Cooked Chicken Breast??

anankee

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My little Marley is on a diet of pan fried chicken and Royal Canin kitten food. The breeder was feeding him this diet after a health scare at 9 weeks and I have just continued. I'm wondering if it is okay to keep him on this diet long term or whether he may be missing vital nutrients and fats. He definitely loves it and is growing nicely. Any feedback is welcome!!
 
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anankee

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I thought I should clarify the Royal Canin is dry food, not wet
 

LTS3

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The Royal Canin is fine. How much of the chicken are you feeding? Chicken doesn't have any of the essential vitamins and minerals a cat needs so it can only be fed as a treat at no more than 10% of the daily diet. If chicken or other meat is fed cooked, it should be plain cooked like gently poached or boiled in water instead of pan fried in oil.

If your kitten is healthy and growing well, I don't see a reason at all to include chicken as part of the main diet along with the Royal Canin. You don't have to continue feeding what the breeder was feeding or recommends.

Try to include canned food into your kitten's diet. Kittens should be exposed to a wide variety of foods while they are young. It's often hard to get a life long dry food addict to eat canned food later in life if canned food is needed for a health reason.

A home cooked diet of chicken can be be fed but it must be supplement properly. There are resources and recipies here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources
 
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anankee

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The Royal Canin is fine. How much of the chicken are you feeding? Chicken doesn't have any of the essential vitamins and minerals a cat needs so it can only be fed as a treat at no more than 10% of the daily diet. If chicken or other meat is fed cooked, it should be plain cooked like gently poached or boiled in water instead of pan fried in oil.

If your kitten is healthy and growing well, I don't see a reason at all to include chicken as part of the main diet along with the Royal Canin. You don't have to continue feeding what the breeder was feeding or recommends.

Try to include canned food into your kitten's diet. Kittens should be exposed to a wide variety of foods while they are young. It's often hard to get a life long dry food addict to eat canned food later in life if canned food is needed for a health reason.

A home cooked diet of chicken can be be fed but it must be supplement properly. There are resources and recipies here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources


Thanks LTS3

I am currently feeding him 3 serves per day, each serve around 2 tbsp of finely chopped chicken breast. He also eats about a cup of dry food over the course of the day. The chicken breast while pan fried, is not cooked in oil. I sear it very lightly on each side and turn the heat to very low and put a lid on and it kind of steams the rest of the cooking process. I am certainly open to poaching and had already wondered if this was a better option .
We had a vet visit last night because Marley appeared to have an eye infection, which was just some conjunctivitis. But whilst there I asked about his diet and the vet saw no issues with it. Based on your comments about it not being more than 10% of his diet, and poaching rather than pan fry, I am now a little worried my vet is not giving me good advice. There are many vets in my area that care more about making s quick dollar , so I try to also do my own research.

I have to say I would have thought home cooked meals would be more nutritious than canned food( but it makes sense that chicken alone wouldn't fill his nutritional requirements

I'll have a read through the recipes you posted too, thanks [emoji]128522[/emoji]
 

orange&white

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I'm glad you clarified that your not making "fried chicken" for your kitten. 
  lol

The cooking method you are using is just fine.  You might add a couple tablespoons of water to the pan when you turn the heat off to keep it moister.  Cats usually don't drink enough water to stay well hydrated, especially with dry cat food.

I've read that treats can be 15-20% of a cats diet without having to worry about balancing vitamins/minerals, but I would be more cautious with a growing kitten.

I think a home cooked, or raw diet, or canned food is much healthier than any dry food.  Instead of reducing the amount of chicken, I would find a balanced home cooked recipe you like and reduce the kibble, or as LTS3 suggests, find some good canned food.  At a minimum, you would need to add a little bit of liver (not too much) and a calcium source to chicken.
 
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anankee

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I'm glad you clarified that your not making "fried chicken" for your kitten.  :jaw:   lol

Yes I can see why fried chicken could be cause for concern haha


I've read that treats can be 15-20% of a cats diet without having to worry about balancing vitamins/minerals, but I would be more cautious with a growing kitten.


I think a home cooked, or raw diet, or canned food is much healthier than any dry food.  Instead of reducing the amount of chicken, I would find a balanced home cooked recipe you like and reduce the kibble, or as LTS3 suggests, find some good canned food.  At a minimum, you would need to add a little bit of liver (not too much) and a calcium source to chicken.

I'm glad you clarified that your not making "fried chicken" for your kitten.  :jaw:   lol

The cooking method you are using is just fine.  You might add a couple tablespoons of water to the pan when you turn the heat off to keep it moister.  Cats usually don't drink enough water to stay well hydrated, especially with dry cat food.

I've read that treats can be 15-20% of a cats diet without having to worry about balancing vitamins/minerals, but I would be more cautious with a growing kitten.

I think a home cooked, or raw diet, or canned food is much healthier than any dry food.  Instead of reducing the amount of chicken, I would find a balanced home cooked recipe you like and reduce the kibble, or as LTS3 suggests, find some good canned food.  At a minimum, you would need to add a little bit of liver (not too much) and a calcium source to chicken.


Yes I can see why "fried chicken" could be cause for alarm lol

I will definitely look into adding something to bring a little more balance to his diet

I have noticed he is pretty much always hungry. I know kittens need frequent meals though. He has been wormed so I know this is not the problem, but now I'm wondering if he is missing some nutrients and that's why he seems often to be hungry?
 

orange&white

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I have noticed he is pretty much always hungry. I know kittens need frequent meals though. He has been wormed so I know this is not the problem, but now I'm wondering if he is missing some nutrients and that's why he seems often to be hungry?
Kittens eat a lot!  I'm raising one now and it's been over 20 years since I raised a young kitten.  I've been tracking how much my pets eat.  My 12.5 year old 15.5 pound senior cat is eating 5.5 ounces of food per day, and my 6.5 pound kitten is eating 6-7 ounces a day.  Little tiny thing is eating a lot more than a big adult cat.  :)

How old is your kitten?
 

1CatOverTheLine

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10% is the outside recommendation made by veterinarians and dieticians for non-commercial food (treats, cooked food et. al.):

https://www.google.com/search?q=cats+diet+"no+more+than+10%"&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

If you're feeding more than that, It would be wise to have your vet test Taurine levels every six months (a few notable sources such as U. C. Davis and U. Missouri - the two leading institutions for feline-specific medicine - recommend every four to six months) to be certain that a Taurine supplement isn't required, either by plasma amino acid test or via whole blood Taurine Concentration testing.  There's an exceptional article by Dr. Cailin R. Heinze in Volume 70 of The American Journal of Veterinary Research (November, 2009), regarding a study on exactly this subject, titled Plasma Amino Acid and Whole Blood Taurine Concentrations in Cats Eating Commercially Prepared Diets, which more than bears out the admonitions made by most veterinarians in holding to 10% or less those foods and supplements not within the canon of commercial "balanced" food for cats eating commercially prepared diets.

.
 
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orange&white

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To 1CatOTL's excellent point, I would not trust a cooked food recipe which did not include a taurine supplement.  Find a recipe developed by a veterinarian.  The link that LTS3 posted to a homemade recipe thread should give you a good start on research.
 
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