How long does dry food keep?

lisajane8482

Looking at putting my two cats back on Royal Canin Indoor food and was thinking about buying a 10kg bag which should last around 5 months. I would obviously keep it in an air tight container but will it keep that long? also can anyone recommend a good air tight container?

TIA

pawsies

Lasts ages if stored correctly (and there are that many preservatives that even if not stored correctly it will be fine!).

But please opt for Harringtons or Burns cat food instead.

Royal Canin has some nasty stuff in it.

Recommend reading this: http://www.catinfo.org/

kleapatra

My cat has Royal Canin indoor. I buy it in 4kg bags and they last approx 3 months (I opened a new bag this morning and bought the previous one at the beginning of June) I only have one cat so based on you having 2 I would imagine 10kg would last you just over 3.5 months rather than 5 months? The 4kg bag is zip closed so the food stays fresh - I assume the 10kg would be the same. I just decant it as needed into a plastic airtight container.
Oh and my cat loves Royal Canin and its what my vet recommends and I have a healthy happy cat. I wouldn't feed my cat using advice from some random on a poor quality looking website any more than I would take medical advice for myself using google!

lisajane8482

pawsies wrote: »

Lasts ages if stored correctly (and there are that many preservatives that even if not stored correctly it will be fine!).

But please opt for Harringtons or Burns cat food instead.

Royal Canin has some nasty stuff in it.

Recommend reading this: http://www.catinfo.org/

I looked at Harrington’s in Asda the other week but was unsure whether it was a good food or not. I'll pick a box up and try them on it. The eldest who eats mainly dry food (lucky if he’ll eat a teaspoon of wet food and won’t touch raw) is fussy and it took a while to get him on to the Porta 21 from the Royal Canin, I changed to that as I thought it would be better as it's grain free but his fur just isn't as lovely as it used to be. It's not as shiny and when he's brushed/stroked in the opposite direction to the hair growth there's little white flecks of skin (dandruff?) appear which never used to happen. Plus the youngest has started hocking up fur balls every 2-3 weeks which has never happened before..

kleapatra wrote: »

My cat has Royal Canin indoor. I buy it in 4kg bags and they last approx 3 months (I opened a new bag this morning and bought the previous one at the beginning of June) I only have one cat so based on you having 2 I would imagine 10kg would last you just over 3.5 months rather than 5 months? The 4kg bag is zip closed so the food stays fresh - I assume the 10kg would be the same. I just decant it as needed into a plastic airtight container.

The youngest eats 3 pouches of Sheba a day (I know, it's not great but I have tried the likes of Bozita which was wasted as he wouldn't eat it) with a little dry mixed in (slack handful) so it's mainly for the older one. Looking at the amount he should eat it would probably last around 4 months.

Thanks for the advice so far

pawsies

kleapatra wrote: »

My cat has Royal Canin indoor. I buy it in 4kg bags and they last approx 3 months (I opened a new bag this morning and bought the previous one at the beginning of June) I only have one cat so based on you having 2 I would imagine 10kg would last you just over 3.5 months rather than 5 months? The 4kg bag is zip closed so the food stays fresh - I assume the 10kg would be the same. I just decant it as needed into a plastic airtight container.
Oh and my cat loves Royal Canin and its what my vet recommends and I have a healthy happy cat. I wouldn't feed my cat using advice from some random on a poor quality looking website any more than I would take medical advice for myself using google!

Vets really don't know that much about nutrition of animals. They get 1 lecture in 6 years on the issue!
The links on the website are based on research, more promising than anything your vet can say. I bet he sells you the food too

spike241

I loathe that website but I would definitely recommend a good grain free food.

I've never had any problems with Porta 21 and my cats have lovely coats but there are lots of other options.

https://www.zooplus.co.uk might be useful if you're buying in bulk.

krlyr

I once heard that dry food is in optimum condition 6 months from manufacture. After that, the nutritional content can begin to degrade - nothing wrong with the food, but the vitamins and minerals begin to deteriorate.

Absolutely cannot remember the source though to confirm how accurate this is, but it's what I've used as a guideline for storing dry food. I imagine you could probably freeze excess and it stay in optimum condition though.

rising_from_the_ashes

Mine will only eat RC I've tried loads of other things but they'll only pick at it and it's wasted which I'm afraid my wallet can't afford anymore!

I buy 10kg sacks which last 5 months - I have 3 plastic tubs (you can get at £stretchers and other similar shops) which take around 3.5kg so can just fit it into them & it keeps fine for that time

~Chameleon~

pawsies wrote: »

Vets really don't know that much about nutrition of animals. They get 1 lecture in 6 years on the issue!
The links on the website are based on research, more promising than anything your vet can say. I bet he sells you the food too

One lecture? Really? You've been to vet school have you? And besides, most vets are very pro-active with their CPD studies of which animal nutrition is included.

And in my opinion there is absolutely nothing wrong with RC food. My cats have lived well into their 20's on it without any health problems whatsoever.

~Chameleon~

pawsies wrote: »

Recommend reading this: http://www.catinfo.org/

You're slagging off vets saying they know nothing of animal nutrition when the very site you link to is written by a vet?? :rotfl:

donnac2558

I use RC and have two cats, yes I buy the 10kg bags. There is a use by date on the bag of food, which is usually pretty good length of time. I have a large big thing I keep the food in and it find.