Question about home-cooked meat

[rivertherb]

My dog was recently diagnosed with diabetes and since then we have been giving her plain boiled chicken because she needs only protein. My cat River has been wanting to get at the chicken as well so my question is, is plain boiled chicken (no salt or anything) okay to give to her?

 

[mschauer]

I'm not sure I understand. You are feeding your dog a diet of nothing but boiled chicken? If so, I can't believe your vet approves of that diet. It is dangerously deficient in nutrients.

As for your cat, you can certainly give her a bit of boiled chicken in addition to diet that is nutritionally complete and balanced. But be aware that chicken by itself is not nutritionally complete and the more you feed of it the more likely the over all diet is to be nutritionally deficient. If the rest of the diet is commercial processed foods then they probably contain enough excess nutrients to somewhat make up for what is lacking in the chicken but there is no guarantee of that. I wouldn't be concerned if the amount of chicken is very small.

 

[rivertherb]

I'm not sure I understand. You are feeding your dog a diet of nothing but boiled chicken? If so, I can't believe your vet approves of that diet. It is dangerously deficient in nutrients.

As for your cat, you can certainly give her a bit of boiled chicken in addition to diet that is nutritionally complete and balanced. But be aware that chicken by itself is not nutritionally complete and the more you feed of it the more likely the over all diet is to be nutritionally deficient. If the rest of the diet is commercial processed foods then they probably contain enough excess nutrients to somewhat make up for what is lacking in the chicken but there is no guarantee of that. I wouldn't be concerned if the amount of chicken is very small.

No, she gets little cubes of boiled chicken as kind of a "treat" while she is getting her insulin to distract her. That is not her diet alone.

My cat currently eats a variety of wet and freeze-dried raw foods with a rotation of proteins. I am talking about a bit of boiled chicken as somewhat of a "treat".

 

[mschauer]

No, she gets little cubes of boiled chicken as kind of a "treat" while she is getting her insulin to distract her. That is not her diet alone.

Good! The way you wrote it sounded like that was all she was getting! 

 My cat currently eats a variety of wet and freeze-dried raw foods with a rotation of proteins. I am talking about a bit of boiled chicken as somewhat of a "treat".

Like I said, I little is fine. Just don't go overboard.