For your cat who has been castrated or sterilized, selecting the proper diet is crucial to their overall health and wellbeing. Following surgery, cats’ nutritional requirements change, and maintaining their ideal weight and general health is made easier with a well-balanced diet.
For cats who have been castrated or sterilized, Royal Canin offers specialty cat food. It gives just the right amount of nutrients and aids in preventing weight gain, which is a common side effect following surgery.
This food is designed to help your cat’s urinary system and make sure they get all the vitamins and minerals they need. You can provide your cat with the care they require at every stage of life by choosing Royal Canin.
The Royal Canin cat food for castrated and sterilized cats is especially designed to satisfy your pet’s post-surgery nutritional needs. It gives your cat the ideal balance of nutrients to keep them in peak condition, helps them maintain a healthy weight, and supports urinary health. This food is a good choice for long-term health and well-being because it is made to address common issues like weight gain and urinary problems that can occur after sterilization.
- Where Royal Canin food is produced
- Detailed characteristics of Royal Canin food for neutered and sterilized cats and cats
- Table: assortment of Royal Canin food for sterilized and castrated animals
- Cost and availability
- Composition
- Visual comparison of Royal Canin products with other feeds for castrated and sterilized animals
- Table: Comparison of feeds for spayed and neutered animals
- Video on the topic
- Why I stopped feeding my cat Royal Canin dry food? Our mini story
- About.12 Nutrition for neutered and spayed cats. Review of Royal Canin Sterilised dry food and others
- Food for sterilized cats and neutered cats from 1 to 7 years old Royal Canin Sterilised 37
- Review of Royal Canin food for sterilized cats
Where Royal Canin food is produced
The manufacturer has the majority of its factories in France. One business is situated in the Moscow area of Russia. Pet owners advise that purchasing food made in France is preferable, if at all possible. The advice has some merit: because animal products are allowed in Russia under less stringent regulations, the diets that the same manufacturer provides to overseas customers are frequently of a higher caliber. There are more factories in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Great Britain, Canada, and South Africa, but Russia does not receive food from these countries.
Every food packaging has the product logo on it.
Detailed characteristics of Royal Canin food for neutered and sterilized cats and cats
There are many different products in the Royal Canin premium food line. There are various kinds of diets available, even for spayed and neutered animals. For instance, dry food is sold separately for male and female cats. In actuality, the primary distinctions are in the caloric content and certain mineral concentrations. This is a questionable benefit because there are some foods that don’t really differ from one another. Since male and female cats share the same foods in the wild, a small alteration to the diet’s nutritional composition won’t have a major long-term impact.
Some food varieties are merely marketing gimmicks, while others truly deviate significantly from the conventional recipes.
The presence of wet food in the line can be considered an undeniable advantage. Their combination with granules allows you to increase fluid intake and reduce trauma to the mucous membranes during digestion. This is well suited for animals with increased sensitivity of digestion or inflammatory diseases of neighboring internal organs. Wet food is the most acceptable option for pets that drink little. In most cases, urolithiasis develops due to insufficient fluid intake. I had the opportunity to indirectly verify this personally: my sister has 2 cats, one of which drinks less than 20-30 ml per day. The other drinks 2-3 times more. A cat that drinks less liquid is more often bothered by diseases of the urinary system, incl. . urolithiasis. The second pet is in good health. After a visit to the clinic, the veterinarian advised transferring the animals either to natural food or mainly to wet food. This helped reduce the frequency of exacerbations.
Some other Royal Canin foods that are not part of the main line are suitable for sterilized and neutered cats. The manufacturer states in the diet description whether the food helps prevent urolithiasis.
Another successful solution is the presence in the line of food for sterilized and castrated animals that are fundamentally different in calorie content. For example, the energy value of the Indoor diet, which is intended for pets that go outside and is conditionally suitable for cats and cats after surgery, is 374 kcal. This is a relatively high figure. Such calorie content is necessary for animals that lead an active lifestyle. The food is also well suited for sterilized and castrated pets with low weight. The Royal Canin Neutered Young Female diet contains fewer calories: 361 kcal per 100 g. This is the optimal figure for animals without any special problems with body weight. The average energy value will help to slightly correct the figure and maintain weight at one level.
Table: assortment of Royal Canin food for sterilized and castrated animals
Food type | Type | Distinctive features |
Royal Canin Ageing Sterilised 12+ | Dry | Contains less phosphorus, which helps prevent the development of kidney disease. An antioxidant complex reduces the risk of cancer. The food is suitable for cats over 12 years old. |
Royal Canin Sterilised and Royal Canin Sterilised 37 | Dry and wet | There are several types of wet food: pate, pieces with sauce, jelly, etc. . This can be a significant advantage for owners of picky cats. Royal Canin Sterilised 37 is a standard dry food for castrated and sterilized animals without special needs. It contains L-carnitine, which facilitates the process of burning fat, and is also characterized by reduced calorie content. The food contains relatively little starch, which can increase appetite. The product maintains an optimal (6-6.5) level of urine acidity, preventing the formation of stones. The food is suitable for animals from 1 to 7 years old. |
Royal Canin Sterilised 7+ | Dry | The diet contains relatively little phosphorus, but its share is still higher than in the case of Royal Canin Ageing Sterilised 12+. The manufacturer gradually reduces the proportions of minerals, which helps to avoid the development of pathologies. Additionally, the composition includes chondroprotectors that prevent age-related destruction of joints. |
Royal Canin Urinary Care | Dry and wet | Royal Canin Urinary Care food can no longer be classified as a preventive, but as a veterinary product, although it is not a full-fledged therapeutic product. It prevents the formation of stones by reducing the proportion of minerals and the saturation of urine. Additionally, the level of acidity of urine is normalized. Wet food also increases the volume of urine, which further reduces the saturation. The transition to this diet should be carried out after consulting a veterinarian if there is a suspicion of the initial stage of urolithiasis or an increased risk of developing pathology. |
Royal Canin Light Weight Care and Royal Canin Ultra Light pouches | Dry and wet | Weight Care and Ultra Light foods help correct the condition of animals with excess weight or obesity. Dry food contains only 353 kcal per 100 g, which promotes weight loss while observing the size of the recommended daily portion. This food is suitable for neutered and sterilized pets, as it maintains the health of the urinary system by reducing the proportion of minerals in the composition. The manufacturer uses special fiber, which increases in volume when it enters the stomach, to adjust the pet"s appetite. |
Royal Canin Kitten Sterilised | Dry | Food is given to small kittens after rehabilitation up to 1 year. It contains relatively few calories and minerals, but more than other types of dietary rations. This is due to the fact that kittens need more fats and nutrients for active growth. Additionally, the corporation produces special food for kittens, which is given to babies before castration or sterilization. This helps to smoothly prepare the animal"s body for a change in diet. |
Neutered series of food | Dry and wet | Relatively new food. The manufacturer assures that the diets help control weight and appetite, maintain normal urine acidity levels, and also prevent the development of diabetes. There are doubts about the latter, since the disease appears mainly due to an excess of cereals with fast carbohydrates in the composition, and the food contains a lot of corn, wheat and rice. In general, this is a solid average product that helps prevent the main problems of castrated animals – urolithiasis and obesity. It can be called a slightly improved version of Royal Canin Sterilised. |
Skin Young series of food and Skin& pouches Coat Formula | Dry and wet | The food contains unsaturated fatty acids, inositol, choline, niacin, pantothenic acid and histidine. These substances help create a protective film on the skin and prevent fluid loss. This makes the skin more elastic and flexible. The food, like all representatives of the line, is suitable for castrated and sterilized animals, as it helps to correct the acidity level of urine. |
Cost and availability
One kilogram of dry food costs 600 rubles on average. Pouches (85 or 100 g) cost between 60 and 70 rubles. Depending on the type of food, the price may go up or down a little. Products from Royal Canin are available at any pet store. Large hypermarkets occasionally carry these diets.
Composition
We will take into consideration the contents of the standard diets for sterilized animals—Royal Canin Sterilized 37 and Royal Canin Sterilized—because there are many different types of food in the line. We chose one dry product and one wet product in order to get an objective evaluation. Let’s begin with the final one.
The following items are included in the list of ingredients for Royal Canin Sterilized:
- meat and meat by-products;
- by-products of plant origin;
- cereals;
- vegetable protein extracts;
- minerals;
- carbohydrate sources.
Many people will assume that this is healthy food right away because meat and meat byproducts are the main ingredients. The percentage of pure muscle tissue is actually quite low. The manufacturer would have given them different names if it had used meat or entire carcasses devoid of internal organs. In this instance, the company is attempting to hide dubious components behind appealing names. Remember that water, which is plentiful in the pate, can also conditionally be included in the first position. Additionally, the manufacturer does not specify the kind of meat or by-products that are used.
There are questions regarding the quality of the wet food because the chopped pieces don’t look or feel like meat.
The food contains several plant ingredients at once: by-products of plant origin, protein extracts and cereals. The type of carbohydrate sources is not specified, but most likely these are cereal derivatives. This is unacceptable for cat diets, since predators do not digest plant ingredients well. Cereals contain practically no nutrients. It would be better if the manufacturer replaced them with legumes, vegetables and fruits. In this case, grains are used as a cheap filler. Individual extracts, rather than whole ingredients, help to create an attractive balance of proteins and carbohydrates. They put less stress on the gastrointestinal tract, but with long-term feeding on these diets, a deficiency of vitamins and minerals may occur. Difficulties in switching to other foods in the future are not excluded.
The following items are included in the list of ingredients for Royal Canin Sterilized 37:
- dehydrated animal proteins (poultry);
- vegetable protein isolate;
- wheat;
- cereal flour;
- vegetable fiber;
- animal fats;
- hydrolyzed animal proteins (flavoring additives);
- rice;
- minerals;
- fish oil;
- yeast and fermentation by-products;
- soybean oil;
- fructooligosaccharides;
- ammonium chloride.
It is admirable that an ingredient with animal origin holds the top spot, but overall, there are still more vegetable ingredients. These consist of rice, wheat, protein isolate, flour, and vegetable fiber, among others. Amino acids that have been dehydrated are also not the best ingredients. It is best to give cats whole meat since it is more natural and has more vitamins and minerals. Pet owners with allergies should exercise caution because the manufacturer does not specify a particular kind of meat. There’s a chance that the animal mixture’s makeup varies with every batch.
The ideal dry food composition would have a lot of meat, some offal, and some vegetable additives to mimic the animal’s natural diet.
Grain is not as necessary for cats. In animals, allergies to wheat are common. The pancreas is burdened more by grains. When converting to Royal Canin food, this should be considered, particularly if the pet has been fed higher-quality diets in the past. Grandorf was eaten by my neighbor’s kitten prior to sterilization. The veterinarian suggested switching to Royal Canin after castration. Consequently, the pet developed pancreatitis, which was discovered after six months. The animal is already compelled to sit on a diet at this age, which may cause other illnesses to arise later on.
Indirectly, the pale hue of the granules suggests that there are too many cereals in the mixture.
Food from Royal Canin may contain harmful ingredients. The type of yeast is not specified by the company. The company undoubtedly uses bakery goods that may be harmful to digestive systems. Ammonium chloride is a flavor enhancer and food additive (E510). Although the component’s potential harm is not well supported by data, several countries forbid the addition of this ingredient to goods intended for human consumption. There are no such limitations in Russia. Flavor enhancers are unnecessary for cats, so this is an unnecessary and potentially hazardous additional ingredient. It could not have been incorporated into the composition by the manufacturer.
Visual comparison of Royal Canin products with other feeds for castrated and sterilized animals
Many pet owners observe that while Royal Canin food makes their animals feel good, there are certain compositional issues. The diets’ price-to-quality ratio isn’t the best; there are alternatives that are more affordable or of higher quality. But Royal Canin is by no means the worst cuisine. We will examine a few more diets that are appropriate for animals that have been spayed or neutered in order to verify this.
Table: Comparison of feeds for spayed and neutered animals
- dehydrated animal proteins (poultry);
- vegetable protein isolate;
- wheat;
- cereal flour;
- vegetable fiber;
- animal fats;
- hydrolyzed animal proteins (flavors);
- rice;
- minerals;
- fish oil.
- wheat flour;
- meal of animal origin (including chicken meal at least 4% in brown granules);
- plant protein extracts;
- rice;
- animal fats and vegetable oil;
- dried chicken and pork liver;
- brewer"s yeast;
- vitamins and minerals.
- duck and turkey meal;
- beef meal;
- hydrolyzed chicken protein;
- dried turkey liver;
- duck fat;
- corn and rice flour;
- corn gluten;
- vegetable fiber;
- beet pulp;
- potassium chloride.
- dehydrated turkey meat;
- dehydrated duck meat;
- dehydrated rabbit meat;
- whole brown rice;
- dehydrated lamb meat;
- fresh turkey meat;
- turkey fat;
- flaxseed;
- dried chicory (natural source of FOS and inulin);
- dried Antarctic krill (natural source of EPA and DHA).
Food Type | Description |
Royal Canin Sterilized 37 | Designed to maintain a healthy weight for sterilized cats, rich in proteins and reduced fat. |
Royal Canin Sterilised Appetite Control | Helps control hunger while supporting weight management for sterilized cats prone to overeating. |
Royal Canin Sterilised 7+ | Formulated for sterilized cats over 7 years old, promoting vitality and kidney health. |
Royal Canin Sterilised 12+ | Supports aging cats with a balanced diet, focusing on joint support and urinary health. |
For cats who have been castrated or sterilized, Royal Canin cat food is a sensible option to keep them healthy. It offers balanced nutrition catered to their needs, supports urinary health, and aids in weight management.
You’re attending to the special dietary needs associated with sterilization by selecting this specialized food. This can keep your cat healthy and active by preventing common health problems.
All things considered, Royal Canin provides a reliable option that fosters long-term wellness and guarantees your cat receives the attention they require in their regular meals.