Royal Canin

Royal Canin Maxi Light Weight Care review

Name: Royal Canin Maxi Light Weight Care
Brand: Royal Canin

44.1/100Average

DryAdultSenior

A slimming food for big dogs that does the job it is bought for. Crude fibre is declared at 11.4%, energy comes in at 320 kcal per 100g and L-carnitine is dosed at 200 mg per kilo. It lands in our Average band because of how the list is written, and the diet's design is not the problem.

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Our view

Likely to suit

A big dog whose waistline has gone missing
Large and giant adults who need to lose weight and still want a full bowl. Crude fibre is 11.4%
Neutered or slowing dogs whose appetite has not slowed with them
Keeping protein up on a cut ration: 27.0% declared against fat of 11.0%
Seniors too, with glucosamine and chondroitin listed for joints that have carried the weight

Worth watching

Cellulose powder as a fibre source. It adds bulk and almost no energy
Poultry, animal fats and hydrolysed animal proteins with no species named
Maize, barley, wheat and two glutens on the list, plus fish oil, so it is not fish free
Bigger stools while a dog adjusts to fibre this high

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

44.1/100Average

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balanceGood

TransparencyAverage

ValueAverage

The details

Dog fit

Listed for giant-breed adults and seniors. Feed for the weight you are aiming at, not the weight on the scales today.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult, Senior

Breed size

Giant

Main protein

Poultry

The score, in context

Royal Canin Maxi Light Weight Care 44.1

All one Average. Typical dry food: Good.

The weight-loss design is sound; the unnamed bird, unnamed fats and gluten proteins on the list are what hold the score back.

What's in it

Dehydrated poultry proteinsFirst on the list. Poultry is a catch-all word that could be chicken, turkey, duck or goose.
Vegetable fibresSecond place, filling the bowl with material that carries very little energy.
Maize, barley, maize flour
Maize gluten, wheat glutenPlant protein lifting the declared total. Royal Canin marks the wheat gluten as highly digestible.
Hydrolysed animal proteins, wheat, animal fatsNo species named for the proteins or the fats.
Beet pulp, cellulose powderCellulose is close to indigestible, which is why a light food uses it.
Fish oilThe omega 3 source.
Minerals, yeasts products, fructo-oligosaccharides, psyllium husks and seedsPsyllium swells with water; the FOS feed gut bacteria.
Soya oil, marigold meal
Glucosamine from fermentation, hydrolysed cartilageThe joint pair, with no dose given.

A complete mineral and vitamin panel dosed line by line, with zinc at 133 mg and selenium at 0.09 mg per kilo, plus L-carnitine at 200 mg for fat burning.

Clinoptilolite is added at 5 g per kilo as a processing aid.

Named ingredients

Dehydrated poultry proteins, vegetable fibres, maize, barley, maize flour, maize gluten, wheat gluten*, hydrolysed animal proteins, wheat, animal fats, beet pulp, cellulose powder, fish oil, minerals, yeasts products, fructo-oligosaccharides, psyllium husks and seeds, soya oil, glucosamine from fermentation, marigold meal, hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitin). *L.I.P.: protein selected for its very high digestibility.

Against the range

One recipe, built for weight loss in giant dogs. Poultry protein leads with vegetable fibres straight behind it, and fat is held to 11.0% as fed. Fibre comes from five places on the label, cellulose powder the bluntest of them.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

320.1 kcal/100g

Protein

27%

Fat

11%

Fibre

11.4%

Ash

5.5%

Moisture

Dry weight

Protein

29.3%

Fat

12%

Fibre

12.4%

Ash

Carbs

40.3%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

40.8%

Carbs

43.2%

Veg

15.2%

Oils

0.5%

Other

0.4%

Pricing & size