Royal Canin vs Science Diet -UTI

adventuregirl

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So Phoenix has crystals in his urine. This is my third cat to have UTI issues. The vet started him on prescription Royal Canin while he was in the hospital. In the past for other cats Science Diet has been what was recommended. The cost is nearly the same and ingredients look pretty similar. I just know Science Diet works and have no experience with Royal Canin. Does it work as good as Science Diet?
 

Maurey

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If they have the same active ingredient, they’ll have the same efficacy. That said, ideally you want to feed wet food of either formulation, and completely cut dry from the diet long term, if at all possible. Dry food is the worst thing you can feed to a cat with a history of crystals, as they form due to a urine pH imbalance, which is caused by a combination of low protein diet and not enough moisture.

That said, neither are suitable as a long-term diets, so you’ll want to be back to the vet’s to check for crystals in around a month’s time. The quality of the food isn’t great and the active ingredient can form oxalate stones if it’s fed for too long, which tend to be harder to get rid of than struvite.

FWIW, after a friend transitioned their cat from combination Hills urinary wet and dry (as a long-term diet, rather than short-term solution) to raw (though high protein, low carb wet would have a similar effect), he’s not had an incident of crystals or cystitis, while on the vet food, he frequently had to be on metacam for blood in the urine (crystals & cystitis).
 

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Hi. Although Feeby had oxalate stones, which had to be removed surgically, she was placed on Hill's C/D and later I added RC SO - mainly for variety. She ate those in mostly dry for many, many years, but I later added the canned versions of both. She has never had stones since then. However, I did stop feeding her any of them about 2-3 years back, primarily because she decided she didn't like any of them. She is now strictly on canned foods and - knock on wood - still has had no recurrence of stones.

You might want to ask the vet why RC over Hill's and see what they say, just so you know their viewpoint. But, I would definitely add the canned versions to Phoenix' diet.
 
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adventuregirl

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Hi. Although Feeby had oxalate stones, which had to be removed surgically, she was placed on Hill's C/D and later I added RC SO - mainly for variety. She ate those in mostly dry for many, many years, but I later added the canned versions of both. She has never had stones since then. However, I did stop feeding her any of them about 2-3 years back, primarily because she decided she didn't like any of them. She is now strictly on canned foods and - knock on wood - still has had no recurrence of stones.

You might want to ask the vet why RC over Hill's and see what they say, just so you know their viewpoint. But, I would definitely add the canned versions to Phoenix' diet.
Do you recommend both canned and dry? Or just canned exclusively? I've always done both since dry helps keep teeth in good shape. The vet gave him dry.
 

Maurey

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I've always done both since dry helps keep teeth in good shape.
This is a common misconception. Dry food is much too soft for it to do any scaling of the teeth, even if the cat did bite into any of the kibble, instead of swallowing it mostly whole (as most cats will). As I mentioned in my previous post, stick with wet food. Kibble provides no health benefits over wet food.
 

FeebysOwner

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Do you recommend both canned and dry? Or just canned exclusively? I've always done both since dry helps keep teeth in good shape. The vet gave him dry.
As mentioned above, a lot of people think the idea of dry food helping with keeping a cat from getting dental issues isn't valid. I will say the only one of my cats that had dental issues was the one that was never fed dry food. So, as far as I am concerned, there is no actual proof one way or the either. And, there are also cats who are just prone to dental issues, just like some humans are.

However, if Phoenix likes canned food, there probably isn't any real reason to give him the dry too since the canned food contains so much more moisture, especially if he isn't an avid water drinker. Feeby did fine on the dry, but she has always loved her water. If Phoenix does like dry - perhaps to munch on in between meals, I see no reason not to allow him to have some. But, certainly, get his major food intake to be the canned versions.
 

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Genetics play a role in dental health.
But just like munching on crackers won't clean your teeth, neither will dry cat food clean a cats teeth.
I would not feed a cat with urinary problems dry food. People tend to feed dry for convenience and it is now seen as a norm.
 

MyDuma

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If they have the same active ingredient, they’ll have the same efficacy. That said, ideally you want to feed wet food of either formulation, and completely cut dry from the diet long term, if at all possible. Dry food is the worst thing you can feed to a cat with a history of crystals, as they form due to a urine pH imbalance, which is caused by a combination of low protein diet and not enough moisture.

That said, neither are suitable as a long-term diets, so you’ll want to be back to the vet’s to check for crystals in around a month’s time. The quality of the food isn’t great and the active ingredient can form oxalate stones if it’s fed for too long, which tend to be harder to get rid of than struvite.

FWIW, after a friend transitioned their cat from combination Hills urinary wet and dry (as a long-term diet, rather than short-term solution) to raw (though high protein, low carb wet would have a similar effect), he’s not had an incident of crystals or cystitis, while on the vet food, he frequently had to be on metacam for blood in the urine (crystals & cystitis).
I am brand spanking new here. I had a cat get so blocked that we had to put him down. That was my Duma. After he past a year later his brother got blocked. We unblocked him and then a year later after being on Royal can so and hill’s cd hard food he got a uti. Meds cleared him up. Started nothing but Royal can so wet and no issues. He started throwing it up and stopped eating it. Switched him to Purina pro plan urinary focus wet food sometimes diluted with distilled. So far no uti this past year. I have a new vet and he recommended Hill CD. But he is doing good on the Purina and I had concerns over keeping him on prescription food long term. Thanks for the info. I am assuming the ingredient that you are referring to is DL- Methionine.
 

kakers

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The Royal Canin SO and Hills C/D are both roughly equivalent though they work ever so slightly differently. When ours had his blockage our vet sent us home with samples of both in the dry food so we could pick the one he liked better. At that point the Royal Canin cost a little more but he preferred it so we went with it. Lately we've been noticing more digestive issues with him and the other cats so I talked to his new vet and we'll be switching to C/D to see if that helps and she said they're basically equivalent quality wise. We now feed him some dry and some wet. I'd love to have him on wet exclusively but for various reasons it's just not currently practical, but he IS at least getting some wet food every day now.

Anyways long story short, ours has been on SO since 2015 and hasn't had any other urinary issues since so in our experience it works.
 

Heart For Cats

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Do you recommend both canned and dry? Or just canned exclusively? I've always done both since dry helps keep teeth in good shape. The vet gave him dry.
The answer is wet food only for the rest of your cat's life, whether she has a urinary problem or not. The only reason "urinary" dry food is even a thing is money money money. Veterinarians prescribe what they can sell. Especially for a cat with any urinary problem, nothing is more important than water in the can.
 
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