The Verdict on Royal Canin Urinary Care Cat Food: Does it Really Deliver the Goods?

Hello everyone!

I'm sharing my honest thoughts on Royal Canin Urinary Care cat food, a preventative food designed to support your cat's urinary health.

This food is specifically designed for cats with urinary issues – a balanced diet that supports the health of their urinary tract.

Royal Canin Urinary Care has a unique formula that reduces urine concentration, regulates mineral levels, and maintains a low pH level in the urine, all of which help prevent struvite stones. In a 10-day study, it was proven that this product is twice as effective as regular cat food in supporting the health of the lower urinary tract.

Key Details

• Brand: Royal Canin

• Shelf life: 18 months

• Weight: 2 kg (also available in 400g and 4 kg packs)

• Made in: Russia

• Where to buy: pet stores (Four Paws, Zoogar), marketplaces (Yandex Market, Wildberries, Ozon), online pet stores (Petshop)

• Price: around 2500-3200 RUB per 2 kg pack without discounts

• I purchased the food on Ozon with the original product mark, and the last time it cost me 2339 RUB

Description

Royal Canin Urinary Care. This cat food is specifically designed for cats with urinary issues – a balanced diet that supports the health of their urinary tract.

Royal Canin Urinary Care has a unique formula that reduces urine concentration, regulates mineral levels, and maintains a low pH level in the urine, all of which help prevent struvite stones. In a 10-day study, it was proven that this product is twice as effective as regular cat food in supporting the health of the lower urinary tract.

Ingredients

I've gotta say, I'm really disappointed with Royal Canin's ingredient lists.

But let's take a closer look and see what's got me scratching my head:

• I'm not a fan of the fact that most of the components aren't named specifically. They just list the general name, which could be anything. There are seven ingredients that are completely unclear. And don't even get me started on the fish oil – I have no idea what type of fish it's made from.

• And to make matters worse, plant-based protein isolate is the first ingredient. First of all, I have no idea what kind of plant-based protein it is. And secondly, in a cat food, the first ingredient should be meat and animal-derived ingredients, not plant-based protein. By the way, plant-based protein isolates are often used by manufacturers to cut costs – and yet Royal Canin is charging top dollar for their food, like it's made from the finest ingredients.

• There's just too many plant-based components. We've got the plant-based protein isolate, wheat flour, rice, wheat, plant-based fiber... It's clear that the plant-based ingredients are dominating the animal-derived ones, which could be bad news for your cat's health. Let's not forget that cats are not vegetarians.

I've got to say, I'm really not a fan of the fact that we don't know what kind of meat is used in this food and in what quantities. The ingredient list includes two animal-based protein sources: dehydrated animal-derived proteins (from poultry) and hydrolyzed animal-derived proteins (flavor enhancers). By the way, hydrolysis is considered a subpar way of processing meat for pet food (just Google it, there are plenty of articles about it, including one on the Rospotrebnadzor website that lists ingredients to avoid). To be honest, from the ingredient names alone, we can only guess how the meat was processed. But what kind of animal was used and how much of it is in the food? That's still a mystery.

I'm also concerned about the large number of contentious ingredients. This includes all the unknown components that aren't specifically named, and I'd even include wheat (which some people argue is problematic due to its high allergenic potential, while others claim it's a beneficial ingredient).

Whenever I see a list like this, I immediately think that the manufacturer has just stuffed this food with cheap, low-quality ingredients. I don't believe that if they were using good ingredients, they'd leave them unnamed on the packaging.

All in all, Royal Canin's ingredient lists are lacking, and the prices just keep going up. You can basically use this food to prevent one disease and end up causing another...

Packaging

The packaging for this food is glossy and features a soothing gray and white color scheme, with small blue inserts.

Okay, I'll give Royal Canin credit for the design – the color scheme is actually pretty nice. I like it.

The back of the packaging shows a ton of info about the food.

There's a description of the food, and some advice from the manufacturer.

At the bottom of the packaging, you'll find the manufacturing date and the expiration date.

The packaging also has info about the food in multiple languages on the sides.

The ingredient list, nutritional information, and manufacturer details are all clearly labeled in Russian.

The top of the packaging features a tear-off strip.

Unfortunately, the tear-off strip doesn't always come off cleanly – sometimes I've had to apply a bit of force to get it to come off completely.

The zip lock inside is just okay – it's not the most secure seal, and I've had instances where it looked like I'd closed it properly, but the packaging was still open.

The Food

Now, onto the food itself.

The smell is pretty mild – it doesn't smell like meat or offal, but more like some kind of dry snack. It's not a chemical smell, though.

The kibble is a vibrant, reddish color and comes in a square shape.

The kibble is a decent size, about 1cm x 1cm. It's big enough for my pets to comfortably crunch on.

This food really stands out - it's super colorful and eye-catching.

I also want to mention another thing. Sometimes, different batches of the same food can look slightly different. It's not always noticeable between batches, but sometimes between different packaging weights. When you open it, it can look like a completely different food.

I've noticed this difference even between identical packaging weights. For some reason, I've gotten a few batches that were ridiculously fatty, like they were almost semi-moist. The kibble would even stick together (which really put off my pet, who refused to eat it). The expiration date was still within normal limits.

My pet's opinion

As for my pet's opinion, I've had three cats try this food, so I've got some experience to share.

I'll start with a recent story. I offered this food to one of my less fussy pets, who's always up for trying any new food. The only food she turned down flat was the dry food for spayed cats from LiveRa. Funny thing is, all my less fussy friends tried it and rejected it. Two of my fussy friends even gave it a shot – one for a day or two, and the other for a few days, before turning it down.

She was thoroughly unimpressed. She sniffed the food for ages, struggled to chew a gram or so (even though she'd eaten a few hours prior), then buried the bowl and walked away.

Well, I thought, what's the plan now? I decided to see how things would go.

In subsequent meals, the pet preferred to stay half-starved, eating only half the food each time. No matter how much I pushed the food under her nose, she'd turn her head and walk away.

I ended up leaving the dry food in her reach. She'd eat the required grams over 12 hours, but it felt like I was torturing her with this food.

I do want to note that I offered her food from multiple packs (one of which had been opened about a month prior and still had some leftovers). And that's when I saw the telltale signs of clumping food. You should've seen her face when she tried to chew on that...

The new food that arrived was less clumpy, but still somehow damp, and the granules didn't stick together as much. But the new pack didn't exactly win her over either.

I noticed she was drinking less water over this time period, which really threw me off, because she'd always sit down and drink water right after eating before.

As for digestive issues, everything seemed to be normal. There was just one instance of vomiting a small amount of food right after eating, but I think she might have just gulped air. Her stool remained unchanged, and I didn't notice any allergic reactions.

Urination-wise, there were no changes. She was still going 2-3 times a day, and that continued.

As for the other two pets, only one of them was eating this food normally and finishing their portion. The other one was eating it at first, but then started to slow down and even vomited food. We had to switch to a different food.

My opinion as the pet owner

Let's be honest, I'm not thrilled with how Royal Canin turned out. But. I do have to admit that their therapeutic foods (at least the ones I've given my pets) do work.

This food isn't therapeutic, it's preventative. And again, I have to acknowledge that it does its job well. When my pets were on this food, they didn't experience any relapses of their kidney disease. That's definitely a plus.

However, that doesn't change the fact that I'm not a fan of the food's ingredients. I'm being really picky about this lately, because I believe that a good food with a good ingredient list is a crucial aspect of a pet's health.

I'm a bit concerned that my cats tend to reject this food or barely eat it, and that they start drinking less water with it. Plus, one of my pets had an episode of vomiting after a while, which really spooked me. Since they're still investigating, there's no clear link between the food and the vomiting (although they did find a stomach issue, which is a red flag).

I'll be on the lookout for something else. As a fan of Florida's food, I'm interested in trying their Urinary Prevention food. We'll see how that goes.

The packaging design;It helps prevent UTI recurrences;Cons:

The price;The variation between batches;Poor palatability;My cats drink less water on this food;Takeaway

I can still recommend this food, despite its flaws, if you're not bothered by the other issues I mentioned. However, I won't be buying it again and will look for an alternative.

And when will the third point in the recommendations for friends section be available on Amazon? Something like 'use at your own risk, if the mentioned drawbacks don't faze you'?

My reviews of other dry cat foods:

Kibble by Sirius Duck and Cranberry - review here

I was blown away by the dry food from Roybis for sterilized cats - the salmon flavor is a real winner, especially for their kidney health.

And if you're looking for something else, I recently tried the Florida cat food with sensitive stomach, and the combination of turkey and apple is a winner.