# Those of you who feed boiled chicken...



## bellasmommy (May 8, 2005)

For a few weeks now I've been giving Bella a little boiled chicken everyday. She eats her New Balance just fine, but I needed something healthy to feed her as a treat while we eat dinner. I boil all the chicken and cut it up, then I put it in ziploc baggies in the freezer except for one bag that I'm using. Here's the problem, am I supposed to microwave it before giving it to her? I don't know what causes this, but the chicken makes a popping sound in the microwave, even though I only warm it up for four seconds. Is microwaving it even neccessary since its already cooked? This is really a silly little problem i wasn't at all worried about, that is until this morning when I tried wrapping the chicken in a paper towel and I caught the microwave on fire







(ha ha, I finally got to use the whistle smiley!! true story about the microwave fire though







) I only had it in there for three seconds, and spark spark pop, FIRE! Everythings fine here, but how do you go about feeding the chicken?


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## wagirl98665 (Jan 5, 2006)

If I heat up chicken or any other food for the dogs I usually heat it on a plate covered in plastic wrap, but I only heat it for 15 seconds or so. You don't have to heat up already cooked chicken, but I always do because I don't feel quite right serving them cold dinner, but that's just my little quirk. Cooked cold chicken is safe, we eat it.







You must have freaked when your microwave went up in flames!


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## bellasmommy (May 8, 2005)

> If I heat up chicken or any other food for the dogs I usually heat it on a plate covered in plastic wrap, but I only heat it for 15 seconds or so. You don't have to heat up already cooked chicken, but I always do because I don't feel quite right serving them cold dinner, but that's just my little quirk. Cooked cold chicken is safe, we eat it.
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Thanks, I'll try plastic wrap instead of paper towels. You know, I think it would have scared me much much more if i hadn't already set a few microwaves on fire already in my day















Live and learn I guess...


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I feed Lacie and Tilly boiled chicken every night and I also cut it cut and put it in the zip locks and freeze like you do.

I don't, however, heat it before I give it to them. They seem to like to cold just fine.


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## Suz & the Fluffs (Mar 11, 2006)

Oh Brandy you are hilarious.







I have never put away chicken for SB I usually cook it and serve it to her warm so I dunno. I hope you don't start anymore microwave fires.


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## dolcevita (Aug 3, 2005)

I buy baked chicken from the salad bar at Whole Foods and I keep it in the freezer too in individual portions. Every night, I put one in the refrigerator to thaw. Even though it's thawed, I always warm it up in the microwave for 5 seconds. It's not necessary, but I read that warm food tastes better to them. I've never had the chicken catch fire, but it does pop a little bit.


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## revakb2 (Sep 8, 2006)

I also microwave. Yes, I have the same problem as you do, but I never set the microwave on fire. It does crackle. I just stand right by the microwave and if crackles too much, I just cancel. I generally cook for 4 to 6 seconds depending on whether it is frozen or not. I think Bogie likes it better warm. It also makes it smell and Bogie gets really excited when he smell it cooking.


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## MalteseJane (Nov 21, 2004)

You DO know NOT to use stainless steel or aluminum in the microwave, don't you ? If you don't use anything prohibited something is wrong with your microwave. It should not catch fire, especially not at 3 seconds. We heat up or defrost Alex's meal in the microwave. I just feel it's too cold coming right out of the refrigerator.


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

the crackling or popping sound you hear is normal. if its coming from the chicken. lol.


the sound is basically all the water thats boiling in the chicken. if that makes sense. thats why paper plates dont get hot in the microwave---because they dont have water in them to heat up. 

i think its weird that your paper towel lit up. when i put chicken in the microwave, i always cover it with a napkin. never had a problem.

anyway, you're doing nothing wrong! thats my point. i heat up their food, my mom doesnt. i think its because she's lazy. lol.


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## bellasmommy (May 8, 2005)

Yeah, I know about foil and such, although I will confess I learned about the hazards of foil the hard way









All that was in the microwave was chicken (already cooked the night before) on a folded paper towel. I really don't understand what caused the little fire. I swear it was only in there for three or four seconds. I guess I will stick to a microwave safe plate and see what happens. Don't worry though, the fire extinguisher is nearby at all times








I'm glad to know everyone elses chicken pops too though, I thought I was cooking it wrong somehow the night before before even putting it in the microwave, and I kept thinking, sheesh Brandy, can't you boil water correctly? I can cook, I don't know why microwaving has been so problemtatic lately.


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## lorraine (Jun 24, 2006)

I've been feeding boiled chicken for ages. I cook it, cool it, shove it in a plastic, lidded container then heat a bit up in the micro for each feeding. I had never noticed a spark, pop, bang type of thingy until tonight. After I read your post, I put the stuff in the microwave for... oh about 30 seconds and guess what? Spark, pop, bang and I had never noticed that before.


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## bellasmommy (May 8, 2005)

> I've been feeding boiled chicken for ages. I cook it, cool it, shove it in a plastic, lidded container then heat a bit up in the micro for each feeding. I had never noticed a spark, pop, bang type of thingy until tonight. After I read your post, I put the stuff in the microwave for... oh about 30 seconds and guess what? Spark, pop, bang and I had never noticed that before.
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Well I may have noticed right away because I have a bad history with microwaves...I'm just glad I'm not the only one hearing the popping.


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## Gemma (Jan 19, 2006)

> this morning when I tried wrapping the chicken in a paper towel and I caught the microwave on fire
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This sounds like something I would do. 



I cook chicken ( which everytime overflows and mess up the whole stove














) and put them in freezer and take it out a night before. the other day I burned a little bit of it in the microwave. it turned black and I only had it there 10 seconds. I'm glad I didn't have a paper towel under it. one piece was very cold and the other burnt


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

And now you know why my girls eat the chicken cold.









Actually they seem to like to better cold.


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## Andrea&Luci (Jul 30, 2006)

> If I heat up chicken or any other food for the dogs I usually heat it on a plate covered in plastic wrap, but I only heat it for 15 seconds or so. You don't have to heat up already cooked chicken, but I always do because I don't feel quite right serving them cold dinner, but that's just my little quirk. Cooked cold chicken is safe, we eat it.
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LOL, I give Luci 1/2 canned, 1/2 kibble everyday, and so obviously I only use a little of the canned food, and the rest goes into the refrigerator, I ALSO heat it up---feel bad serving cold food!!!


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## momtoboo (Jan 30, 2006)

I have the same spark/flame thing going on with greenbeens. I buy them frozen, boil them about 10 mins,drain & keep them in a small bowl in the fridge. I usually give Boo one greenbean at a time straight out of the fridge for a snack. But if I put a few in the microwave for 4 or 5 seconds to heat up, they will spark & have tiny flames. It's really strange.


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## angelsugar (Apr 22, 2006)

*I have not tried to boil chicken yet but I did buy some at the market yesterday. Just stick it in a pan with a lot of water and boil away????









But is canned chicken the same and is it okay to feed to them???







*


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## louis' mom (Jul 7, 2006)

I don't give louis chicken - but I have a friend who feeds his baby a "raw" diet and that means chopped meats even chicken bones raw - he thaws it out but the butcher chops everything up for him and that is what his baby eats (not a maltese) - he says that his baby had allergies and now doesn't have any issues. has anyone tried that with their babies?


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

there are a couple of people who feed raw here too. 

i couldnt do it. i've heard good things about it too, but i'd be scared of salmonella or any other bacteria. 

i like giving them homecooked cuz they're soo cute when they get excited or when they try something new. one time we had leftovers of lobster and i threw a piece to gruffi, and he just let it hit him in the face, looked down, smelled it, ate it up and walked over to me to get more. lol

i guess he doesnt that withanything new, he doesnt "trust" me or something and needs to smell it to decide to eat it. lol. i've learned that he doesnt like watermelon (probably because of the texture)


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## bellasmommy (May 8, 2005)

> I have the same spark/flame thing going on with greenbeens. I buy them frozen, boil them about 10 mins,drain & keep them in a small bowl in the fridge. I usually give Boo one greenbean at a time straight out of the fridge for a snack. But if I put a few in the microwave for 4 or 5 seconds to heat up, they will spark & have tiny flames. It's really strange.[/B]


I'm so glad its not just me, I thought I was doing something wrong even though its only in there four of five seconds.




> *I have not tried to boil chicken yet but I did buy some at the market yesterday. Just stick it in a pan with a lot of water and boil away????
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You just put the chicken in a pan (the kind of pan you would use for macaroni) and cover it with water. Bring it to a boil and cook it until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Thats how I do it anyway, I had to ask how to do it to







I had never boiled chicken before. The only reason I don't use canned chicken is because of the added salt and preservatives it usually has. When I swiched from baby food chicken (meat sticks for toddlers) I only did it to switch to something less expensive with less added ingredients. I feed Bella dry food too, she gets the chicken when I'm having a meal at home as a treat. She loves it! It doesn't take that long to cook either, so thats a plus. I learned from SM you can chop it up and keep it in baggies to portion it out and you can store some in the freezer if you want. I'm cooking for Bella and for Harley, so one package just last a week and I don't bother freezing it anymore.




> I don't give louis chicken - but I have a friend who feeds his baby a "raw" diet and that means chopped meats even chicken bones raw - he thaws it out but the butcher chops everything up for him and that is what his baby eats (not a maltese) - he says that his baby had allergies and now doesn't have any issues. has anyone tried that with their babies?[/B]





> there are a couple of people who feed raw here too.
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> i couldnt do it. i've heard good things about it too, but i'd be scared of salmonella or any other bacteria.
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I can't do raw either, I haven't researched it enough to feel confident about it. Plus, I don't think I could do it. I'm sure it works well for a lot of people, its just not soemthing I'm interested in particularly.


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

I gave Ollie boiled chicken today for the first time--shredded up and only about 2 teaspoons. He went CRAZY over it!! I wish I could have given him more but I wanted to see how he'd do with it (he's only 3 1/2 months). 

How much do you serve your malts when you give them the chicken?

Also, do you mix it with their kibble? I didn't want to do that because I didn't want him thinking that his kibble would always be served like that and then have him not want to eat it plain (he loves his plain, dry kibble). So I gave it to him in a separate dish. I think he inhaled it.


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

i didnt start homecooking till sprite andellie were adults and gruffi was around 5 months old I THINK. we totally dont go by the book when we feed them...which i know is bad, but they look starved sometimes. 

first, you "should" only feed boiled chicken breast---i just buy whatevers on sale. 

anyway, if you look at a leg of chicken, the girls probably eat half a leg three times a day. they get rice for beakfast and dinner and then for lunch i give them vegetables. 

and gruffi eats like 3-4 legs of chicken 3 times a day. 

my mom boils like 2-3 days worth of food and keeps it in the fridge, and when its time for them to eat, i take it out, shred it, and microwave it for like 30 seconds. (i put all their food in one plate) and then after its warm, i seperate it in 3 different plates and get them to eat. 

we didnt do the whole dog food to homecooked transition gradually, mostly because none of them were eating the dog food anyway. so i just started them on homecooked. i wrote my whole story down somewhere on this site. 

good luck!!! and the way they get their teeth cleaned---bully sticks and every now and then i brush their teeth.


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## bellasmommy (May 8, 2005)

> I gave Ollie boiled chicken today for the first time--shredded up and only about 2 teaspoons. He went CRAZY over it!! I wish I could have given him more but I wanted to see how he'd do with it (he's only 3 1/2 months).
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> How much do you serve your malts when you give them the chicken?
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> Also, do you mix it with their kibble? I didn't want to do that because I didn't want him thinking that his kibble would always be served like that and then have him not want to eat it plain (he loves his plain, dry kibble). So I gave it to him in a separate dish. I think he inhaled it.[/B]


Bella only gets chicken as a treat, its how I keep others from giving her "people" food off their plates, so she doesn't get very much. I cut it into cubes about two inches wide and I shred one up to give her. I don't mix it with her kibble, just because its not by the table.


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

i should also say that if you put chicken with their kibble a lot, then they might stop eating the kibble and just wait for the chicken. i had a friend who was doing that and decided to cut chicken out of their food period.


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## pico's parent (Apr 5, 2004)

> *I have not tried to boil chicken yet but I did buy some at the market yesterday. Just stick it in a pan with a lot of water and boil away????
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Canned chicken can have a lot of sodium. I home-cook for Pico and I put the chicken breasts into a pot of cold water and slowly bring it to a simmer and simmer for 20 minutes. Because his liver is compromised he needs high quality proteins like chicken and I read somewhere (I wish I were as organized as Lady's Mom with all right references) that cooking at high heat is not good for vegetables or proteins. I steam the veggies for his food,too.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

I set a microwave on fire popping popcorn. What can I say. I thought it said 6 minutes, not 4! The good news is it wasn't my microwave.......oops. 



You know, I don't heat the boiled chicken for mine as they don't bother to chew it for taste. They INHALE it!

I also worry about hot spots and burning their gullets. I've had little pieces of food warmed in the microwave wind up being terribly hot.


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## starry (Sep 4, 2006)

I wish I could get my dogs to eat some veges, but they spit those out all over my kitchen floor.








So I try and save juices from cans of veges (ex :green beans,corn) and just pour it in a btl or freeze it in a baggy untill I boile chick and use it with the water, that way maybe at least they are getting some extra vitamins.(My mom did this when she would make mash potatos for us..)
I also give kibble but NEVER raw meat. (The dog nuerologist said







ver.)
I use to mix stuff in w/kibble but no more..I think the kibble needs to be dry for cleaning the teeth.P.S. I don't know when to start the teeth brushing.


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## pico's parent (Apr 5, 2004)

> I wish I could get my dogs to eat some veges, but they spit those out all over my kitchen floor.
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I had the same veggie problem with Pico. I kept reading how others' malts just love frozen green beans and baby carrots but Pico wasn't interested in cooked or raw. UNTIL I took them off of MY plate while he was watching and gave them to him! So that's how we give him "snacks" when we are eating. After we are finished we give him pieces of veggies and he wolfs them down! The juice from the canned is a good idea but watch the sodium content as much of it will be in the juices.

As to teeth brushing, ASAP. As puppies you can start with a piece of gauze wrapped around your little finger and just start rubbing his teeth and gums gently and briefly to get him accustomed to that. I don't think it will ever be EASY to brush malt teeth but it is ever so necessary because they have such short roots. I brush Pico with a child's toothbrush and CET poultry flavored toothpaste but there are new gels and sprays, too.


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## Theresa (Mar 10, 2005)

> I feed Lacie and Tilly boiled chicken every night and I also cut it cut and put it in the zip locks and freeze like you do.
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> I don't, however, heat it before I give it to them. They seem to like to cold just fine.[/B]


Same at our house I kon't heat it sometime I will but they like it either way


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## dolcevita (Aug 3, 2005)

Is boiled chicken better than baked? I'm just curious why everyone boils it.


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## bellasmommy (May 8, 2005)

> Is boiled chicken better than baked? I'm just curious why everyone boils it.[/B]


I've been meaning to ask that too, I don't get it.

By the way you wil all be glad to know I haven't started any more fires, as it turns out, Bella prefers the chicken cold, lucky me!


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

wouldnt bake mean that it'd be cooked in it's own fat...but boiled--the fat is dispersed into the water. thats how i always thought of it.

BUT...every now and then my mom will bake the chicken for thedogs too. lol


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I actually used baked chicken but it is breast only and skinless. Otherwise it does cook in its own fat which isn't good for the girls. I use a lot of the chicken tenders or chicken nuggests as they're less expensive than the full breasts.


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