Any comments on Royal Canin Medi-Cal Hypoallergenic canned food?

After a bout of vomiting and a visit to the vet, the veterinarian suggested giving Ruby Royal Canin Medi-Cal Hypoallergenic canned food.  She's been eating it since Saturday and hasn't vomited since overnight Saturday. She's also getting 1/4 tablet of Famotidine twice a day.  Since I already posted a novel about the vomiting in the health forum, I'll not repeat the story here. LOL.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone has bought this food before.  Or have any opinions / comments.   It's not grain-free - contains rice.   And the main ingredient is duck, which seriously surprised me.

http://www.royalcanin.ca/index.php/...inary-Therapeutic-Formulas/Hypoallergenic-Wet

I have had good experience with their hypoallergenic food, though I've only used the rabbit based diet. Apparently it's common for cats to become allergic to the standard proteins (like chicken) so they use alternative proteins like duck in rabbit. I use rabbit and venison because I think my cat is allergic to duck as well.

My old roommate had a very similar problem to your with her senior cat. She also switched to the royal canin rabbit diet and the improvement was instant.

However, I have since switched to nature's variety Instinct canned food. I recently got a kitten and their formula is for all life stages, where as the royal canin is for adults. Also, Natures Variety is grain free and all that stuff. Furthermore, it just looks more like real food. My cats seem to prefer it.

The most important thing is to read the ingredients. Make sure it doesn't contain chicken, eggs, etc. If you're interested in natures variety, try their rabbit, venison, and limited ingredient duck (make sure it's the limited ingredient not the regular duck version that contains eggs).

The one benefit of prescription food is it is controlled and has to ensure that it doesn't contain certain ingredients.

If the royal canin is working though, you may want to stick with what is working.

Hope this helps

What's interesting is that the Royal Canin hypoallergenic rabbit diet isn't listing on the Canada website. Perhaps it's not available in Canada? My Sebastian is on the RC Hypoallergenic Selected Protein Feline PR (rabbit and green pea; no grains).

Yes, goholistic, I believe that is what I was feeding my Effie. However, I did switch after getting the kitten to nature's variety canned rabbit formula. It also just looks more appealing and Effie eats more of the it. I also was feeding then the dry royal canon rabbit diet and just switched to the natures variety rabbit dried. I wanted to try it because I read good reviews and it was half the price of RC. However I think the switch was unsuccessful. Effie has been throwing it up. Not good. I'm waiting a couple more days if she doesn't improve I'll donate what I have and go back to RC dry.

I suspect your Vet thinks your cat has IBS type issue going on. This diet will help with that because your cat's immune system shouldn't develop a response to the proteins. As others have said Nature's Variety Instinct is not really the same as the food in question, but guaranteed to have a novel protein (Venison, Lamb for example) which your cat should not have a reaction to either.

I have a senior Main Coon who has IBD and was on the Royal Canin dry version of this food for years because an older cat had it as well. I switched the Nature's Variety Instinct because I also have two "older" kittens. The Main Coon is also on prednislone. This steroid in conjunction with the NV Instinct have essentially eliminated the vomiting.

hbanan said:

Yes, goholistic, I believe that is what I was feeding my Effie. However, I did switch after getting the kitten to nature's variety canned rabbit formula. It also just looks more appealing and Effie eats more of the it. I also was feeding then the dry royal canon rabbit diet and just switched to the natures variety rabbit dried. I wanted to try it because I read good reviews and it was half the price of RC. However I think the switch was unsuccessful. Effie has been throwing it up. Not good. I'm waiting a couple more days if she doesn't improve I'll donate what I have and go back to RC dry.

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Sebastian gets mostly wet, so I give him the RC canned rabbit. He does eat a little of the RC dry rabbit, which he likes. For whatever reason, he does not like the Nature's Variety dry rabbit.     He can't have the Nature's Variety canned rabbit because of the other ingredients (pork, flaxseed, vegetables).

Yes goholistic, my main reason for switching to the natures variety was RC waning formulated for the kitten to eat. I wish they would only eat wet, but Effie preferred dry. As my vet said, any amount of wet food is better than no wet food, so I do the best I can. It's so difficult for cats with allergies and IBS (as Effie has) to find quality food they can eat.

I am digressing though. The main question was about RC and I have seen only good results from it.

GoHolistic said:

....   He can't have the Nature's Variety canned rabbit because of the other ingredients (pork, flaxseed, vegetables).

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Just an FYI..there's no pork fat in the NV Instinct canned (pork flavor excluding), just pork liver which is very low in fat. Not the same btw.

Thanks for the comments everyone.  Ruby has adjusted really well to the change in her food. I simply stopped the old and started the new the next day.   And she's leaving the best shaped deposits in the litter box in the 2 months I've had her.  

She had diarrhea when I got her from the SPCA so food allergies isn't completely new.  And yes, the vet did mention IBS.

We are still dealing with her empty belly morning nausea though, as she threw up clear liquid again Thursday morning between the time she started pestering me to get up and when I actually got up less than an hour later.   I'm trying to feed her the last food just before I go to bed and yesterday morning she didn't wake me till almost alarm time (6:00) .  But this morning she woke me at 5:30 and because I was so afraid she'd get sick, I got up and fed her.  So it's still a work in progress.

Ruby, I had the same exact problem when I first got my Effie from the SPCA . I don't even wanna tell you how much diarreah I cleaned up. The worst part was I knew she was in pain from pooping so much. Like you, i was so relieved when a competent vet suggested I switch the food and it worked! Oh the things we do for our little ones. She is my first furry friend so I was a bit overwhelmed. wouldn't trade a thing though because having her in my life is the best thing I ever did

I think it will only get better for you two. I'm so glad it's working. I hope the nausea gets better soon:

hbanan said:

She is my first furry friend so I was a bit overwhelmed. wouldn't trade a thing though because having her in my life is the best thing I ever did

I think it will only get better for you two. I'm so glad it's working. I hope the nausea gets better soon:

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There were cats when I was growing up, but Ruby is my first very own furry friend too, and yes it is overwhelming.  I kept wondering if I over-reacted when I took her to the vet that morning she was vomiting (especially when I got the $130 bill) but I didn't want to just leave her alone if something was wrong.  Like you, adopting her was the best thing I've done, so I know exactly how you feel.

Anyway, she woke me before 5 this morning. I lifted my head and told her it was too early.  She then went out and started playing with her nosy ball toy!  So I didn't exactly go back to sleep, but thankfully she didn't get sick.

Haha I've learned to sleep through that 5am play session. I have 2 cats now and they love to chase each other at that time, especially on and off my bed.

Some people feel differently, but I do not thing you were overreacting by taking her to the vet. From everything I've read, Extreme vomiting is not normal. It can also mess up their stomachs and lead to future problems such as cancer. Also I'm of the opinion I'd rather be safe than sorry. My old roommate, who is an experienced cat owner, used to poke fun at me because I took Effie to the vet at the first sign of something off. However, 4 out of 5 times there was something wrong. One of those times it turns out she had extreme ear wax buildup in her ears that turned yeasty. It was bad. Poor thing was in pain.

I think with the food switch your little one will do better. There is always a bit of adjustment when switching foods, but it sound to me like she is doing better daily.

All the money i spent on Effie was also with it because I can tell she's a much healthier and happier cat now that we know she has allergies and how to control them. I also know her a lot better so know what signs to look out for.

People tell me oh she's so lucky to have you. That's not true. I'm lucky to have her.