Can I feed my cats chicken

[samstar999 10]

Hello All

 

Both my cats are fed a mixture of dry and wet food. They prefer the wet food but I find it repulsive in it's smell, look and PRICE! They don't LOVE it but will not exist on dry food alone.

 

Would it be OK to buy them chicken breasts and cook them in water, and then slice it up for them? Would they get the vitamins they need if I still provided them with the dry foods too? (I am thinking the cheapest chicken in Sainsbury's has got to be better than the processed wet foods?)

 

Also, I have noticed that rice is sometimes an ingredient in cat food - should I boil up some rice for them too? Maybe carrots and peas?

 

I want my cats to be healthy (esp one who is elderly and fussy) and I just can't see how this rancid processed food can be any good for them?

 

Looking forward to hearing your catness knowledge!

Thank you

Sam

[mym8scallmeh 10]

Hi, My adore chicken in any shape or form. I boil mine and as you say cut it up but they would be more then then happy to steal it straight from the saucepan if they could lol. I try to give them a mixed diet of chicken, coley or tuna and now and again liver. They also have dry food down all the time as well and looking at the ingredients of that there is dried veg in that so I don,t add any veg to their meat. I also sprinkle a just a little cod liver oil on their food as well. Hope this helps.

[vwkittie 10]

Yes chicken is fine for cats in addition to complete dry food, I'm sure they'll love it too! My cats have a permanent supply of dry food, the occasional pouch of wet plus any appropriate table scraps.

 

Some people feed their cat on a completely raw meat diet too if you want to go the whole hog!

[mc55 10]

we give ours rotissery cooked chicken once in a while as a treat, in addition to their dried kibble & wet pouches.

 

I think cats need something called taurine which is lost when meat is cooked .... and is added to pouches ??? someone more knowledgeable will be along soon to clarify I hope - so if they were only to have cooked chicken I think it would be bad, but in addition to cat food should be OK ??

[kayinjapan 10]

Hi, cats are obligate carnivores and have no real need for vegetables such as peas and carrots or large amounts of grains and carbs.

As another poster mentioned, it is fine to feed your cats chicken but you must make sure they have a source of the essential amino acid taurine. Cooked chicken breast will have relatively little taurine compared to raw prawns, for example.

There is some more information here: http://www.vetlord.org/taurine-is-essential-for-cats/

or on Google.

[medusa 16]

It's not only the cooking of the meat that reduces the taurine- it also depends on the particular bit of meat that you get in the first place. Raw or cooked, some lean muscle tissue (like chicken breast) does not have a very high taurine content. Brown meat has a naturally much higher taurine content.

 

In the wild cats would be eating small mammals and fish and consuming all of the internal organs and brown meat raw, and they are both much higher in taurine naturally.

 

Is there any reason why you need to cook the chicken? Chicken which is prepared for the human market is prepared to the highest safety and hygiene standards, and there's no reason why you couldn't feed your cats on this raw. Cats in the wild aren't known for their little barbecues to cook their mice before eating them

[samstar999 10]

Hello all and thanks for your replies.

Well, Monday night I cooked up some lovely chicken breast with a bit of rice (MIL told me to put rice in). Well, the wolfed it down, even the fuss pot older lady.

Next morning - totally turned their noses up ... and it was still there when I came home from work. NOT happy. (Them or me)>

So, they have had more dry and more pouches.

I will try them with a bit of raw chicken - see how that goes but I was a bit worried that it would be too rich for them?

I really don't want to go back to the smelly pouches if I can help it.

Thanks again for your input!

Sam