Is Boiled Chicken Okay? At Least Temporarily?

allisa

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Hi
I normally feed my male cat Pi a combination of baked chicken (boneless thighs or breasts), baked duck breasts, and also Weruva Pumpkin/Chicken & Halo Spots Stew Turkey & just recently a smaller amount of Halo Spots Stew Beef/Chkn. I add Balance-It to the baked meat. I'm still cowardly about the raw because when I first got him as a stray/abandoned kitty I gave him a bit of raw milk & he got really sick that night. I know the raw milk is different than raw meat but I will pursue that on another thread.

The Weruva I've had qualms about for a few reasons. It is made in Asia, Thailand I believe. I don't know how they treat or regulate chicken feed, care, etc. It also has tapioca in it which I think sometimes helps gets his system moving and it's hydrating (it's given to babies or children I believe for constipation) & when I stop giving it to him altogether he honestly seems less well & does get constipated. But I also know it's not something a cat would eat in nature. He loves it and as long as I give it as PART of other foods it's seemed okay. The Halo also seems to make him stay feeling well, the pate form seems to help him digest and feel better & it has the least amount of rubbish in it as far as I have found. Maybe it's not ideal to feed canned pate but again if it's part of the combo I've described it seems to work.

Sorry for the massive intro. So the problem is the stove/oven has quit working & I'm trying to figure out what to buy to replace it. Right now I can't bake his chicken/meat & I feel not great about it. He's been eating a bit more of the Weruva & now he's gotten much looser stools and a gurgling stomach & it MAY be from the tapioca. I've noticed this before so normally I try to keep it as maybe 1/4 of what he eats (the Weruva Pumpkin/Chicken pouches).

This sounds odd maybe but if I got a camp stove to set up outside I could boil stuff. I've never tried boiling chicken but would that be alright to feed him? (With the supplement added). Or is there another way of cooking chicken on the stove? I could get an enameled casserole pot and slow cook it with water, maybe not totally submerge it so that it stays more succulent. I usually use glass Pyrex in the oven with a few cups of water and slowly bake it.

One other question, he doesn't seem to like pumpkin or squash when I've offered it in his food but the other day he followed me around for freshly cooked asparagus I was eating. I gave him a tiny amount and he loved it. Would asparagus be okay to give in very small amounts mixed with his home cooked chicken?

I'm working on getting a real oven but it may take a few weeks or a month to choose and install one. I'm getting a wall oven this time so it's taking time to figure that out. I was going to get a mini oven in the meantime but they all have non stick coatings and I'm too worried about that. Thanks!
 

orange&white

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Or is there another way of cooking chicken on the stove? I could get an enameled casserole pot and slow cook it with water, maybe not totally submerge it so that it stays more succulent. I usually use glass Pyrex in the oven with a few cups of water and slowly bake it.
Baking with water is essentially the same a cooking on the stovetop with a bit of water, except the heat source isn't as close to the food. You can get an electric single- or double-burner countertop "hot plate" pretty cheap, or buy a toaster oven. You aren't cooking directly on the non-stick surface if that concerns you.

Asparagus isn't on the forbidden list, but it is highly alkaline, so I wouldn't give your cat very much of it. Just a tiny bit as a treat shouldn't hurt.
 
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allisa

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Thank you orange&white. That makes sense, especially if I am cooking on a lower heat, that it is just closer to the heat source. With an enameled cast iron pot you get the thickness of the pot also to buffer the meat. I'll have a look at the single/double indoor hotplates. Cooking outside may not be so great on a rainy mosquito day. I'll rethink the toaster ovens.

Thanks so much about the asparagus too. I can't eat a lot of it myself. I'll just limit it to small bits. It's only in season for a short while too. I was just surprised to see him so excited about a vegetable when he turned his nose up at other ones.

And sorry, is there a specific list on here of safe vs forbidden foods for cats? Or would that be on the Lisa Peterson site?
 

orange&white

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There are lists on different websites of foods toxic to cats. Some have more items than others.

Usually the quickest thing to do if you're concerned about a specific food, is search "Can cats eat ___________", as in "Can cats eat asparagus".

I've owned a broccoli-loving cat before. He got a little taste when I was cooking it for myself. ;)
 
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allisa

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Usually the quickest thing to do if you're concerned about a specific food, is search "Can cats eat ___________", as in "Can cats eat asparagus".
I feel a bit stupid that I didn't think of that. :doh: I'm kind of doolally today! I just did that & basically found what you've said that it is high in alkaline & could affect his urine. So not good. I think I'll just skip that one unless I give him the tiniest smidgen now and then.
I've owned a broccoli-loving cat before. He got a little taste when I was cooking it for myself. ;)
Aww, cute! :)
 

orange&white

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I'm an old pro at "Can dogs eat ______", because my dog will eat anything, so he gets little bites of lots of foods...after I look it up. The two cats I have right now don't seem terribly interested in "weird" human-food treats. :)
 

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Mine are weird. I was getting out freeze dried meal worms for the parrots yesterday and bub was going nuts. Turns out he loves them. Then stub asked what was going on and said he would like to try them, too. I've never seen either interested in asparagus but I'm pretty sure they like caesar salad. I think it has garlic so that was a one time thing.
 
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allisa

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orange&white Sounds like your dog gets a nice varied diet! Your cat's sound wiser than mine. He is crazy for BBQ potato chips and I can NOT leave them unguarded. He is sly about it too, little so & so! Luckily I rarely eat them. This is kind of how he looks when I do. :bigeyes:
lalagimp lol, you never can tell what they will be into! I guess it's protein! And caesar salad, haha! Quite the connoisseurs. ;)
 
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allisa

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Thank you kittylove14 that's good to know! For Pi it would ideally be about 1/4 of his food, maybe even less. I just like to give him bits of fresh cooked stuff because he seems to feel better and it cheers him up. Sometimes I give him duck breast because he can always use a bit of extra fat now & then. I've never tried boiling it before so it's really good to know it works well for you both!

Please if you can would you tell me how you do it roughly? Do you put the water to just over the meat or higher? Would you use a low or med heat? And about how long or how do you tell when it should be done? I feel excited now to try it! :)
 

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Raw chunks of meat is fine to give to a cat. If your cat won't eat raw meat, then cooked meat is fine. Poaching, steaming, and baking are good ways to cook meat. To poach (boiling would make the meat too tough, IMO), just fill a pot of water to cover the meat by half an inch or so, bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and gently simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or so. Steaming and baking might take a bit longer. Chicken and other poultry are popular with cats. Don't add salt, spices, flavorings, etc to the meat or water.

An electric kettle like this would work if you don't have a stove or oven. You do have to keep an eye on the water level and add more water if the level gets too low.

A few pieces of cooked meat on top of cat food is plenty. You don't want to give too much because that may result in an unbalanced diet or the cat picking off the meat to eat and not eating the cat food.
 
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allisa

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Hi LTS3 Thank you so much for that info. That is all very helpful and gives me a good idea of how I will cook it. I think I'm going to just go ahead and get a camp stove for now because I wanted one anyway. So basically I will have a regular burner and use a pan or possibly an enameled pot. I'll be careful not to overcook it so that it will stay tender.

Please could you explain more about why adding home cooked meat to his diet would cause an imbalance? I don't want that to occur - he already has FIV. When I give the home cooked I've never thought to add it to his other food. Normally I just put it on its own plate. But I could try that sometime. I really appreciate the advice & just want him to be healthy so I'm happy to learn new things.
 
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allisa

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Oh, I just re-read what you wrote. Somehow I missed about only eating the home cooked and not the regular cat food. I think I get what you mean now. :)
 

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Whenever gracie is sick we have to put her on a diet of boiled chicken and rice for a few days vets advice). A couple of times a week a cook her boiled chicken as know that's good for her stomach. We love chicken so when I cook it I cut her of some and put hers in a small saucepan, add water so it is higher than chicken then let it boil then simer for circa 20 mins. Then I take it from the water and use siscers to cut it in stips and serve
 

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Thank you kittylove14 that's good to know! For Pi it would ideally be about 1/4 of his food, maybe even less. I just like to give him bits of fresh cooked stuff because he seems to feel better and it cheers him up. Sometimes I give him duck breast because he can always use a bit of extra fat now & then. I've never tried boiling it before so it's really good to know it works well for you both!

Please if you can would you tell me how you do it roughly? Do you put the water to just over the meat or higher? Would you use a low or med heat? And about how long or how do you tell when it should be done? I feel excited now to try it! :)
I used to actually boil the chicken but i've found steaming is faster, cleaner and way easier. i use a stockpot with a steamer basket. I put some water on the bottom of the pot 1-2". I stick some chicken cutlets or tenders in the basket in a single layer and i put the lid on. I heat it up and once the chicken turns white on the bottom half I will flip it with some tongs. sometimes im lazy and the whole thing gets white and then i flip it anyways. I chop it's up when it's still warm for shreds. the kitties love it!
 

LTS3

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Plain meat lacks the nutrients a cat needs. That's why it should only be fed as a treat or as a topper to regular cat food and only a few pieces at most. If you feed too much plain meat in addition to regular cat food, the diet becomes nutritionally unbalanced.

If you want to feed meat as a larger part of the diet, you have to supplement it. There are pre-mixes such as EZComplete that makes it really easy to turn plain cooked meat into a complete diet for cats.
 

daisyd

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Every cat is different and some have different requirements sometimes so best to always check with vet too . We cook gracie plain meat (boiled chicken, fish or plain fried mince ) as a suppliment to her royal canine gastro vetinary cat food as she cannot eat gravy or jelly and her stomach is sensitive. The vet knows this and has agreed it's best. If I ever get another cat or dog its dietry requirements may be different (hopefully will be able to eat a lot more flavours etc than gracie ). If the vet is happy and your cat is healthy you need to go with that
 

orange&white

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Some cats have specialized dietary needs for sure, like needing lower phosphorus for bad kidneys, or needing fewer carbs for diabetes.

All cats have minimum nutrient requirements. You are familiar with Pottenger's cats (I hope), who proved the absolutely critical need for cats to have enough taurine. Heat greatly diminishes taurine, and some meats like chicken breast, start with less taurine than others, like chicken thighs or hearts. Other critical requirements are a source of calcium and a source of nutrients found in liver and egg yolks.

It is worth iteration that up to 10% of the diet can be safely supplemented with cooked meats. Whole, human-grade foods are a healthy addition to a processed diet. For people who feed dry food only, they are an especially healthy addition. Any more than 10% though and a little research into minimum dietary needs will go a long way to help a cat stay strong and healthy.
 
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allisa

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Thanks everyone for the support. I really needed that. Pi has FIV. I tried feeding only canned/wet food but felt he needed more fat & nutritious fluids. Then I tried transitioning to all home cooked - chicken breasts, thighs and duck. When I did that I added Balance-it supplement (the plainest one) to all of his cooked food after a few days. But then he started doing less well. I also noticed he gobbled up the chicken without the Balance-it and felt like his stomach could handle it plain better then with the Balance it. Also I'm concerned about a lot of artificial vitamins & minerals. I strongly believe that he feels better without them. When I was trying 100% home cooked (for a month or two) I gave the majority with Balance it added and a small amount just plain. Mainly I noticed when it was plain he ate more and was much more active and happy. Then he started getting constipated so I went back to totally commercial wet food. (Weruva Pumpkin/chicken pouches - which has a lot of gravy and seems to help his digestion. He tends to need plenty of hydration. And also Halo Spots stew turkey - which is a moist pate.) His constipation went away & I still felt he was needing a bit more substantial & fresh food & broth also so I started giving about 25% home cooked, honestly it was probably less but ideally one bowl of home cooked a day, occasionally skipping a day. When I feed the home cooked a lot of what he consumes is the broth and then small amounts of the fresh meat. The duck I give less frequently because it has more fat (I cook the breast and take just the meat and skim the fattiest part off to discard) I add quite a bit of water while cooking too. I put the Balance it in maybe half of what I give him. I make sure he has fresh water, and in fact I give him regular water and also spring water. He seems to like the spring water more. Pi has FIV and I found him a few years ago by a dumpster, flea ridden and emaciated. He is super sensitive to things including food. He gets cold really easily. So I would say I am extremely observant about his health. His last blood work was really good. That was when I was giving him almost all home cooked but with a portion of it just plain.

My plan now is to feed the majority as canned/pouches & up to 20-25% as home cooked. Of the home cooked I will probably try putting the balance it in about 50% or less. If he doesn't tolerate it (the balance it) I will probably reduce that and put it in every third time I feed home cooked. When I put it in I put the minimum amount suggested and let it sit in there for at least 10 minutes to really dissolve very well. But I still honestly believe he does and feels best without it. Since I give the majority as commercial I don't worry about that small amount and in fact believe it is really good for him as evidenced by his well being and behavior afterwards. And also by the way he eats more of it and gets more of that nutrition and fats that he really needs. He seems to burn up calories fast. He has loads of energy but then like I said if it is even a slightly cool Spring morning he gets cold. (So I crank up the heat!) He's just very sensitive and I also want to read more about all the contents of the Balance it because a lot of artificial lab produced supplements are not the same as in nature. I will read all of the above information again - including articles. But I also feel that just using my common sense, blood-work results and observations counts too. He sometimes was getting terrible sores and crusted up areas on his skin but when I was adding just the plain home cooked chicken and broth (and some duck) in the first weeks before I added the suppliement that almost all vanished. His skin was more healthy, his eyes bright and was peeing well and had more energy & just seemed happy. But I did add the balance it even then to 75-80% of it. About 2 months after that his blookwork was good.

I wish very much I felt brave enough to try raw but because of his FIV I am still afraid but continue to read about it. Sometimes I think a very small amount of raw might help him though. But for now I'm still a leery. (Not about the concept or value, just about him personally being okay with it). The reason I have felt bad recently without an oven is because I notice he seems a bit less himself without the home cooked chicken. When I re-introduce it I am going to start with it plain for a few weeks and then try adding the Balance-it to some of it. He gets a well rounded diet from the pouches, Halo and occasional other commercial foods. When I feed the home cooked I give it by itself (well he chose that, he doesn't like his foods mixed!) But I really appreciate all the input an will try and take everything into account.
 
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