Rose Hips

Cats make their own vitamin C, so adding it through ingredients like rose hips is not necessary for them.

Rose hips are the fruit of the rose plant, the round pods left after the flowers fade. FDA lists rose fruit (hips) among natural extractives with GRAS status in 21 CFR 582.20. That listing is general and is not based on studies in cats. If your cat has a medical condition, your veterinarian can tell you whether herbal ingredients in its food matter.

Source: ecfr.gov

Rose hips are added as a natural source of vitamin C and plant antioxidants. The Merck Veterinary Manual notes that cats make their own vitamin C in the liver and have no dietary requirement for it. That makes rose hips more of a botanical ingredient than a needed nutrient source in a complete food.

Source: merckvetmanual.com

Rose hips are the small red or orange fruits that form on rose plants after the petals drop. They hold the plant's seeds and are often brewed into tea. In cat food they are dried and ground. Labels may spell the name as rose hips or rosehips.

Some of it may not. Vitamin C breaks down with heat and exposure to air, and dry cat food is cooked at high temperature during extrusion. How much survives depends on how and when the rose hips are added. Cats make their own vitamin C anyway, so the loss has little nutritional effect.

Pettings gives rose hips 2 out of 5 and lists it as an herb or plant extract. It appears on 4 of the 149 dry cat foods we list. The page describes rose hips as a fruit with a high vitamin C content. Each food's page shows how it scores overall.