How long should dry cat food last?

Slinky

We use Royal Canin Sensible for our cat - leftover from a previous cat's requirements, got a new cat, she liked it, we carried on buying it. A 4 kg bag lasts maybe 4 months, perhaps longer? I decant some into a couple of plastic boxes so I don't have to keep tipping it out of the big bag.  She's been happily munching away on it since 2014 without a problem. We also separately give her wet food. I've never had a problem with it going soft.

TripleH

We also have Royal Canine Maine Coon mixed with grumpy old git in a plastic tub. We fill a smaller tub from that that we keep in the kitchen (all 4 love the Maine Coon even though we have Burmese and a Tortoise shell)

The other tub lives in our utility room which is nice and dry and not too cold.

Murphybear

We have Royal Canin  Renal.  We’ve tried her on RC and Hills which she likes but bought one much cheaper which she turned up her little pink nose at.  The pack can be resealed but we keep it in a big Lock-n-Lock box.  

It usually lasts long enough for her to eat it but as she is a little nearly 20 year old she doesn’t eat huge amounts at a time.  

Shoxt3r

Thanks all for feeding back!
Ok so we've now had a second bag go off (sticky to the touch and smells of fish compared to when its just been opened). This time the airtight container was placed in a separate cupboard just in case any moisture was being introduced. We previously had it stored in a lower kitchen cupboard which was never a problem before and it certainly lasted longer than a couple of weeks. However, as I say the same issue has happened.

We again approached Pets At Home and this time they took the sample we provided and will be investigating with Royal Canin. They gave us a full refund and we've now switched to an alternative product from Royal Canin (PAH seem to be limited on digestive-related dry food products, at least in our store) called Digestive but in a smaller quantity which is obviously more expensive in the long-run - our cat seems to like it.

We're going to see how that goes and then if our cat doesn't go for it then we'll approach the vet for an alternative.

Our first sign that something was wrong was when our cat stopped eating her usual food and was clammering for attention - we thought it was simply loneliness as we'd been away for a couple of days (leaving behind her usual food in Cat Mates which she ate). However, once we came home we put the usual food in her normal bowl and she didn't touch it - hence switching to the alternative which she appears to be enjoying so far with no digestive problems.

We've never known to have so many problems until fairly recently, even before having to switch to an airtight container.

Hopefully something will come of the investigation into the Royal Canin Gastrointestinal food as we're really puzzled as to why it's going off so quickly!

Murphybear

TripleH said:

We also have Royal Canine Maine Coon mixed with grumpy old git in a plastic tub. We fill a smaller tub from that that we keep in the kitchen (all 4 love the Maine Coon even though we have Burmese and a Tortoise shell)

The other tub lives in our utility room which is nice and dry and not too cold.

Any chance of a picture of your Maine Coon?  I love them they are gorgeous.  

TripleH

When I'm logged into a laptop I will. For some reason I can't from my phone.

TripleH

Apologies for the delay, as promised our Maine Coon (almost 2) next to our old lady (17) 

Shoxt3r

Lovely pictures!

As an update we've moved our cat food into a separate cupboard well away from fluctuating temperatures and also gone for smaller bags of a different sub-brand of Royal Canin which seems to be working out well - happy cat with no funny tummy!

Murphybear

TripleH said:

Apologies for the delay, as promised our Maine Coon (almost 2) next to our old lady (17) 

Thanks for that.  Your Maine Coon is gorgeous  . The old lady looks great for her age as well