I still have problems with Dolly and Daisy producing runny poo. I've had them on Nature's Menu for their wet food (Orijen dry food) but it hasn't improved. Tried them on Applaws but they won't touch it (what a waste of money that was) so I'm also looking for something else to try.

Sue - I've looked at the weblink you kindly provided. Do you know if the price (£1.61) is for the big tin or the little tin? They show a picture of both but don't say what size tin you get for the price. Edit: Just had an email from the site to say it's the big 369g tin.

Just spotted that Zooplus also seem to sell some Eagle Pack foods but the packaging looks a little different and the bags of dried food are different sizes.

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I just looked up the z/d dry online and here's the ingredient breakdown I've found (not sure if this applies to UK food - we've noticed before that US and UK formulations of Hill's are different):

Rice protein concentrate, brewers rice, hydrolyzed chicken liver, vegetable oil (preserved with BHA, propyl gallate and citric acid), hydrolyzed chicken, powdered cellulose, glyceryl monostearate, taurine, ethoxyquin (a preservative), minerals (calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, salt, calcium sulfate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, niacin, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).

If this is what you're feeding, there are a couple of things I would be concerned about:
- The main ingredient is rice protein concentrate. Contaminated rice protein concentrate caused the big pet food scandal in the US. That probably doesn't apply to the UK sources for it, but over here many people now look for food without grain protein concentrates and glutens as they are so easy to contaminate by "spiking" with other, potentially dangerous chemicals. Also, if your cat has a food sensitivity to rice protein, this could obviously be a major problem.
- Another problem is that rice protein is not nutritionally appropriate for cats as it does not have the correct amino acid composition. Cats need protein from meat sources, not something else just made to taste like meat. The only meat protein in there is a little bit of chicken liver and chicken. It is hydrolyzed (broken down into amino acids) which would help a cat with a chicken-allergy, but probably feeding a chicken-free food based on another meat source instead if rice would be preferable in that case.
- It's basically meat-flavored rice cereal. It contains Brewer's rice as the second ingredient. This is a waste product of the brewing industry and used as a cheap "filler" in pet foods. It can be harsh on the intestines, so I'm not sure why it is used as the main filler in a food designed for cats with digestive tract issues.
- It has BHA, propyl gallate and ethoxyquin in it. These are synthetic preservatives with carcinogenic potential.
- It has citric acid in it, which can cause stomach irritation and digestive upset. It's probably added as a "natural" preservative, but what is it doing in a food for cats with already sensitive stomachs?
- It has powdered cellulose in it. This is basically a waste product of the paper industry (and I've read somewhere that it might contain recycled cardboard) and probably the cheapest way to add fiber, but it is very harsh on the digestive tract and can actually cause bowel irritation. Again, I don't understand what it is doing in a food for cats with already sensitive stomachs.
- It has glyceryl monostearate in it. This is a fat emulsifier that is still under investigation for safety as a food additive. The material safety data sheet for it actually says it can cause gastrointestinal tract irritation and I've read that it is lethal to lab rats, though I couldn't find definite toxicity data yet (e.g. no information what the lethal dose is).

So unless your Saffy actually has an allergy to meat protein, I'm not sure this food is going to help her as it has a couple of ingredients that might actually aggravate a sensitive bowel issue. I'm not sure I understand these "veterinarian" formulas - those I've looked at look like low quality food to me. Anyway, if z/d isn't helping any, I'd recommend trying out some higher quality limited ingredients foods and avoid grains or plant-based protein concentrates. It might take a little bit of trial and error to figure out what her problem is, but grain and plant protein concentrates would be my first suspects for food intolerances followed by fish, beef and chicken.

Rice protein concentrate, brewers rice, hydrolyzed chicken liver, vegetable oil (preserved with BHA, propyl gallate and citric acid), hydrolyzed chicken, powdered cellulose, glyceryl monostearate, taurine, ethoxyquin (a preservative), minerals (calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, salt, calcium sulfate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, niacin, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).

WOW!!!

Ingredients of UK z/d are:
Cereals, vegetable protein extracts, meat and animal derivatives, oils and fats, minerals, cellulose powder.
Protein sources: hydrolised chicken liver, rice protein concentrate. Carbohydrate source: ground rice

So - the UK version is much less 'harmful' so to speak, however, there is no real meat in there, as far as i can see. Plus it has cellulose powder - always wondered what that was!

I've just ordered some of the Eagle Pack Holistic - I just hope my pair don't reject it like they have the Applaws (if anyone wants about 20 tins, let me know )

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Well I've tried mine on Eagle Pack - so far they've loved the biscuits but are decidedly unimpressed by the canned food which is a bit sloppy. I'll try a few more tins but it's not looking good .

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Best Wishes,
Maddy