Royal Canin food range

Re: Royal Canin food range

salome2001 — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:03:25 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]

[quote user="Louise Alexander"]I'm a huge fan of feeding cats (and dogs) only wet food, as I think that although dried food is great for convenience, if I was a carnivore, I'd like to eat something that half-resembled my normal prey. It makes me very sad when I see cats having only dried biscuits. [/quote]

I fail to see how the compressed cubes of protein, surrounded by coloured gelatine, which together has the consistency of pate, can be compared to a natural diet. ??? I'm no RMB advocate - but the two don't compare at all. I spend my days telling people that the mush they get out of cans and pouches, that require no processing at all before swallowing, is just a lot of money paid for a lot of water!

[/quote]

agreed

From my perspective, I once fostered a stray cat for 6 weeks that had had an rta and op for fractured leg. I thought "it's not my cat, damned if I'm going to pay for Hills diet like my other cats" and fed it go cat. Well, "Muffin" soon got designated "Fluffin' Muffin" and given that the cat was in a cage (confined) in the corner of our living room, it soon got put onto the premium stuff, and we all breathed (literally) a sigh of relief.

Wouldn't go back to a supermarket food again.

Re: Royal Canin food range

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:39:58 GMT

Anyway, back to the subject. We stock purina proplan and have been very happy with it. We don't say it is the only good food - or make a vast income from it - but it walks off the shelves itself. It probably helps that all the staff pets are on it and we all like it. And we are in a village without a pet shop so some people like the convenience of buying locally.

Re: Royal Canin food range

Jillian Hall — Sat, 08 May 2010 12:59:16 GMT

I fed mine Chappie for a short time but couldnt cope with the sheer volume of faeces and she was regularly toileting in the kitchen overnight a she needed to go so frequently. Currently I feed my GSDX Royal Canin GSD food, and apart from anything else I like the fact that this produces 2 tiny poos, (Ive seen cats do bigger poos) twice a day.

Re: Royal Canin food range

Louise6732 — Sat, 08 May 2010 11:33:39 GMT

[quote user="Clive Ansell"]

Another option for the profession is to start charging for our professionalism rather than depending on counter sales of foods etc. But when there are practices banging out cat dentals for 45 quid, it ain't gonna happen just yet.

[/quote]

I can't believe this! How are they able to do a general anaesthetic plus a scale and polish for £45?! I wonder if they have a VN (trainee or qualfied) monitoring the anaesthetic or if it's up to the vet to do that too?

On the topic of 'What do we feed our pets?' I have a strictly indoor 1.5yr MN cat (he has cerebellar hypoplasia so has to stay in for his safety!) and he eats 90% Felix pouches plus Purina ProPlan biscuits if I know I'll be out for a long time so I can leave something down for him.

I'm a huge fan of feeding cats (and dogs) only wet food, as I think that although dried food is great for convenience, if I was a carnivore, I'd like to eat something that half-resembled my normal prey. It makes me very sad when I see cats having only dried biscuits.

Being a feline fan, I'm slightly obsessed about renal insufficiency and FLUTD so am getting my cat used to lots of water in his diet now while I can!

Re: Royal Canin food range

Bob Russell — Sat, 08 May 2010 10:31:55 GMT

Last night - first meal of half chappie/half Royal Canin - wind free (from the dogs!) so far so good. I am having some entertaining conversations with owners about the subject - we run a relative democracy here!

General feedback is the pricing is crazy - I am concerned that we have done ourselves no favours with our recommendations as far as food is concerned.

There is no way anyone can do a dental for £45 - these patients will probably be back for a proper dental quite soon.

Re: Royal Canin food range

Michael Woodhouse — Fri, 07 May 2010 22:37:27 GMT

Fed my Patterdale Chappy. Made her so windy that didn't buy anymore!

She gets what we have with a bit of out of date/damaged bags from the surgery. Haven't paid for any food since the Chappy about 2 1/2 years ago.

Poor neglected dog (she's sleeping on my lap as I type )

Re: Royal Canin food range

Clive Ansell — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:06:09 GMT

[quote user="Robert Russell"]

Apparently mobility support 14Kg is listed at £72.95!!!!

One option is to recommend trying on-line sources for existing clients but my concern would be that this is one more nail in the coffin for small, local veterinary practices.

[/quote]

Try chemistdirect.co.uk, same bag of food for £52.99 inc free delivery, they say its RRP is £102.38.

Over £100 for a bag of dog food is ridiculous nonsense, it would want to be pretty god damned good stuff for that (call me Mr Cynical if you like, but I have my doubts). I have just been working at a charity clinic in one of the welsh valleys, one of the most deprived areas in the country. The people there struggle to feed themselves, buying mainly the Tesco (everything else is closed/gone bust), "value" range sh-eye-te. I guess they would not spend >£100 on a bag of food for the dog?.

[quote user="Robert Russell"]

My dogs will be slumming it on Chappie for the month to see how things go!

[/quote]

Nothing wrong with it, I fed it my Labrador for 14 years and he was always healthy with a shiny coat and great teeth.

Re: Royal Canin food range

Sean Dunne — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:54:47 GMT

We sell the royal canin prescription diets but we don't have the "normal" diets in stock. Some folks will buy the neutered cat food or breed specific food once or twice but rarely do they stick with it. If I saw huge differences between the dogs fed one way or the other i would probably change tack but I see happy old dogs on all types of food.

As for alternatives I tend to advise re ingredients more than specific brands. I suggest leaning away from wheat soya and the like and in the "skin" breeds i suggest going for the "hypoallergenic" end of the scale like Wafcol, JWB.

The dogs in my life eat Chappie. And if asked I tell clients.

Re: Royal Canin food range

Bob Russell — Fri, 07 May 2010 09:39:46 GMT

Apparently mobility support 14Kg is listed at £72.95!!!!

They are obviously on a different planet. I am starting to discuss this at length with clients to see what their opinions are. I still consider the range good but no longer good value and have started to make this clear.

One option is to recommend trying on-line sources for existing clients but my concern would be that this is one more nail in the coffin for small, local veterinary practices.

We will not recommend products that we would not use ourselves.

My dogs will be slumming it on Chappie for the month to see how things go!

Re: Royal Canin food range

Rob Smith — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:43:57 GMT

It is particularly difficult to justify when there is usually NO decent trialls to show any kind of efficacy...and if there is, it will be a poorly-designed internal study....how can you justify such high prices without decent evidence in peer-reviewd journals!?

Re: Royal Canin food range

Rob Smith — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:41:26 GMT

I have no doubt Royal Canin read these forums. Can we have a response please?

How can you justify the prices?

Re: Royal Canin food range

Bob Russell — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:11:24 GMT

She says terribly sorry - it comes from head office!

I cannot stand in my consulting room and sell a £50 bag of pet food with a totally clear concience.

I would appreciate more suggestions for alternatives!!!

Re: Royal Canin food range

Rob Loxley — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:05:47 GMT

And they keep discontinuing one food and making another and changing the pack sizes, it's all a faff to deal with. Hills are no better; they've been using vets to push Science Plan for years, but did claim to have reduced the kg-for-kg price recently.
For fullness, we don't keep stock in of any 'normal/lifestyle' food, just some of the regularly used clinical diets, and sell v. little lifestyle food.
What does your territory manager say?

Re: Royal Canin food range

Bob Russell — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:39:36 GMT

I am starting to think that this is the way we will go. Royal Canin seem to constantly hike prices so it is getting very difficult for me to stand in the consult room and actively promote the food with a clear conscience.

Re: Royal Canin food range

Malcolm Ness — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:32:43 GMT

We don't sell any dog food now except small amounts of "prescription" diets.

Our own dogs are fed a combination of Chappie, out of date prescription diets and raw meaty bones - but only if they catch that themselves!

Re: Royal Canin food range

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:47:18 GMT

[quote user="Robert Russell"]I would appreciate other vets views - are we being used to sell overpriced foods? [/quote]

Yes, on the whole.

[quote user="Robert Russell"]Are we seen to be a soft-touch by the pet food industry?[/quote]

I don't know about a soft touch, they probably curse our sales resistance, but we are seen as an indispensable market to cultivate I reckon.

[quote user="Robert Russell"] What other (more economical) commercial pet foods have you had good results with?[/quote]

Chappie.

[quote user="Robert Russell"] I want to give my clients sound feeding advice, with the convenience of dry foods without feeling they are being ripped off. We are making an acceptable but not impressive mark up on the food but it is not a great profit generator![/quote]

Well, one suggestion would be to stop selling the stuff, apart from prescription diets, and save the capital outlay and the storage space. Continue to advise and recommend whatever you think you should...... your advice will be the more respected because you are not selling the food.