Nutro Max vs Royal Canin

[myprecious]

Any advice on whether which brand is better...Nutro Max or Royal Canin?

I almost bought Nutro Max Special Care because it saids it's for cats with sensitive stomach, oral, & hairball problems. But I ended up buying Royal Canin for sensitive stomach because when I compared ingredients between the two, Royal Canin seems to fare better than Nutro Max. When I gave Tabby a mixture of her old food (SD Oral Care) & the Royal Canin, she went crazy over the Royal Canin. I had to take the bowl away from her after awhile because she was eating too quickly. Any comments would be appreciated.

Also, any health insurance provider that are good...besides VPI.

 

[sandie]

For the food issue, I think I would try the Royal Canine first. I know they are both good brands, I have just heard a higher percent of good things with the Royal Canine.
I am not really sure with the insurance thing. I havn't looked into it very much. I have too many cats to pay those premiums. I do know there are some members on the site that have experience with insurance, and hopefully they have some input for ya.

 

[myprecious]

Thanks Sandie!

I hope the Royal Canin works. I'm hoping that if Tabby can tolerate the new cat food, I won't have to resort to getting health insurance for her...since I'm usually very carefully about what items are lying around for her reach & stuff like that.

 

[jenng]

From what I've read, both Nutro and Royal Canin seem like good foods to feed your little girl. The first 5 ingrediants are the most important to look at and they look pretty similiar... (I also stuck in Nutro Natural Choice because it's supposed to be for sensitive tummies):

Nutro Max Cat Adult
Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Wheat Flour, Ground Rice, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E)

Crude Protein (minimum) 30%
Crude Fat (minimum) 14%
Moisture (maximum) 10%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 2%

Royal Canin Feline Nutrition Hair & Skin 33 Formula for Cats Prone to Hairballs
Chicken meal, chicken, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), corn gluten meal, rice flour

Crude Protein (minimum) 33%
Crude Fat (minimum) 22%
Moisture (maximum) 10%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 5%

Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Adult Cat Food
Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp

Crude Protein (minimum) 33%
Crude Fat (minimum) 19%
Moisture (maximum) 10%
Ash (maximum) 6.75%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 4%
Linoleic Acid (minimum) 4%
Taurine (minimum) 0.18%


Personally, I feed Nutro Natural Choice to Spike, and he's doing quite well on it. He was on Nutro Max Cat for awhile because he had urinary problems and it's supposed to be good for that, but his sensitive tummy kept acting up, so we switched over. I've heard good things about Royal Canin though too, and if I had to switch foods for him and was staying in the same food range, I'd probably pick Royal Canin.


As for veterinary insurance... I have VPI's Superior Plan for Spike. I really didn't do a whole lot of research on any others, but I know there are more out there. (Luv Those Paws's has another insurance for her little girls, so she might have some info there.) With VPI, there is a $50 deductible and then I believe they pay 95% of the rest of the cost.


Hope that's some help.

 

[crazy-cat-lover]

Nutro and Royal Canin are both great foods! I feed my cats Solid Gold. They eat WAY to much of the Nutro Max! They loved it! I've only ever tried samples of Royal Canin, my cats all loved it. I like Solid Gold because it's inexpensive and the 15 pound bag lasts one month with 10 cats!

Solid Gold Katz-n-Flocken Dry Cat Food

Ingredients
Lamb Meal, Menhaden Fish Meal, Ground Millet, Ground Brown Rice, Ground Barley, Rice Bran Oil, Canola Oil, Flax Seed Oil, Amaranth, Rice Bran, Garlic, Blueberries, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Taurine, Carotene, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Vitami A Supplement, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin Supplement, Folic Acid, Thiamine, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Natural Flavors Added.* * Usually Apples or Carrots.

 

[jenng]

Crazy-Cat-Lover -

I would LOVE to try Solid Gold... well, try feeding it to Spike anyway.

I can't find anywhere that sells it around here... I think the closest place is about 2 hours away. I was thinking of having it shipped in to try, but I tried that with Felidae, and Spike refused to eat it. I just hate the added cost of the shipping, especially if my little stinker won't eat it then. But the ingrediant list looks great, imho. If I just knew he'd eat it... and he's doing so well on the Nutro Natural Choice that I hate to disrupt things. (He's had tummy issues... I spent June 2002 living at the vet. I should have had my own cot there darnit.) The last time I was at one of the petstores here I asked if it could be shipped into there if I ordered it, and they said they couldn't because they believed it comes from California. I guess we'll see... I'm always so tempted to try it out though...

 

[luv those paws]

Hello myprecious,

As for the food question, I am currently in the switching period between Nutro Natural Care to Royal Canin indoor formula. I am making the switch be cause of stinky issues. My girls were on Nutro Natural care kitten, and we didn't have a problem at all, since we have gone to the Adult formula there have been gas issues with one of my kitties and general stinky bottoms. I decided to give Royal Canin a shot since I have heard good things. I think they are both high quality foods (obviously not the highest, but still not bad), and really you should go with what works for you and kitty

.

As for the insurance, I didn't go with VPI, but Pets Health Care Plan. They give a multi-pet discount and offer three different plans. I could explain more about it, but that seems silly when I can give you the site, right?

Pets Health Care

I never had a problem with them. And I think it is a good insurance especially in the first year of life. I hope that helps. Good luck.

 

[mom of 10 cats]

We switched to Nutro Max last year after Sunshine had a urinary tract blockage, and have had no problems with it. All the cats seem to like it, if biting a hole into the new bag to eat from it while it is in the closet is any indication! (Mind you, there were bowls full of the same stuff in the kitchen!)

Recently, we were talking about switching Midnight (11 yrs old) and Coal (12 yrs old) to a senior diet of Nutro, but realized it would be next to impossible to keep the other 8 out of their food.

 

[angelzoo]

Putting all other foods aside besides nutro and royal canin formulas, I would say to go with royal canin personally.


I also currently feed solid gold and my gang does WONDERFUL on it, better then any other food I have ever fed to an animal.

 

[jcat]

I feed Nutro, Solid Gold, Felidae, etc., etc. Just a little warning about Royal Canin - don't buy a huge bag of it at first, because in my experience the cats think it tastes great for a week or two, and then decide they don't like it. I've had this experience with different cats.
@jgaruba - it's kind of hard to believe that a store in PA can't get food shipped in from CA - I know of at least four different stores here in Germany that carry Solid Gold (though we've had trouble getting the canned food the last few months). Could you contact Solid Gold and ask for some samples?

 

[jenng]

jcat - I can't believe they ship to Germany and not PA! I might have to contact them... it can't hurt. Then I could always have it shipped in through petfooddirect I suppose... hhmmm....

 

[crazy-cat-lover]

jgaruba, what city do you live in? The reason I asked is because the Solid Gold website has a Store Locator. Let me know and I'll find out where they sell it around there!

 

[jenng]

Hey Crazy-Cat-Lover

I've used their store locater before.. I just checked again to see if there was any new place that sold it that's closer to me. I'm in Duryea, and I think the closest city that has it is Allentown. Actually, Allentown and Bethlehem are the only towns I even recognize... And Allentown is about 1.5 hours from here I believe.