Does anyone feed Royal Canin Special 33?

I am trying this food out for Siddha. Of course, Bodhi will be eating it too as there is just no way that I can feed them two separate foods effectively.

Siddha has had random bouts of diarrhea for several weeks now. Usually, just when I'm about to crate him and take him to the vet, his stools get a little better... plus, he never acts like anything is wrong, he plays normally and eats like a champ. So, before taking him the vet, I have decided to give ONE LAST TRY with the Royal Canin Special 33. If this doesn't work, I'm taking the food back and taking the boy to the vet.

However, what I am wondering about is whether or not this food has been a good experience for your cat(s) and how it has helped. Reviews I've seen online look favorable, but I've also seen glowing reviews for Friskies dry food, so it's all relative, I suppose.

Also, one last thing... I was in Petco tonight and they had two different bags of Special 33 - one was almost out of date, so I of course got the fresher bag, however, the ingredients are slightly different on the newer bag. Corn gluten meal has moved up on the list, among other things. Have you noticed this and has it made any difference in your cats?

THANK YOU in advance for ANY help or suggestions you have!! I am trying so hard to do well for my kitties, and I know it's gotta suck having diarrhea so often!

Candace (and Siddha)

It's in my rotation but it's not that well received, i checked my bag and corn gluten is the second ingredient i don't know what the ingredients were like before as this is a newer introduction here...

I added it because i was not feeding RC products but my new kitten is on them from the breeder so i felt i should intro an adult formula for the grown-ups here LOL also it's the only dry food i have with corn here as well...

honestly, my female seems to prefer the kittens food. the kitten 36 since she is a lean cat i just let her graze away... i also found the % not to be that far off my california naturals which i also feed.

Sorry this probably isn't all that helpful, but at this point i doubt i will continue the purchase of it, since rarely am i even re-filling the bowl their making it quite clear this is not a food choice for them.

I used to feed that to my Spot, who would get diarrhea for weeks when given most antibiotics. It seemed to work well for him. Since he passed on a few years ago, I don't know how the food change would have affected him. With Spot, I also occasionally gave him plain canned pumpkin and/or Benefiber. Those seemed to help as well.

At least one of my current boys has a sensitive stomach. I finally switched them to Natural Balance Duck and Pea to help rule out food allergies. Since switching, they have had more days of relatively solid poop than not, so it seems to be working for them. I do give them both canned and dry (depending on how hectic my morning is). [Note: I have not noticed any issues with the cans, though I know that a few others have found what appears to be mold.]

I mix the RC Special 33 with Wellness. Stanley loves the taste of the RC and I like the Wellness ingredients better. I bought a newer bag, but I hadn't looked at the ingredients yet maybe we will have to take another try at going 100% to the Wellness if RC is getting more "corny".

Generally they have pretty good poop on this mixture (right now someone is having a round of antibiotics and our new guy is transitioning over from kitten chow, so the poop quality is, well poop

I've fed RC for about 10 years and have no complaints. It's a little pricey, but my cats are doing well on it.

It is the single only food my Plucky will eat. He eats it with gusto, and he is flourishing on it. Frankly, I don't see too much of a problem with it except that it's making it AWFULLY hard to switch him over to Innova EVO, which (even though RC 33 is not a bad food) is far better than RC33.

Still, he loves it, and it is not a bad food at all...so until I can wean him over to the EVO, he will do fine on it. I would suspect your kitty would as well.

I tried it with my cats, they loved it, but then it gave them all the runs, but especially Jordan. So now we are on a mix of TOTW & Solid gold, but I plan on trying to switch completely to TOTW

Thanks everyone for the replies... Things are going well so far with the transition. Both cats seem to like the food and we have pretty good poop consistency as well. Let's just hope it lasts once he is completely transitioned over!!

My view of Royal Canin did change after reading this, but of course it can be all over reaction, however I did switched to Hill's Science plan from Royal Canin and cats seem to like it better and seem to look forward of bowl filling.

However it is not necessarily all because of Royal Canin what people complain in linked page, but some posts do make one think about a bit.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/royal_canin.html

edit: oh, was quite old thread, did not realize post dates before posting, problems with Royal Canin seem to be happening after this thread was started, 2010 being probably the year there was most of problems, but it is better to read that page and make own opinion based on that and other sources.

I feed my cats royal canin urinary so and it made them very sick. They vomited and one cat died. I'm heartbroken about my cat, I loved him very much.

You need to type in royal canin complaints and read the many complaints about this poison food. Alot of people are talking about their cats or dogs having diarrhea and vomiting.
 

My cat Missy has just been diagnosed with IBS (Irrital Bowel Syndrome) so even with a healthy appetite she is not able to obsorb the nutrients from her food. Thus started loosing weight.  So I changed  to Royal Canin Special 33 and as it is the same food she is accustomed to but in the easy to digest formula, she has gained weight.  So hoping this will help her from this time on.