Royal Canin

Royal Canin Medium Starter review

Name: Royal Canin Medium Starter
Brand: Royal Canin

47.6/100Average

DryPuppyAdult

Royal Canin Medium Starter is a rich recipe with a narrow brief: the first weeks of a medium breed puppy on solid food. Energy runs to 422 kcal per 100g, and DHA from algal oil, butyric acid salt and hydrolysed yeast are there for a gut just learning to cope. It reads Average against our general scale, which measures it on ground it was never built for.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Medium breed puppies at the very start of solid food
Owners who want DHA from the first meal, here from algal oil
Small stomachs that need a great deal from very little
A litter coming through weaning. Hydrolysed yeast at 0.30% and butyric acid salt are there for a developing gut

Worth watching

No calcium figure anywhere on the label, on a food for growing dogs
Very rich at 23.9% fat in dry matter, so not one to leave down for an adult dog
Wheat gluten and soya oil on the list, and no animal entry named

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

How this scores

How we score

47.6/100Average

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balanceGood

TransparencyAverage

ValueAverage

The details

Dog fit

Listed for medium breed puppies through weaning. Feed to the label's own age based guide, and ask Royal Canin for the calcium figure if your puppy will grow to the larger end of medium.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Puppy, Adult

Breed size

Medium

Main protein

Poultry

The score, in context

Royal Canin Medium Starter 47.6

All one Average. Typical dry food: Good.

A starter food judged on an adult scale reads oddly, and what really holds it back is unnamed meat and an undeclared calcium figure on a food built for a growing skeleton.

What's in it

Dehydrated poultry proteinCould be any domestic bird; no species named.
RiceThe main cereal, and a gentle one.
Animal fatsUnnamed animal source.
Wheat gluten, maizeGluten as a concentrated protein, though it is still wheat.
Beet pulpFibre kept low, at 1.4% of dry matter.
Hydrolysed animal proteinsBroken down small for digestibility and palatability; again no animal named.
Minerals, soya oil, fish oilFish oil means the recipe is not fish free.
Fructo-oligo-saccharides, hydrolysed yeast0.30%Yeast at 0.30% for manno-oligo-saccharides and betaglucans.
Algal oilGrown DHA, the omega 3 singled out for brain and eye development.
Butyric acid salt, marigold meal

Vitamin A at 18500 IU and D3 at 1200 IU per kilo with a full trace mineral set, plus clinoptilolite clay at 10 g per kilo as a technological additive.

Calcium is not declared, the figure that matters most on a food for growth.

Named ingredients

Dehydrated poultry protein, rice, animal fats, wheat gluten*, maize, beet pulp, hydrolysed animal proteins, minerals, soya oil, fish oil, fructo-oligo-saccharides, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides and betaglucans) (0.30%), algal oil Schizochytrium sp. (source of DHA), butyric acid salt, marigold meal.

Against the range

A single recipe. Dehydrated poultry protein leads, rice and animal fats follow, and none of the animal entries names a species. Protein converts to 32.6% of dry matter and fat to 23.9%, with estimated carbohydrate down at 33.1%.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

421.6 kcal/100g

Protein

30%

Fat

22%

Fibre

1.3%

Ash

8.3%

Moisture

Dry weight

Protein

32.6%

Fat

23.9%

Fibre

1.4%

Ash

Carbs

33.1%

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

41.7%

Carbs

47.3%

Oils

9.4%

Other

1.7%

Pricing & size