How to Boil Chicken? - Food for Pancreatitis/IBD

[Laura and Harley (GA)]

My kitty Harley is still having issues with pancreatitis and possible IBD/triadidts involvement. His spec-fPL tests are way elevated (20 on 3/16/11 and 40 on 4/1/11) but ultrasound on 4/11/11 showed nothing unusual. So we still don't have a deffinitive diagnosis. He's on Levemir 0.5u (we just changed insulins over the weeekend from PZI), daily SubQ fluids, buprenex for pain, Anzemet / Pepcid AC for nausea and prednisolone. He just received a plasma transfusion on Sunday night.

I'd like to feed him some boiled chicken to see if that helps calm his GI tract down. (I currently feed him little chunks of baked chicken breast treats as a snack.) Does anyone have a good recipe? Or any other suggestions? For the moment I'd like to keep the food as simple as possible to see if it helps him. If it does, I'll consider a raw food diet for him in the future but not right now. I've tried Natural Balance low residue venison and pea and duck and pea but he won't eat those foods.

Also where can I quickly get any necessary vitamin/mineral/taurine supplements in order to make the food nutritionally adequate for a cat?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Karen & Angus(GA)]

You need enough water and a large enough pot to completely cover the chicken. Bring the water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer (water just moving) and add chicken. Weigh down with a plate, if necessary, to keep the chicken submerged. Time to cook will depend on how large the chicken pieces are. Chicken breasts will take about 15 - 20 minutes. A whole chicken will take 45 minutes to an hour. Check for doneness with an instant read thermometer (165 degrees) or by cutting into the largest piece. Cool in the liquid.

There are "complete" supplements you can add. Missing Link and Call of the Wild are two that come to mind. Both are available on-line and Missing Link is available at Petco. The problem with these if you are trying to eliminate food sensitivities for IBD is that they contain many of the same ingredients as commercial foods. You can also check out Dr. Lisa's nutrition page to see what supplements she adds to her homemade cat food.

Minou, my civie, has IBD though not pancreatitis. We used a mix of d/d venision, EVO 95% venison, and Ziwipeak venison for her food trials.

 

[squeem3]

Use a pre-mix. These are typically used with raw meats if you don't want to make raw food from scratch but can be used with cooked meat as well. Try TC Instincts, Better In The Raw, or Alnutrin. Just gently simmer meat until cooked and add in the recommened amount of pre-mix. Here's one suggested method: http://rawmeatcatfood.com/2010/08/16/can-i-feed-my-cat-cooked-meat/

The Missing Link supplement isn't good for diabetics because it contains cane molasses, a sugar which may raise bg levels.

 

[Laura and Harley (GA)]

Thank you both for your replies and suggestions. I think I'll boil some chicken as a temporary measure while waiting for the pre-mix to arrive.

 

[Gail & Houdini (GA)]

FWIW - I put frozen skinless bonless chicken breasts in a crock pot with no added water. I feed this to all my kitties as a snack. There is enough water in the chicken to make a nice broth and very little fat.

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

I've done the same thing as Gail. But be careful on what chicken you buy. Some of the prepackaged, flash frozen chicken has been treated with salt and/or spices! Make sure it's raw chicken you buy fresh, so it should not have anything added to it. Use the low setting.

Glad you've found something he will eat!

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

Try vitacost.com. I get aot of the girls supplement s here including taurine.

Depending on the chocken you buy you may want to rinse it a couple time before boiling. Remember to save the water when its done cooking as you can use it as a broth added to her wet food. You can also see if she will drink it on her own. She may like this.

Just don't leave it in fridge too long as it will go bad within a couple days. You can freeze and thaw it as well.