# Royal Canin "Urinary SO" cat food



## bcfromva

A few years ago my female cat was having difficulties urinating (I noticed it seemed painful to her and I found drops of blood around the cat box). My vet put her on Royal Canin Urinary SO cat food. That helped the initial problems, but when I moved her back to regular food, they returned. Consequently, she's been on a Royal Canin diet since then with no additional problems.

However, for some reason I don't fully understand, this food requires a prescription. This means that on top of the ridiculous cost of the food to begin with, I need to take her to the vets and spend another $100 just to have them renew the prescription every so often. My question is: is there an alternative food that serves the same function as Royal Canin Urinary SO, but doesn't require a prescription? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.


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## Claiken

maybe its different here, but here we have to buy it at a vets office, but we can just go in and buy it... no prescrip needed. the vet recommended it so we started buying it kinda thing. im sure they just havent thought of that extra way to rip us off yet!! lol


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## bcfromva

I tried that, but they didn't let me. They're just trying to get as much money as possible -- maybe I just need a new vet! I have read that the Royal Canin food has other undesirable qualities, and would like to find a replacement that would be healthful for the cat's urinary tract without the detriments or the need for a prescription. I'm sure such a food exists, hopefully someone on this forum can help.

Thanks.


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## kwarendorf

Sounds to me like you're right, you need a new vet! Anyone that charges you $100 to renew a prescription has their interest, not you cat's, at heart. I've had to feed prescrition diet to Franklin more than once. I've been able to resupply at different outlets without a problem, as long as I had a prescription. I have been able to get prescriptions without charge from two different vets.


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## Jenyfyr

I'll bet with a bit of research you could find a more affordable replacement that would be healthier, ingredient wise, for your kitty. Our vet recommended that stuff for one of our boys when he had a UTI and he wouldn't touch it...but he wasn't on wet food at the time and is very picky, so that wasn't necessarily a reflection of the food. I did buy one bag of the dry RC urinary SO on the vet's recommendation and my boys ate it, but since it was almost $50 a bag I switched to Nutram urinary dry male food. They're now on a 99.9% wet diet so I'm not as worried about a particular diet for them.

I got off topic there...sorry! I don't know much about the RC SO brand but I wonder if there's a reason that vets suggest it (beyond profit) - does it have a particular acidity, ph balance, etc. I would call around to some different vets and make some inquiries. It's one thing for them to suggest that your cat be on a particular food, but to then charge you for an appointment and prescription as well...that seems shady, quite frankly, especially when I'm sure they're charging a premium for the food. I do know that RC doesn't have the quality ingredients of some of the premium foods out there (i.e. Natural Balance, Wellness, Innova) and while they aren't cheap, I do think they'd be more cost effective than an over priced vet brand. You might want to call some local pet stores, if you have them (not Petsmart type places) and see what they suggest as well - I've found the smaller stores around here tend to have more knowledgable employees who have made some valid suggestions for my boys in the past. Good luck!


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## Claiken

hmmm... so question for all kitties with pee issues... what can you eat??


haha.... but really though, is there a better for them alternative that will do the trick and not be questionable?? im really considering things now...


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## 1frankie7

My cat had a "pee problem" a few years back, and natural balance is alright for him. I don't feed it anymore though.


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## BobMitsJay

I'm from the UK and I don't know why its different over here but when Jay was having pee troubles the vets put him on royal SO.
It's expensive from a vets but Ive done some research and I now buy mine off the Internet for a fraction of the price with no prescription needed.

Google it and loads of suppliers will come up.

Hope that helps

Steff


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## SigmaWhisky

Have you tried feeding your cat a raw food diet or a species appropriate diet?

Both Sigma and Whisky peed outside the box when on dry food. Our vet prescribed a similar food to yours from a different manufacturer (Hill's science).
Although this food was indeed better and did relieve the problem but once we went back to dry food the problem just returned.

The reason for this is that most dry foods are based on corn or other non-meat products. Cats digestive systems are _not_ supposed to digest most of the primary ingredients that dry foods are made of. 

Realizing we were at a dead end we researched into other diets and we started them off on high quality wet canned foods (70% or more of the first ingredient being quality [non by product] meat or fish) and we saw an immediate improvement in their peeing behavior but also complete digestion. They pooped much less and Sigma (who was overweight [from dry food as we concluded later]) started to balance out in weight again - slowly returning to his target weight.

There's a boatload of information available on switching your cat should you be interested/able to. Most prominent cat connoisseurs will tell you that raw or wet food will always be better for your cat's health than a dry food.

Hope this helps somewhat!


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## Claiken

well, i know for sure we need some dry, but its a matter of what dry, that wont aggrivate/create a pee issue. i wonder if theres a better vet diet even? I bet the vets arent aware that its changed ingredients.

originally, the plan for the SO was that the salt content was higher, causing extra thirst, causing a clean, clear urinary tract/a good amount of pees/crystals wont form or get stuck if they do slightly form. 
im not even sure now if the salt content is higher... i should check out the bag.


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## audkal

Claiken said:


> originally, the plan for the SO was that the salt content was higher, causing extra thirst, causing a clean, clear urinary tract/a good amount of pees/crystals wont form or get stuck if they do slightly form.
> im not even sure now if the salt content is higher... i should check out the bag.


I know that's the case with the dog version of SO (which my vet recommended after my dog had struvite crystals). I thought it was all a bit ridiculous--I fed the SO for a few months, and then went back to my regular rotation and just added a lot of water to it. He hasn't had anymore problems, and it's been 2 years.


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## Claiken

Its just like people food it seems. Things are good one minute and bad the next.

Maybe its good that i have the merrick mixed in. i water that down till its soupy, and they love it.

(i hadnt heard of a dog with crystals before! I thought it couldnt happen since theyre mostly bigger)


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## audkal

Claiken said:


> (i hadnt heard of a dog with crystals before! I thought it couldnt happen since theyre mostly bigger)


Yep they can get both Struvite and Oxalate crystals that can become stones. I think cats tend to get them more often though because they don't usually drink as much water as dogs...? (Correct me if I'm wrong...)


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