The ethos of the Royal Canin brand is based on its unique vision of the dog and the cat: the conviction that dogs and cats are not human beings but animals and as a result, true respect obliges us to treat them as such.

True respect implies certain obligations, of which one is Knowledge : to truly know the animal and understand its specific physiological and nutritional requirements, and, in consequence, guarantee it a "tailor made" food in line with its real nutritional needs.

Royal Canin's philosophy is therefore deliberately non-anthropomorphic.

In the field of canine and feline nutrition, some manufacturers put the owners first and use them as the basis of all innovation. At Royal Canin, we put the dog and the cat at the heart of our research process : this is a radically different approach.

Respect the Animal: The Animal before the owner.

1. No Consumer Surveys; only Animal Studies.

2. Improve our Knowledge permanently.

3. Offer products with precise nutritional scientifically proven answers.

4. Reject anthropomorphism. (nutrients versus ingredients)

5. Only prescribers and specialized distribution outlets can bring the "technical" message to the consumer.

Since its creation by Dr. Jean Cathary, a veterinarian, in 1967 in France, Royal Canin has become the world leader in Health Nutrition for dogs and cats

• 76% of sales made outside domestic market. (France)
• Industrially established over four continents (Europe, North America, South America and Africa). Present in over 90 countries around the world.
• Leader in dry cat and dog food in Europe and one of the leading world producers of super premium nutritional dog and cat foods.
• European leader with Breeders.
• Three research centers located in France, United Kingdom and Brazil.

Our Philosophy: Knowledge and Respect for Animals

Respect for animals implies a number of duties. Having a thorough knowledge of animals is the first one.

This knowledge is completed by the daily experience of partner breeders, of veterinary nutritionists, and by the observations of scientists at the Royal Canin Research department. This original method has allowed Royal Canin, better than any other company, to really stand at the cutting edge of nutritional innovation and to spread this knowledge through reference books such as the Dog Encyclopedia and Cat Encyclopedia, practical guides on breeding, training and diseases of animals, and the Book of Nutrients.

For over 40 years Royal Canin has remained faithful to these fundamentals. As far as canine and feline nutrition is concerned most of the other brands on the market put the emphasis on the owners and use them as a starting point and mirror for any innovation.

On the contrary, at Royal Canin, animals are the source, the starting point and point of arrival for any innovation: it's only by understanding and taking into account the specific morphological, physiological and nutritional features of the animals that one can provide and guarantee a diet that takes the animals' true nutritional requirements into consideration.

Our Mission: Health Nutrition

Today feeding no longer means merely supplying the nutrients that cats and dogs need. It also means contributing to their well-being and their longevity. From the sixties to our time, the road has been marked by a number of decisive stages:

• Before 1980 - the time of feeding.
• 1980 - the beginnings of Nutrition: build and maintain the body supply energy 2 parameters: the animal's age and activity level.
• 1997 - the advent of Health Nutrition: feeding also means preventing; feeding also means curing 4 parameters: the animal's age, activity level, breed & size and its physical condition.

This inescapable cultural trend leads the modern educated consumer to be more and more set on giving their pet only what's best for its health and its longevity. The dynamics of Health Nutrition, a strategic battlefield for Royal Canin, can be summed up in three points:

1. Speeding up the innovation rate.
2. Development of ever more targeted and effective products.
3. High added value provided by pet professionals Royal Canin is the leader in Health Nutrition.

Royal Canin: Unquestionably the Forerunner in Health Nutrition

Royal Canin's vision of Nutrition has proven itself for 30 years due to constant loyalty to its roots: "Knowledge and Respect".

Since Royal Canin's founding in 1967, the company's veterinary nutritionist experts have made major advances in canine and feline nutrition. Here are the milestones in this innovation process.

1980 - Development and launching of AGR (large breed food): this product remained the only food for large breed dogs during sixteen years.

1990 - Formulation of RCCI (Royal Canin Cynotechnique International), a line of "high nutrition" dog foods for puppies and adult dogs, including in particular AGR 36 (large breed puppy food), which became a world reference, and PR 27, the first food specially formulated for small breeds.

1997 - RCCI SIZE: The world's first nutritional program that took into account, besides age and activity level, the size/weight ratio in the different dog breeds. This revolutionary concept discovered by Royal Canin, along with the selected weight limits (small breeds: 1 to 20 lbs., medium breeds: 21 to 55 lbs., large breeds: over 55 lbs.) imposed itself within 3 years on the other big world players in the Super Premium Canine Nutrition market. RCFI: First generation of nutritional cat food products geared to the cat's age and physiological stage.

1999 - Persian 30: Resulting from the collaboration between R&D and breeders, the first food geared to the specific nutritional requirements and physiology of Persian cats: Development of the Almond 11 kibble; Derma System (beauty of skin and coat); Hairball Transit System (facilitates the elimination of balls of ingested hairs).

2000 - Size Nutrition: Three nutritional programs (Small/Medium/Large), the only ones of their kind in the world, integrating the parameters of age, activity level, size, but also physiological condition of the dogs, to contribute to the prevention of joint, heart, obesity problems...

2001 - Development of Size Nutrition Giant: a nutritional program specially designed for giant breed dogs (over 100 lbs) taking into account their very limited digestive capacity, their growth taking place in two distinct stages and their lower life expectancy.

2002 - Launching of 4 major world firsts with the new Feline Nutrition line for cats: Strengthening of natural defenses; Fight against cell aging; Regeneration of hair and skin; Custom kibble textures.

2003 - Launching of 7 exclusive formulas (including one just for Yorkshire Terriers) in a line just for small breed dogs with the new Canine Health Nutrition MINI. Launching of 2 new breed specific diets exclusively for Siamese and Maine Coon cats in the Feline Nutrition line. Launching of 6 exclusive formulas (including one for German Shepherds and one for Labrador Retrievers) in a line just for large breed dogs with the new Canine Health Nutrition MAXI.

2004 - Launching of 2 new breed specific diets exclusively for Chihuahua and Poodle small breed dogs in the Canine Health Nutrition MINI. Launching of 4 exclusive formulas (including one for Bulldogs) in a line just for medium breed dogs with the new Canine Health Nutrition MEDIUM. Launch of VETERINARY DIET : a dietetic range of 18 dry foods and 18 moist foods for dogs and cats combining prevention and treatment, the product of liaison between the Research Centers of Royal Canin and Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition.

2005 - Launching of 2 new breed specific diets exclusively for Dachshund and Shih Tzu small breed dogs in the Canine Health Nutrition MINI.

Launching of 1 new breed specific diet exclusively for Boxer large breed dogs in the Canine Health Nutrition MAXI.

Launching of the Indoor Nutritional Program for cats exclusively living indoors including 5 different diets, each specifically formulated to address different nutritional characteristics: INDOOR 27 for the Healthy Indoor Cat, LIGHT 37 for the Indoor Adult Prone to Obesity, INTENSE HAIRBALL 34 for the Indoor Adult Prone to Intense Hairballs, BEAUTY & FIT 37 for the Indoor Adult During Intense Shedding and MATURE 27 for the Older Indoor Cat.

Remaining faithful to its philosophy of Lean Production, Royal Canin has concentrated all its business activities on the same site. Built from scratch in just one year in Aimargues, France where the business took its first steps in 1967, the Campus was officially declared open on September 28 2001.

The Royal Canin Campus brings together all the sources of knowledge of dogs and cats, the real clients of the business. Both user-friendly and functional, it is an additional source of energy to continue to drive the acceleration of the brand.

The Royal Canin Campus: a powerful vehicle for the company’s image, reaction capability and effectiveness

With a surface area of 59.3 acres, Royal Canin has a unique piece of land at its disposal, as the site accommodates all the vital functions of the company: the plant, the analysis laboratory, the Research and Development facility, the kennels and the cattery, the General Management for France as well as the General Management and central departments of the Royal Canin Group (marketing, purchasing, legal department, financial department, accounting department…).

Kennel and Cattery

It took a year’s planning and collaboration between Veterinarians, Dog Technicians and Cat Technicians to achieve the design of this kennels/cattery. This unique tool accommodates 128 dogs from 18 different breeds and 98 cats from 13 different breeds. They are looked after by animal keepers who are devoted to them. The animals’ wellbeing is ensured by a specially designed environment: pens, watering holes, games and music in the boxes. Palatability and digestibility trials are the only ones carried out (the animal makes a “blind test” as it chooses between two foods). Rest periods (one to three weeks) systematically alternate with these testing periods.

The Analysis Laboratory

Reporting to the R&D department, the laboratory carries out several missions. First, it validates and approves the suppliers. It provides support to the plant laboratories, validating the proper quality of the raw materials received. It analyzes the products coming out of the pilot station. All of course, with a view to further improving the company’s reaction capability and the quality of its food products.

Royal Canin, Lean Production and Total Quality

For nearly seven years now, Royal Canin has been implementing true strategic, commercial and technical change focusing on quality. The industrial investments made by Royal Canin made it possible to reengineer the Group plants to the quality standards for very upmarket products and to build plants that are modern, innovative and, primarily, competitive.

By bringing all functions closer, the redesigning of flow development plans makes it possible for the new plants to be brighter, simpler (in-line just-in-time production), more compact and flexible, better controlled and therefore with a greater reaction capability.

Each located in the heart of its market, the plants at Cambrai and Aimargues in France, Rolla in the USA, Descalvado in Brazil, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Johannesburg in South Africa and Moscow in Russia enjoy a decisive edge in terms of reaction capability, adaptation and logistical costs.

By considering man as a player in the process, Royal Canin gives its employees a key role in the production process. Taking account of everyone’s opinion and commitment to constant improvement, to their own work stations as well as throughout the factory, is an essential element in Royal Canin’s industrial strategy.

Animal First

In the realms of Animal Nutrition, there are some people who look to man, the owner, and use him as the starting point for innovation.

At Royal Canin, we put the animal at the heart of our innovation process: it is a radically different approach, but it is the only true, rigorously scientific way. This method, which focuses on the Dog or Cat, distinguishes us from other companies, and bears fruit every day, confirming to us that our choice is the right one.

And because knowledge is made to be shared, our objective is to convey our knowledge to those who spend their days with animals – veterinarians, breeders, owners... The Royal Canin Campus was designed and built to achieve these missions.