Only pressure cooked chicken breast as food for cat!

No canned or pouched or dry - all commercial foods that we ever tried were causing them digestion problems.
The raw meats we fed them also caused problems

I think you should consult with a veterinarian who is also a qualified pet nutritionist. There are such vets and some of them hold phone consultations (in case you can't find near you). You should look one up here - 

http://www.acvn.org/directory/

Feeding only chicken breast is dangerous for your cat, so please talk to a specialist ASAP. 

Theyve been eating this way for more than 6 months. I talked to two vets and they both said they can eat this way for years without issues.
We are in Australia and we dont have specialists like you recommended that i heard of

Also both of these vets have and had before as well- they have own cats even though not like ours in their GI issues..
One of these vets is also a top surgical expert and teaches at a university or used to teach.. Dont recall.. He still gives some sort of lessons or conference lectures.. He also won several awards in NSW Australia for his work..
So i dont know whom to believe - my feeling it is wrong but the vet is an expert not me

I am not a veterinarian but everything that I know about feline nutrition tells me that feeding a cat exclusively on chicken breast cannot be enough. I don't blame you for following the instructions of your veterinarians, this is what a responsible cat owner should do, so you did fine. It contradicts everything that I know about the topic, so I would definitely look for another consultation with a nutrition specialist. 

Maybe you could email the ACVN and ask for them to put you in touch with one via email, or to refer you to Australian pet nutritionists? I think the cats need some sort of supplementation and only a nutritionist can provide you with instructions. 

I will try to get someone to look at their diet for sure. So far i am fighting my partner who believes what i say or what people on the internet say cannot be right compared to experts.
But i have never met any cat however ill whod eat only one food
I said to the vet imagine we eat only one food. But he said we arent carnivorous. And the cat is.
But we all need balanced nutrition. I will try to email some one who is a specialist in cat nutrition this week

This is a shocking story.  There is simply no way that cooked chicken breast can meet all of a cat's nutritional needs.  Your instincts are absolutely correct!  I wonder if vets get away with this because many of the cats they treat don't live long enough to develop the obvious clinical signs of the nutritional deficiencies.  If this is an otherwise healthy 5 year old cat, though, there definitely will be time in this case.

LisaHe has given you lots of info.  The food intolerance (details??) may not be due to the proteins but to the other additives in the canned food.  Definitely see if you can convince your friend to try locally available commercial raw foods, or failing that, add a prepackaged supplement to the chicken.  There are supplements for plain meat, for meat/bone/organ grinds, and for plain meat plus liver - pick whatever is easiest to obtain, get a small sample size and try it.

The cat may also be totally fixated on chicken breast by now.  See if your friend will at least branch out to chicken thigh meat, hearts, gizzards, and liver, then to other proteins.  Liver is especially important.  Start these in small amounts, to give the cat time to get used it.  The most important nutrients that the cat is missing will be calcium and taurine.  Adding powdered eggshell, which you can make at home, and taurine capsules (open them to get at the powder) might be relatively easy to start, and can buy time to get the rest of the diet set up.

The cats do occasionally get thighs as well as giblets ie other chicken parts like their stomachs, lungs. They do tolerate that and do eat that.
But when we gave them other foods eg raw veal, no additives they again got sick.
So we cooked the veal- they got sick
We then tried kangaroo - they didnt want to eat it.
We tried something else- i dont remember what - they also either refused to eat that or they got their usually diarrhea after it. After they eat something that doesnt agree with them the diarrhea doesnt just happen a few times- it keeps happening for a few days, we go through a lot of litter and also they start going on the bed, on the floor and whererever as they get so sick they dont get the time to make it to the litter box at times. The diarrhea is severe and they get really exhausted. Sometimes they also keep vomiting. This has happened many times. The reason they were given the chicken is because they couldnt handle anything else.
We tried a variety of foods, both commerical and home made, raw and cooked

So the chicken parts they do tolerate but they dont get them often. Why? Because one of the cats choked a bit on the tigh that is a bit tough and my partner didnt give it again recently but we will try again.
So they do ok with the chicken.
The other meats we gave them caused the problems.
I remember what it was- it was emu meat that we cooked for them additionally- they didnt touch that.
So they either dont want it or they get sick from food.
I was ok when they were eating the z/d but they can only eat that once. Then any other time after that diarrhea happened and we had to stop
We are also allowed to give them fish as well as rice and pasta but we havent made that and we were warned it is possible they will get a reaction to especially pasta.
I understand why this happens ie they get sick so we were told to eliminate the foods but i thought there has to be more than chicken breast. The other chicken parts is a rare thing.

Even adding some of those other chicken parts, whether it's thigh meat or organs, might be helpful to get additional nutrients into the cats. Each part is a little different so it's good for nutrients and variety. Thigh meat does tend to be tougher (because it has that connective tissue/stuff) but I shred it, along the grain, by hand when I make homemade food for our cats. They love it that way.. As far as other food ideas, I think you're right to avoid the pasta and rice! (Those aren't very nutritious or appropriate for any cat--your vet is right about the carnivore part!--but could be even worse for a cat with a sensitive digestive system!)

I was glad to see @Anne's suggestion of looking for a cat nutrition specialist. Or, depending on where you live, maybe there's a holistic vet who's experienced with homemade and/or raw foods? That sort of specialist can be difficult to find anywhere but you never know. Perhaps, to borrow from @sophie1's idea, another vet could help you begin adding supplements, like taurine and vitamins, to the various chicken parts you're already feeding. I like that idea because you could try one ingredient at a time to see if one of those items is causing your cats' problems.

Thank you, too, for posting photos! The all-white cat does look to me like he's part Siamese: it's the shape of his head. They're very handsome cats! I hope you're able to find a way to get them on a balanced diet soon without them getting sick again.
 

Snowy does look more Siamese but Tabby is his litter brother. Snowy sounds same as Siamese and behaves like one too. He yells if he wants someone or something - the loudest cat i ever met and this includes the very loud Siamese cats..
The chicken meat we do shred by hand but Snowy always gulps his food so he choked. This is his habit. He gulped since he was a kitten and was fed a normal diet like wet snd dry cat food, so its not from hunger

I do have to agree that I also have concerns about the diet.

So, here's what I know in regards to taurine. The harder the muscle works, the more taurine it contains. Dark meat (legs) has more than light (breast)...the heart has the most. I'm not sure what % is contained in the white meat, but I do not believe it would be adequate. Inappropriate amounts of taurine *will* lead to eye issues (retinal degeneration) and heart issues (dilated cardiomyopathy).

You mentioned that one of your cats choke on a piece of meat...how big are the pieces of meat you are serving? I would trying chopping the meat into tiny pieces or mincing it in a food processor.

Also, I'm not sure if this has been covered or not, but the egg yolk has more nutrients then the whites. The whites should never be fed raw.

If your cats tolerate organ meats, adding liver, as well as some heart would be very beneficial.

You clearly care about the wellbeing of these two cats and I commend you for everything you are doing for them!

CatPack said:

You clearly care about the wellbeing of these two cats and I commend you for everything you are doing for them!

Click to expand...

I agree with CatPack! And want to add that I know how hard it is to doubt a vet for the first time -- but you are right to do your research and follow your instincts, Anni7.

And am glad to see the extra information on taurine. When I was reading up on taurine, I noticed on this page ( http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/no-bull-taurine-is-a-must-for-kitty ) that taurine seeps into water when meat is cooked. One of the "rules" for the supplement I use is to add the cooking water to the food. So probably the more cooking water you can feed to your cats with their chicken, the better, as well!

We do give some cooking water but not all the time. I did ask the vet before and he said that taurine stays in the meat when cooked, maybe we didnt explain but from how i see it we did tell the vet that we cook with steam in the pressure cooker. The vets said that taurine is only a concern in some commercial diets and that cooking this way doesn't destroy it
The pieces we serve are about...?? Maybe 5-8cm long and about 5 cm wide... we shred by hand. Snowy only choked once on thigh meat. We will need to make the thigh meat different ie smaller easier to swallow next time like mince it. He also had trouble swallowing the hard part of chicken stomach.

I went ahead and asked Dr. Martha Cline via email. She's a veterinarian and a certified pet nutritionist from New Jersey and I interviewed her for the site before: [article="31658"]Cat Food Feline Nutrition With Pet Nutritionist Dr Martha Cline​[/article]  

She said you should be concerned about the balance of the diet and mentioned taurine deficiency, vitamin D deficiency, and nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism. She said there could be other issues too.

She suggested that you check out the carnivore blends from Balance IT and that they ship to Australia (but that was without me bringing up the allergy issues). She said the University Of Tennessee may be able to help you with a long-distance consultation. Here's more information about their services - 

http://www.vet.utk.edu/clinical/sacs/nutrition.php

I would definitely email them and explain. I hope they can put you in touch with one of their experts or help you track down an expert in Australia.

Good luck!

Yea the allergy is what stops them from eating.
On Saturday Snowy stole a bite of chicken stomach that WE were eating that was cooked with mixed herbs (oregano, thyme, and some other non toxic i believe for cats). The next day he had diarrhea at least 6 times thoughout the afternoon and night. With lots of mucus.
The only difference between their chicken and this was the herbs, and the small amounts of pepper and salt and the chicken was cooked in a frier on a grill type -thing so it wasnt actually fried like in a pan.. i think this was it. However he had this diarrhoea. If it was from hair we usually would see hair but there was none in his stool.
So the cats (we called the vet) will normally tolerate a little bit oregano etc. there was no onion, garlic etc nothing bad for cats .. However Snowy had this!
Its hard to find anything that they can eat.
Thanks for asking the expert. I will show this to my partner when i see him tomorrow.
I will do my best to contact someone as well.

I think the allergy is the main reason for the problem so rven though this vet can provide general advice, without her being aware about the specifics it would not be the whole picture.
The vets we go to one has 30+ years experience as a surgeon vet and has a lot ot knowledge and experience and is the most senior vet at the hospital we go to.
The other vet is a much younger vet but he also has id say 10 + years as a vet.
Both of them have and had cats in the past.
So while the senior surgeon vet is not a nutritional expert, my hope and trust was that he knows what he is talking about.
I myself am concerned about calcium, taurine and vitamin d. As well as some things like lipids that the cats do need for their joints and other things.. It is just common sense that chicken breast with occasional dark parts (occasional means less than once a month!) doesnt look good for sure.
This lady above is a recent graduate, which doesnt of course mean she doesnt know her work, but it is hard to think of a reason why a vet of over 35 years would not know something like this- unless he is old school??! I have no idea what to do. I will try to get more info and advice.
Thanks

Im going to contact a couple of services eg Animal Welfare League NSW tomorrow. This is here in NSW australia
They do have some info on their website and it does explain what balanced nutrition is for cats. Seems chicken alone doesnt sound right ..