Royal Canin And Its Strategic Marketing Tools

[10009891]

This afternoon I was an impulsive buyer and purchased Royal Canin Digest kibble. The food claimed your cat would digest the food very well and would cause odorless poo and less litter box cleanups. As soon as I went to my car, I continued focusing on the ingredients. There was NO MEAT! Only chicken meal as the 3rd ingredient!!! The bag cost $33.89! I went back and returned it. They have a lineup of all different type of food according to your cats breed, age, hair length, size, weight, indoor, outdoor, and I won’t be surprised to see according to your cats color. The prices are also outrageous. How they stay in business? How they have the monetary overhead to put out all these products???

 

[Furballsmom]

...if I had to guess, I think theyre able to because they have veterinary clinics support, maybe?

 

[Willowy]

Hey, they make Royal Canin in North Sioux City! I know a few people who work there or at the Iams plant. They get free food. One guy has 3 Mastiffs because he doesn't have to worry about dog food prices .

Anyway. Back in the '80s and early '90s, RC really was one of the higher-quality foods (so was Iams). I don't know if that's because all the other foods were super low quality or if they've changed their ingredients. But they developed a reputation back then and a lot of breeders still use their foods because of that.

I think it's terribly overpriced for the quality. But it's not the worst food, at least.

 

[Wile]

This afternoon I was an impulsive buyer and purchased Royal Canin Digest kibble. The food claimed your cat would digest the food very well and would cause odorless poo and less litter box cleanups. As soon as I went to my car, I continued focusing on the ingredients. There was NO MEAT! Only chicken meal as the 3rd ingredient!!! The bag cost $33.89! I went back and returned it. They have a lineup of all different type of food according to your cats breed, age, hair length, size, weight, indoor, outdoor, and I won’t be surprised to see according to your cats color. The prices are also outrageous. How they stay in business? How they have the monetary overhead to put out all these products???

It's funny, my vet recommended royal canin to me this summer for my cat's medical condition. The prescription hypoallergenic multicare diet is even worse than what you are describing. Chicken meal doesn't sound too bad; at least it is a named protein. The multicare food has hydrolyzed soy protein as the main protein and the only real animal ingredient is chicken fat - no meat! It is practically vegetarian.

I get the sense from my vet that in general dog owners care more about the quality of the ingredients in their food than cat owners. The two higher quality prescription foods I order from them - Hilary's and Rayne - have versions for cats and dogs. My vet carries the dog version in the office, but had to special order and enter the information into their system for the cat version at the time I ordered it. I am the first person they have sold the Rayne prescription diet to. I think they favour the royal canin because it is the cheapest of the prescription foods.

 

[Kflowers]

I've been researching online and discovered that Iams and Royal Canin are owned by the Mars corporation which owns
Banfield Vets, VCA and in the UK The Lenniaeus Group. By acquiring VCA, Mars Petcare also became the owner of Antech Diagnostics, one of the largest veterinary laboratories in the U.S.; and Sound, a major purveyor of veterinary medical equipment.

Other pet foods owned by Mars Corp.

Authority

Big Red dog food

Berkley Jensen cat food

Blue Buffalo can
Canidae can
Castor Pollux Can

Ceasar

CATSAN®,

CHAPPI®,

CRAVE®

DREAMIES®

Dogswell can

Eukanuba, (possibly owned by P&G)

FROLIC®

Goodlife – this division/line of mars is currently under a lawsuit involving slave labor.

GREENIES®

Iams,

KITEKAT®

Life’s Abundance Can

Nature’s Logic Can
Nature’s Variety can also made by Del Monte

Natura brands (California Natural and Evo),

Nutro – bad UTIs bad

Ol Roy dry

Petcurean can
Pedigree
PERFECT FIT®

PILL POCKETS®

Royal Canin

SHEBA®

SPECIAL KITTY®

TEMPTATIONS®

THE GOODLIFE RECIPE®

WHISKAS®


Be aware that pet food companies are sold frequently.

 

[10009891]

Wow, that answers my question. But I do not see any Mars official complaints against their cat food practices.

 

[Kflowers]

I'm not saying there are complaints, pre se. I'm merely connecting who owns what to help in one's consideration. Particularly the price. And to show that the price maybe influenced because as Furballsmom said the pet food company has veterinarian support.

You aren't likely to see any complaints about a company until there is a recall. I believe recalls are dependent upon the number of pets made sick or who died. I have no idea how many are required before the FDA will ask for a recall.

For example the FDA doesn't seem to be willing to stop the animals killed in Hurricane Florence from being rendered. The animals killed by Florence will be buried, composted or “rendered” for usable parts, state officials said.

Here is the North Carolina dept of Agriculture site -
Florence’s Death Toll Includes Millions of Animals


Millions of Drowned Decomposing Livestock Animals allowed to be Rendered

To find complaints and reviews of individual pet foods: Google name of the cat food - for example Whiskas- reviews and complaints. I don't remember anything in particular about Whiskas it's just the one at the bottom of the list so I got the spelling right.

 

[Azazel]

A long time ago I had a kitten who puked every time they ate RC. I told the vet and she said that my kitten had digestive issues, it wasn't the RC because it was the top quality pet food on the market. This vet also had RC bags and ads in every room and corner of her practice. I switched this kitten to raw food and he never threw up again. Now imagine if the tables were turned and the kitten was eating raw food and throwing up. This same vet would probably be quick to say it was because of some bacterial infection due to the raw.

I wouldn't consult with 90% of vets on nutrition advice and I'll never support a company owned by Mars.

 

[molly92]

Royal Canin literally puts feather meal in some of their foods on purpose and thinks it's a good idea:

Dog Food Made From Feathers: A Win-Win for Royal Canin

Royal Canin has always had entirely the wrong approach in my opinion. But, they have also gotten worse. There's one ingredient that they didn't use to have but have increased it in all their foods over the past few years. I think it might have been corn...something like that. My old boss used to point that out to people who had always fed Royal Canin thinking it was the best.

 

[10009891]

When I purchased my Ragdoll from a breeder, she gave me a kit of Royal Canin food. I looked into the ingredients and it was mostly brewers rice, corn gluten meal, chicken fat, yeast, chicken meal, pork plasma, and natural favors.

 

[LadyLondonderry]

When I purchased my Ragdoll from a breeder, she gave me a kit of Royal Canin food. I looked into the ingredients and it was mostly brewers rice, corn gluten meal, chicken fat, yeast, chicken meal, pork plasma, and natural favors.

As W Willowy mentioned, some pet-food brands are still trading on a reputation they earned decades ago and are no longer living up to. When I bought my Snowshoe from a breeder in 1986, the vet I took her to recommended Iams, which his office sold. In those days it really was considered a premium brand. Today, not so much ... but some vets and breeders may not keep up to date.

 

[Willowy]

For example the FDA doesn't seem to be willing to stop the animals killed in Hurricane Florence from being rendered. The animals killed by Florence will be buried, composted or “rendered” for usable parts, state officials said.

Rendered animals don't always go into pet food. Rendered animals are also used in livestock feed, soap, biofuel, fertilizer, etc.

 

[lalagimp]

I remember seeing a formula of Royal Canin on the shelf and being excited with "that's EXACTLY what I need" and then I turned the bag over and read the list, exclaimed "yikes" and put it back.
Lots of people still don't read labels, or they don't understand what they are looking for, so then they don't read labels either.

 

[Kflowers]

Willowy, thanks for the information, it makes me feel a better. Though including the rendered animals in livestock feed isn't really my idea of a good thing. However, I'm certain I don't know the process for making livestock feed - perhaps that takes care of any problems. That must be the difference since people as well as animals eat the livestock. Thanks again for posting the different uses, it really helps.

 

[saleri]

Royal Canin literally puts feather meal in some of their foods on purpose and thinks it's a good idea:

Dog Food Made From Feathers: A Win-Win for Royal Canin

Royal Canin has always had entirely the wrong approach in my opinion. But, they have also gotten worse. There's one ingredient that they didn't use to have but have increased it in all their foods over the past few years. I think it might have been corn...something like that. My old boss used to point that out to people who had always fed Royal Canin thinking it was the best.

What's wrong with feathers? Quite a few raw feeders put feathers in the food.

 

[molly92]

What's wrong with feathers? Quite a few raw feeders put feathers in the food.

What's wrong is that feathers are the only protein in the food! No meat!

 

[10009891]

What you guys think about this site on raw food feeding?

The CAT Store | RAW Cat food & Treats | TCFeline Premix | Whole Body Care