an appearance straight from your local brewery.
It adds up to a so-so food. Better than most crap in grocery stores, but not justifiable in price.
Where to buy?
What’s good about this food….
Chicken meal is first, rice is main grain used, vegetable fiber is high, fish oils.
….and what’s not so good.
Far too much corn used, rice hulls aren’t beneficial, salt is somewhat high.
Ingredients:
Chicken meal, brown rice, rice, corn, corn gluten meal, chicken fat, chicken, natural chicken flavor, pea fiber, rice flour, rice hulls, wheat gluten, dried beet pulp (sugar removed), soya oil, sodium silico aluminate, dried brewers yeast, fructo-oligosaccharides, anchovy oil (source of EPA/DHA), calcium sulfate, salt, potassium chloride, dried egg product, choline chloride, DL-methionine, taurine, Vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), niacin supplement, biotin, riboflavin (vitamin B2) supplement, D-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A acetate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], sodium tripolyphosphate, tea (green tea extract), Trace Minerals [zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite], L-Carnitine, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols (source of vitamin E) and citric acid, rosemary extract.
My kitten was extremely sick when we got him and had to be on prescription food. Vet suggested royal canin and 8 months later celebrating his 1st birthday. We bought one can of each food (literally) in 2 pet stores. Royal canin with water and heated he cries and begs for it. So happy with this food. He went from 1.2 lbs at 4.5 months old to 17.45 at a year. (Ragdoll… big boned!) Right on track with the vet.
Recently my cat began to lose hair on his ear, it began when my mom left on a trip it looked like he had just scratched it too hard so I left it. The next week we both left at the same time and when I got back the hair loss was much worse and his skin began to scab. I took him to the vet as soon as I got home and the vet found nothing obvious was wrong and it might be a food allergy. He was on Royal Canin kitten, as he is only 8 months old, and now is on Royal Canin Multifunction Urinary + Hydrolyzed Protein dry cat food. His ear has returned to normal but the food is SO expensive, and I’m beginning to wonder if he was just anxious that we had left, is there a suggestion for a cheaper food that may do the same thing ? and if it was just anxiety what brand would be best to switch back to other then royal canin ?
Hi Taylor, it’s possibly a grain allergy. Try one of the grain free foods on this list, some are cheaper than Royal Canin – https://www.petfoodratings.org/grain-free-dry-cat-food/
My vet prescribed Royal Canin fibre to help keep my cat regular – is there a better alternative?
Hi Scott, yes, most of the foods on this list will keep your cat healthy and regular (and would likely work out cheaper too).
I serve both wet and dry food. I add about 2 tbsp of water to the wed food and microwave to room temp if it has been refrigerated. It gives my one cat some extra water because he does not drink like my other car – for some reason. He hated the fountain but the one who drinks really liked it. Unfortunately if you keep them plugged in all the time they only last a few months and then burn out.
I’m extremely frustrated with Royal Canin not providing any information on simple questions, such as amount of certain ingredients in the food. More specifically, I asked them how much of chicken meal (first ingredient) was a part of the food in percentage terms of the RC kitten neutered spayed formula. I thought since its the only meat ingredient and rest of the formulas and formulas of RC are filled with corn and other fillers, I should find out how much of the only good ingredient is in it. But despite of several emails, they either danced around it or refused to give me the answer claiming its proprietary information and etc…
I mean how hard it is to answer an easy and simple question? I also asked if the particular kitten formula comes in various size bags, because unlike other RC formulas, I could not find it in any other size except the small 1.1 Kg bag that is $20.
I thought buying bigger bag will help me save, but guess what? They did not bother responding to that either. I’m only feeding RC to my kitten because he loves it but God….. an uneducated retard would probably provide better customer service than these guys.
Enough said !!
My vet prescribed Royal Canin Urinary SO for my cat because of FLUTD. Is there a better choice nutritionally speaking, while keeping the magnesium levels very low? Her stones were 99% caused by struvites.
Royal Canin is quite expensive, while not offering the nutrition my very active young cat needs.
Hi Lydia,
The best way to treat FLUTD is “water”, so that should be your primary focus. Make sure your cat has access to clean water at all times, and if you find she doesn’t drink enough then it’s worth switching to a wet food or at least adding water to the kibble to add moisture. Feeding an expensive “prescription diet” dry food for a cat with urinary difficulties isn’t focussing on the main requirement, which is moisture. SO isn’t necessarily a bad food although it does have a high corn content, and like you say it’s expensive.
My ten year old female indoor cat had a UTI recently. My vet prescribed the Royal Canin SO dry food. She absolutely would not eat it. Neither would she touch the canned version. I gave up and finally started putting it out for the neighborhood feral population. Overpriced, unpalatable crap, in my cat’s opinion anyway! I’m now feeding her the 4Health indoor cat formula from TSC. Plus I have a fountain running for her to drink from. (I use distilled water in it to prolong pump life). Do you have an opinion on the 4 Health brand?
Hi Margie, I’ll try and write a review of the 4 Health brand in the coming days, but from a brief look it looks good.
I had a cat a number of years back that had kidney problems and the vet recommended that she drink more water. In addition to adding wet food to her diet, she made the suggestion of getting a cat fountain as the running water can encourage a cat to drink more. I bought a Drinkwell fountain and it has made a great difference over the years. That cat has been gone for some years now but the fountain is still going strong (on it’s 2nd pump) and has now been used on four cats and is getting used by a number of dogs now in the household. Just thought I’d pass that on for consideration. There are a number of other brands out there, my suggestion is to check how easy it is to get replacement filters (important) and pumps (if replacements are available… I keep an extra on hand in case they ever stop offering them).
That’s a great suggestion John. Thanks.
These reviews are extremely objective. AAFCO doesn’t even count Omegas as an essential nutrient.
RJP – are you saying omegas shouldn’t be included in a food because AAFCO doesn’t stipulate they should be?