The ingredients are better than some mass produced brands. OK, not perfect, but if it works. don't fix it!
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Royal Canin Vet Diet Urinary SO
- Thread starter aqualoon
- Start Date
Is anyone using the canned urinary SO? I took an RX to pet smart because my vet only had kibble. It was $2 per can.
My Calvin was just prescribed either version (dry or canned). We are trying the canned out starting today. He did eat it so at least we don't have that battle yet.
Calvin just had surgery to remove struvite stones.
Glad to hear a version of this is working for most people using it even if the ingredients aren't the best available.
We do not want to have to go through this again. So I guess I am going to follow my vets advice unless Calvin gets picky on me.
My Calvin was just prescribed either version (dry or canned). We are trying the canned out starting today. He did eat it so at least we don't have that battle yet.
Calvin just had surgery to remove struvite stones.
Glad to hear a version of this is working for most people using it even if the ingredients aren't the best available.
We do not want to have to go through this again. So I guess I am going to follow my vets advice unless Calvin gets picky on me.
I agree... He could still be fighting them... Royal Canin also saved my cats life and a friends cat got an extra 4 years of life from eating it.
Its not just hundreds but with the check up, sugery, follow ups its closer to 1000-2000.... Plus everything hes going through when It could have been avoided...
Think of the food as medicine... We don't always like the meds we need but we need them to stay alive/healthy... The food also tastes good as my cats all love it and that's 4 of them...
Also its Canadian made... Part of the reason it costs more its not china crap.
If you think the price of the dry is expensive the canned is even more.. I asked my vet and she said it would cost ALOT just for 1 cat.
If you do a RAW diet you will need to make sure it has the right ph levels and such or he can get crystals/stones and block.
My vets its $45 CAD for a pee test
We pay $37.50 + tax CAD for the 5.2KG Bag (The medium bag) it last us 3-4 weeks.
My vet said both canned and dry is good. You could try a healthy mix of both?
The food after 2 months dissolved my cats pea sized stone into nothing.... May be lacking on the ingredients but that's what needed to make it balanced properly... If it helps its Canadian made.
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
- Messages
- 107
- Purraise
- 13
Can't resist chiming back in since there's been some activity on this thread lately.
My cat has been doing really well on his all-canned, no fish-flavored diet. It's probably more expensive than the dry urinary diet, but I am able to feed them higher-quality ingredients and something that more closely mimics what they might eat in the wild. When my neighbor watches our cats, she is always amazed at the amount that they pee. The clumps are at least the size of hockey pucks! (Sorry if that's TMI, these things become interesting after having dealt with crystals.) We've had one incident of peeing outside the litter box, but that was after he was upset at us for going on vacation for 10 days.
It's just not true that if your cat has crystals once, he/she must always stay on a urinary diet. My cat is proof of it! Anyone thinking of changing up the diet in their crystal-prone kitty should absolutely consult with their vet before doing so, however. Worse than peeing outside the litter box, crystals can be fatal. Yes, the ingredients of SO do suck, but they are better than a ruptured bladder.
My cat has been doing really well on his all-canned, no fish-flavored diet. It's probably more expensive than the dry urinary diet, but I am able to feed them higher-quality ingredients and something that more closely mimics what they might eat in the wild. When my neighbor watches our cats, she is always amazed at the amount that they pee. The clumps are at least the size of hockey pucks! (Sorry if that's TMI, these things become interesting after having dealt with crystals.) We've had one incident of peeing outside the litter box, but that was after he was upset at us for going on vacation for 10 days.
It's just not true that if your cat has crystals once, he/she must always stay on a urinary diet. My cat is proof of it! Anyone thinking of changing up the diet in their crystal-prone kitty should absolutely consult with their vet before doing so, however. Worse than peeing outside the litter box, crystals can be fatal. Yes, the ingredients of SO do suck, but they are better than a ruptured bladder.
My husband and I have a 5yo adopted himalayan we adopted a few years ago. He was recently hospitalized in the emergency clinic as well as primary vet for urinary blockage. We were told the royal canin was the best of all the urinary formulas. He was previously eating honest kitchen, a human grade holistic cat food. We are now mixing the urinary formula with the honest kitchen but have to feed him with a syringe (only 5 days out of the hospital) due to his lack of appetite. Has anyone else experienced this? We hated to go the "commercial food" route with the urinary formula but feel we need to add it to his regular diet to prevent crystals. Any input is great!! 
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
- Messages
- 107
- Purraise
- 13
Hi hrl, welcome to TCS!
Before I go any further, don't take the advice of some random layperson on the internet, talk to your vet!
My understanding is that Himalayans are prone to urinary issues, although I could be wrong.
If your cat went to the emergency vet for a total blockage, I'd be really careful. I didn't know much about Honest Kitchen, but I looked up the nutritional information on http://www.catinfo.org. Prowl looks high in carbs, and Grace looks like it could be a little too high in phosphorus. The chart is right here: http://catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf .
You want to aim for something that is less than 10% carbs. For a crystal kitty, less than 5% would really be better. Grain-free doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of carbs, just FYI, because they'll use peas and potatoes instead of corn or soy. I can't remember what the vet told me for phosphorus, but less than 1% based on dry matter sounds about right. (Avoid fish flavors for this reason - they are all too high in phosphorus.) The Catinfo chart is super-helpful, label info is more-or-less useless.
You can add water to any canned cat food and make it more soupy, and/or you can use a fountain, which naturally increases the desire to drink water. I would previously have recommended my fountain, but it broke after less than a year and it was not cheap, so I don't have much to tell you in terms of brand.
If your vet is telling you to feed the Royal Canin, I would do it exclusively. From my understanding, it doesn't do much good to just feed that as part of the diet. My cat was on it for a month, then was able to transition back to regular (canned-only) food. However, my vet was willing to do this in part because my cat never had a total blockage. Believe me, I understand not wanting to have to put your cat on a crappy-ingredient food for the rest of his life, but it beats the prospect of dying due to a ruptured bladder.
Also, make sure you know the type of crystal that developed. I'm presuming it was struvite since your vet recommended the SO, but your plan of attack will be different if they were calcium oxalate crystals.
Hope this is helpful to you! And in case I didn't mention it, talk to your vet.
Before I go any further, don't take the advice of some random layperson on the internet, talk to your vet!
My understanding is that Himalayans are prone to urinary issues, although I could be wrong.
If your cat went to the emergency vet for a total blockage, I'd be really careful. I didn't know much about Honest Kitchen, but I looked up the nutritional information on http://www.catinfo.org. Prowl looks high in carbs, and Grace looks like it could be a little too high in phosphorus. The chart is right here: http://catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf .
You want to aim for something that is less than 10% carbs. For a crystal kitty, less than 5% would really be better. Grain-free doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of carbs, just FYI, because they'll use peas and potatoes instead of corn or soy. I can't remember what the vet told me for phosphorus, but less than 1% based on dry matter sounds about right. (Avoid fish flavors for this reason - they are all too high in phosphorus.) The Catinfo chart is super-helpful, label info is more-or-less useless.
You can add water to any canned cat food and make it more soupy, and/or you can use a fountain, which naturally increases the desire to drink water. I would previously have recommended my fountain, but it broke after less than a year and it was not cheap, so I don't have much to tell you in terms of brand.
If your vet is telling you to feed the Royal Canin, I would do it exclusively. From my understanding, it doesn't do much good to just feed that as part of the diet. My cat was on it for a month, then was able to transition back to regular (canned-only) food. However, my vet was willing to do this in part because my cat never had a total blockage. Believe me, I understand not wanting to have to put your cat on a crappy-ingredient food for the rest of his life, but it beats the prospect of dying due to a ruptured bladder.
Also, make sure you know the type of crystal that developed. I'm presuming it was struvite since your vet recommended the SO, but your plan of attack will be different if they were calcium oxalate crystals.
Hope this is helpful to you! And in case I didn't mention it, talk to your vet.
Honestly. I'd stick with what you know works. Royal cannin has lots of good reviews the only negative thing I've seen that it has crappy ingredients but they made it that way so it would work properly... This food with the help of antibiotics saved my cat from needing sugery... Its worth the price and the feeding commercial food. Its also vet quality and around here at least you can only buy it from the vets offices so its not just a WalMart brand anyone buys. Anyways that's just my 2 cents. Why fix something that's not broken?
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2005
- Messages
- 14,609
- Purraise
- 1,705
What did your vet recommend to feed your cat. When cats have urinary issues they most likely need to eat special foods for urinary issues. Be careful doing anything else as your cat could get in real trouble here, already with history of problems.My husband and I have a 5yo adopted himalayan we adopted a few years ago. He was recently hospitalized in the emergency clinic as well as primary vet for urinary blockage. We were told the royal canin was the best of all the urinary formulas. He was previously eating honest kitchen, a human grade holistic cat food. We are now mixing the urinary formula with the honest kitchen but have to feed him with a syringe (only 5 days out of the hospital) due to his lack of appetite. Has anyone else experienced this? We hated to go the "commercial food" route with the urinary formula but feel we need to add it to his regular diet to prevent crystals. Any input is great!!
The urinary s/o is an excellent food. My Bubba was put on that about 6 years ago after he had a blockage operation due to crystals and has been fine since.
HILL'S HAS VITALIFE PASTE TO PICK UP FAST AFTER WEAKNESS... ALSO...GLICOPAN IS USED...CHECK THEM OUT...THEY PULL CATS AND DOGS OUT OF WEAKNESS AND HELP RECOVER POST SURGERIES...GLICOPAN DOES IT IN 5 DAYS... VITALIFE NEEDS 10 DAYS...BUT RESULTS ARE AMAZING...IMPROVE APPETITE AND OVERALL CONDITION...REMEMBER TOO...PREVENTION: APPLE CIDER VINEGAR IN THEIR DRINKING WATER KEEPS URINARY SYSTEM CLEAN AND UNLESS ALLERGIC...BREWER'S YEAST TABLETS ARE A SOURCE OF 17 VITAMINS AND THE 4 AMINOACIDS BODIES NEED... ENERGY, NUTRITION...NATURAL...HOME COOKING BUT ADD TAURINE (EGG WHITE CONTAINS IT...CHECK UP ON IT) BEST TO ALL ANIMAL LOVERS
Please take care when adding any food supplements or using any nutritional additives without veterinarian advice. These may cause harm if a cat's general health is not checked, and size and weight for dosage are not known.
This is an old thread and issues may not longer be appropriate to discuss for original members as health situations can change. If you have issues on this topic it may be more appropriate to start a new thread.
This is an old thread and issues may not longer be appropriate to discuss for original members as health situations can change. If you have issues on this topic it may be more appropriate to start a new thread.
I HAVE SEEN MARVELLOUS RESULTS WITH ROYAL CANIN S/O FELINE AOCUSND DONT FORGET HOMEOPATHY I HAVE TO GIVE MY CATS ZARZAPARILLA AND ARNICA WITH SOME CRANBERRY IN DROPS BUT YOU COULD BUY THEM SEPARATELY AND MIX. A MARVELLOUS PREVENTIVE IS APPLE CIDER VINEGAR IN THEIR DRINKING WATER ALL THEIR LIFE. HELPS KIDNEYS, LIVER AND TEETH. ALSO HELPS AVOID JOINTS PROBLEMS. IF YOU CHECK THE ROYAL CANIN URINARY INGREDIENTS YOU WILL SEE IT CONTEINS MARIGOLD AS DOES YOUNG MALE AND YOUNG FEMALE ROYAL CANIN FOODS. NATURAL INGREDIENT HOMEOPATHY FOCUS
Apple cider vinegar is acidic and may be dangerous for some cats with urinary problems that are caused by too much acid. Consult your vet before using any supplements, as there are different types of crystals and stones. My Bonaparte has done very well on RC urinary (moderate calorie version) following urinary surgery 4 years ago.
Hi SweetPea,
I had a question pertaining to the advice you gave above, we recently took our Marley to the Vet as I noticed by chance that he had blood in his urine--the urinalysis came back that he had WBC and an UTI. The vet said that he also has Struvite Crystal (not sure how they can determine what type of crystals he has). She rx Marley on Royal Canine Urinary SO both wet and dry (previously Marley had only been on dry food when we got him) so my question is how do I introduce wet food to him properly? im giving him half a can to compliment the 1 scoop of dry were giving him and he seems to really love it. I'm also adding some additional water to the wet SO as i know hes not drinking enough water. Any suggestions if I should up the wet food? or how to give him more hydrated?
Thank you!!
I had a question pertaining to the advice you gave above, we recently took our Marley to the Vet as I noticed by chance that he had blood in his urine--the urinalysis came back that he had WBC and an UTI. The vet said that he also has Struvite Crystal (not sure how they can determine what type of crystals he has). She rx Marley on Royal Canine Urinary SO both wet and dry (previously Marley had only been on dry food when we got him) so my question is how do I introduce wet food to him properly? im giving him half a can to compliment the 1 scoop of dry were giving him and he seems to really love it. I'm also adding some additional water to the wet SO as i know hes not drinking enough water. Any suggestions if I should up the wet food? or how to give him more hydrated?
Thank you!!
What seems to be working for my new FLUTD girl is something I learned in one of the threads here, TUNA WATER. Take a can of tuna and put it in a jar (I use a 1quart jar) and add water (I use distilled water) and shake. Let it settle and pour some of the tuna water into a small dish for her. Keep remainder in the refrigerator. MJ has tripled her urinary output from just a few days of this. I am a newbie in dealing with FLUTD although I am an advisor in two other forums. I think I have read every thread about FLUTD on here in the 10 days since I've had this cat and have amassed a considerable number of things to try. I have the L-methionine and litmus test papers on order and they should be here soon so can keep her urine pH at 6.25 to 6.5. I've used the Bragg organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar in the "emergency" dose when she had a flareup and got amazing results quickly. Removing stress, giving plenty of love, a couple of periods of aerobic play daily (DaBird toy), taking her off ALL dry food, which is what she lived on for the last 2 years (I don't even believe the urinary dry foods are good except as treats!), and has gone from a cat that was peeing right red blood in tiny quirts every 15 minutes, crying and straining, to a cat who is happy, not straining, using the itter boxes 90% of the time, and only peeing outside the box when she has a little blood in her urine -- yes, now she actually has URINE, and her bladder capacity is improving each day. This is a cat who had run out of time at the no kill shelter because the vets could never get her roblem fixed -- every time she would spend 2 weeks at the vet and get better, she would relapse within 2 weeks of being back in the cat room at the shelter. She was cranky and had been there a year and a half without being adopted. I took her as a long-term (like meaning she is never going back there) foster to see if I could give her some quality of life by removing stress, getting her off dry food (impossible there) and giving her some one on one attention. We had to work out who was alpha cat for a few days (I won) and now she follows me around like a dog and is beginning to meet some of the other cats (she has her OWN room, however, where she can be at peace most of the time.) She had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I was "out of rescue" but got sucked back in just one more time...... She is not suffering anymore, so she is no longer on the "endangered" list. Had she not responded, she would already be at the Rainbow Bridge, because I couldn't stand to see her as miserable as she was for very long. I haven't used the Royal Canin SO food yet, trying instead to choose from Dr. Pierson's recommendations -- quality animal protein & fats, very low carb (no grains, no fruits, no peas, potatoes etc.). and no dry food of any kind, no fish, low phosphorus.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2015
- Messages
- 4
- Purraise
- 1
about 1 year ago my Sid had a urinary blockage due to crystals. stopped eating couldn't pee, it was awful. Vet put him on prescription diet not the medi-cal SO but another brand they sell. he ate that for the longest time then one day decided he didn't like it anymore. Not sure if the food had gone stale. talked to the vet tech's and they said he should always be on the prescription food otherwise he would likely develop the crystals again. I've just purchased the media-cal SO and like so many others on here I am not impressed with the ingredients.
what exactly is the ingredient in this food that helps prevent the crystals? are there any other foods out there that contain this "special" ingredient that helps prevent crystals?
what exactly is the ingredient in this food that helps prevent the crystals? are there any other foods out there that contain this "special" ingredient that helps prevent crystals?
Good question, and I will wait and see what the experienced experts say. I am new at dealing with FLUTD but have read a lot on here and also went to Dr. Lisa Pierson's page and got her list of foods and their combination of protein, fat and carbs because I know this cat needs high protein & fat and very low carbs and no dry food (S/O or not, she's not getting dry food!) and low phosphorus I'm checking her urine pH now and notice that if it gets to be at least 7.0, that's when she has blood in her urine, and if I can keep it down to where it should be, 6.25-6.5, she does not have the blood. I'm using the organic apple cider vinegar AND L-methionine to adjust the pH. It will take time to figure out the right amounts to keep it perfect but I haven't given up yet. You can get the list of foods at http://www.catinfo.org/
Last edited:
Hello, I see that your post was from awhile ago but I recently adopted a kitten who is about 5 months old now. She was having some problems outside of the box and we brought her in and she has crystals. We have started her on a mix of urinary SO royal canin wet food in the morning and the hard food at the evening. She's been on it for a week and a half and had another accident outside of the box. I was wondering how long it took for the urinary SO to work for your kitty? I am wondering if her body has to get used to the food before it fully works?
