Boiled Chicken

I've posted a lot (at least it feels like) in the past few weeks. I have a kitten with persistent diarrhea. I've read though posts in the forum that boiled chicken usually resolves diarrhea within a few days, so I've decided to give it a go after seeing more bloody diarrhea in my kitten's litter box today.

I've never done this and honestly never imagined I would be doing it, so I'm unsure about how much food to give him? If it can be served cold? If I can leave it out during the day while I'm at work or if I have to serve him meals?

He's a 10 lbs Maine Coon kitten and he's 5 months old. Help is much appreciated, as always!

With a kitten as much as he will eat.  Warm food is more appealing to them than cold.  Try chicken for a couple of days, if there is no change try adding a little rice to it along with some of the broth from boiling the chicken.  This should not be fed for more than 5 days.  If there is no change than something that isn't related to diet is going on.  Either parasites that haven't been checked for, parasites that weren't cleared up completely with deworming, or something bacterial.

Do you think it's okay if I leave it out during the day? I leave at 7:30 am and the earliest I'm home is 6:30 pm.

Sounds like worms/parasites. The blood gives it away more than anything. I would have him dewormed, sometimes it takes 3-4 doses to get rid of them. I have some foster kittens right now and they had to have 3 rounds of treatment for worms and will probably need 1 more. If after treating for worms (BTW DO NOT buy anything from walmart for worms, get it from the vet ONLY) there is still blood it may be something inside (IBS) and should be looked at by a vet. I don't like to send people to a vet but blood in the stool is not ok. I had a male cat that was older than dirt and he never had solid stool in the 6 years I had him. SO the liquid stool isn't as scary as the blood to me. Sometimes they need Albon (which isn't commonly used any longer but covers a different type of parasite and is a common cause of blood in the stool).

Chicken does help, make sure it is cooked well, and is best warm for the kitty.

Is the blood bright red or dark? As that does make a difference. bright red is usually worms or something near the end of the colon. dark red is usually more serious and a vet should be called.

don't leave it out. If anything feed it to him when you come home, chicken being left out is not good. Remember if it is people food and you wouldn't eat it then they shouldn't either. Also, don't make it his whole diet. let him have his dry food during the day and the chicken when you get home.

I've had his stool tested twice for parasites and both times it came back negative. I also had him dewormed again, but I haven't seen any improvement. I contacted my vet today to inquire about the test that tests for Tritrichomonas foetus and she is going to get back to me. My vet has 'never seen this in a cat', but maybe cause they don't typically test for it.

He's been to the vet a few times now and he's had blood in his stool a few times now, with all the food changes. This time, it was more brown red and it always smells terrible.

If the chicken doesn't work, does that rule out a food allergy? Are some cats allergic to chicken?

I would stick with one dry food for at least a month because all the changes are hard on them too. Some cats are allergic to chicken. You can try a grain free chicken free dry food and a similar formula wet food as his evening "treat". But you need to change him slowly to a new food. Maybe all the changing is the issue. You never know with some cats... they like to surprise us that is for sure.

I think your other thread said you were going to look into a PCR test? I think that would be good.

If you are going to feed boiled chicken, then feed ONLY boiled chicken for a few days. The point is to rule out a food intolerance, so if you feed anything else, your test is invalidated. Yes, it is possible for cats to have a chciken allergy since it is in so many commercial cat foods. However, I think it's more likely to be the species-inappropriate ingredients.

As for leaving it out, I have done that, but my cat wouldn't eat anything dried out. So she would eat what she wanted and leave the rest. I am probably more relaxed about food safety though than most. I don't have a problem with leaving canned food out for 9 hours either.

I completely agree! I just feel so bad for him when I hear him crying, digging, scraping in his litter and the coming out with poo all over his behind and sometimes blood - my heart breaks, cause he's just a little (big in size, not age) kitten!

Yes, looking into PCR test, but doesn't seem like my vet office does it. I don't think it's something they normally test for, probably cause its so specific and expensive. My vet actually told me that when she was in vet school, it was in cattle, not cats. I think I may have taught my vet something today, courtesy of TCS Trying to be 'patient' and if all my efforts fail, then I know where to go from here.

Vball, do you think could give him the broth as well? Just the reduced water from boiling the chicken.

Yes, you should definitely feed the cooking water as well. Not only are there valuable nutrients that soak into the water, but it also makes it more tasty. Chicken broth does smell and taste tasty. You can warm it up slightly in the microwave as well to warm it up and make it smell stronger.

So, I'm going to "jump the gun" as always and ask.  If the chicken works, which I really hope it does, what food should I be putting him on?  He was on the NV Limited Ingredient dry before in Turkey.  Should I try the lamb or a different food completely?

I agree that is may be parasites and DO NOT BUY FLEA OR WORMER over the counter. Go to the vet. The difference in cost is more than offset by one bad reaction to these bad medicines.

That said if the diarrhea persists it may be an allergy

My Rumpy Bump Stumpnots (Who is a American Bobtail rescue) had dribble until I started making him at least one meal a day. 

This was awful as he is a medium fur and got it all over.

Now I make a batch once a month or 6 weeks and all is fine

Oh it works for my elders constipation too.

http://herdingcattips.blogspot.com/2012/12/homemade-cat-food-update.html

Good luck with your little one

Dad

Hey Dad the little one needs to play too!

Or ye can talk like a pirate cat

http://timmytomcat.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-tomcat-crew-is-on-treasure-quest.html

Timmy Tomcat

stealthfur said:

 
I agree that is may be parasites and DO NOT BUY FLEA OR WORMER over the counter. Go to the vet. The difference in cost is more than offset by one bad reaction to these bad medicines.

That said if the diarrhea persists it may be an allergy

My Rumpy Bump Stumpnots (Who is a American Bobtail rescue) had dribble until I started making him at least one meal a day.

This was awful as he is a medium fur and got it all over.

Now I make a batch once a month or 6 weeks and all is fine

Oh it works for my elders constipation too.

http://herdingcattips.blogspot.com/2012/12/homemade-cat-food-update.html

Good luck with your little one

Dad

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Stealthfur, I see that the recipe you are referencing is loosely based on Dr. Pierson's recipe at www.catinfo.org. However, the bone meal amount is vastly different. Your reference says use 1/2 tsp per pound of meat. Dr. Pierson calls for 7 tsp per 3 pounds of meat, so that would be 2 1/3 tsp per pound of meat. Calcium is very important, so please double check this for your cat's health.

LeoPrincess said:

 
So, I'm going to "jump the gun" as always and ask.  If the chicken works, which I really hope it does, what food should I be putting him on?  He was on the NV Limited Ingredient dry before in Turkey.  Should I try the lamb or a different food completely?

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If the chicken diet works, then you know you have a food intolerance/allergy issue. However, that still doesn't tell you which ingredients are causing the problem. At that point, you can EITHER do a trial and error of gradually adding back in limited ingredient foods to see if it causes an issue to identify the culprits OR you can try a diet of the most limited ingredients possible which generally means a home-made diet, either cooked or raw.

I do hope it works .... If not, then I'm to the vet with a stool sample for that tritch... Parasite. I don't want to have to cook for my cat...so hopefully if its food, I can find one that works for him!

This whole ordeal has been super frustrating, to be honest. I purchased my little guy from a breeder because I thought I would a better/healthier cat (my last guy had HCM), turns out I was wrong.

vball91 said:

Stealthfur, I see that the recipe you are referencing is loosely based on Dr. Pierson's recipe at www.catinfo.org. However, the bone meal amount is vastly different. Your reference says use 1/2 tsp per pound of meat. Dr. Pierson calls for 7 tsp per 3 pounds of meat, so that would be 2 1/3 tsp per pound of meat. Calcium is very important, so please double check this for your cat's health.

Click to expand...

The 1/2 teaspoon per pound of meat/organ is for EGGSHELL, not bone meal. Bone meal has phosphorus, so requires substantially more quantity than eggshell to get to the correct Ca (Calciumhosphorus) ratio.

LeoPrincess said:

I do hope it works .... If not, then I'm to the vet with a stool sample for that tritch... Parasite. I don't want to have to cook for my cat...so hopefully if its food, I can find one that works for him!

This whole ordeal has been super frustrating, to be honest. I purchased my little guy from a breeder because I thought I would a better/healthier cat (my last guy had HCM), turns out I was wrong.

Click to expand...

I can imagine how frustrating it is.

Since you don't want to make homemade (although with cooked food for one cat, it really wouldn't require a lot of work - certainly not frequently), then sticking to the limited ingredient foods that are primarily meat-based are your best option. Canned foods that fit this bill would be:

EVO (has carrageenan)
Hound & Gatos
By Nature 95% meats (though these have carrageenan, you may want to use just the Organics)
Nature's Variety. These have some veggies & stuff, but the peas and carrots are easy to pick out.

Oh - there are commercial raw food options, if you want to try those. The higher the quality, the more expensive. But it does make it easy.

How much chicken should he be eating? I came home later than anticipated and had to make a 'chicken run' with my boyfriend as he's eaten the better part of a package of chicken breasts in just over a day.

Also, I checked his litter when I came home and although there was some diarrhea, it appeared to have been there for a while as it was dry, but the quantity was definitely less than what I'm used to seeing with him but also a LOT more lumps of urine. Is that alright?