Why not a boneless chicken breast? If dogs are designed to eat raw meat, wouldn't cooked chicken be harder on an upset tummy than raw, boneless chicken? And isn't rice a grain?

This just seems to go against the whole "raw is easier to digest" concept. I think that a raw chicken breast would be about as bland as you could get and easier on a sick dogs system than cooked chicken and rice.

The past few times that my dog has gotton an upset stomach, he has responded well to a fast and then raw chicken breast 'til things cleared.(within a day or two)

I'm sure that there is probably something I am overlooking, and that if any place has the answer it will be here. Thanks!

Great question Mike... I've always wondered about that too.

Back when Moka (my 11-yr shepherd) was on kibble, she had loose stools about 85% of the time. Whenever she went through a particularly bad episode, the vet would recommend boiled chicken and rice. All that did was give her constant RUNNY stools.

We tried giving her very lightly cooked eggs w chicken and that worked better.


Of course the funny thing is that the very day we switched her to raw (she was 10 by then), the digestive issues STOPPED and have never returned.

And I feed her weird stuff like whole pig heads, tripe and spleens

Anyway I agree with you. Boiled rice and cooked chicken is really easy for humans to digest, but I wouldn't give that to a dog... just my opinion, maybe some dogs actually tolerate grains (mine don't; I once tried giving a bit of leftover rice to my two young raw-raised pups and they both got really itchy w loose stools. I won't repeat that experiment...).

I'm not sure why boiled chx is recommended over raw for digestive upset, but I'm a believer.

If either of my dogs has water stools, I put them on this diet for a day or two and it WORKS like magic. It works faster than anything else I've tried, and I only use it when there is a serious digestive issue going on. Since I feed it with the broth from the cooked chx, they get more fluids and decrease the risk of dehydration (it's the dehydration that worries me more than anything else in these situations).

Obviously, the rice is constipating, and I'm assuming the chx is thrown in there because dogs need protien, but why it should be cooked and not raw is not clear to me. Maybe it doesn't have to be.

Or maybe the idea is that if a dog is already having serious digestive issues, then his weakened system can't handle the little germies in the raw chx that he would normally have no problem with. Sort of like when people have digestive problems, they can't handle spices or rich food, even though those foods may be fine any other time.

I'm not really all that concerned about it because it works, fast, and it's not something that my dog would have to be on for more than a day or two.

I think the advise of boiled chicken & rice comes from the old days when most fed kibble or canned dog food, before people were feeding RAW. I use canned (plain) pumpkin once back when my pup had loose stools and it worked.

 Quote: amber morgan

I'm not sure why boiled chx is recommended over raw for digestive upset, but I'm a believer.

If either of my dogs has water stools, I put them on this diet for a day or two and it WORKS like magic. It works faster than anything else I've tried, and I only use it when there is a serious digestive issue going on. Since I feed it with the broth from the cooked chx, they get more fluids and decrease the risk of dehydration (it's the dehydration that worries me more than anything else in these situations).

Obviously, the rice is constipating, and I'm assuming the chx is thrown in there because dogs need protien, but why it should be cooked and not raw is not clear to me. Maybe it doesn't have to be.

Or maybe the idea is that if a dog is already having serious digestive issues, then his weakened system can't handle the little germies in the raw chx that he would normally have no problem with. Sort of like when people have digestive problems, they can't handle spices or rich food, even though those foods may be fine any other time.

I'm not really all that concerned about it because it works, fast, and it's not something that my dog would have to be on for more than a day or two.

Yeah, it works for me too, so far. As Amber says, overcooked white rice is one of those "binding" foods, as well as being bland and watery (fluids). (Of course, I wouldn't do it with a dog who reacted badly.)

I actually don't know if the cooked-edness or rawness of the white (low fat) chicken matters, but I do throw it in with the rice. And it makes sense not to increase the potential pathogen load if the dog is fighting with an intestinal problem already.

I have questioned the logic too, but until I discover something that works the way it does, I do use (and suggest) it. Whatever works.

 Quote: susan tuck

I use canned (plain) pumpkin once back when my pup had loose stools and it worked.

Me too.

That's my first line of defense for a pudding stool.

The boiled rice, etc., is for a more serious bout.

I always want both in the house.

Connie
In an earier post you said to use white rice. Is that preferable to brown rice? If so, why?
Does the starch in the rice absorb toxins from the gut?
Would bentonite clay for intestinal upset be helpfull?

 Quote: Debbie Bruce

Connie
In an earier post you said to use white rice. Is that preferable to brown rice? If so, why?
Does the starch in the rice absorb toxins from the gut?
Would bentonite clay for intestinal upset be helpfull?

I have always learned/read that soupy white rice is preferable and less stressful to the bowel.

I don't know if starches for dogs absorb toxins and escort them out. I'll find out.

I also don't know enough about phyllosilicates.

When I'm treating acute (as opposed to chronic) diarrhea, I don't know what's wrong. I don't generally know whether the dog ate a yummy piece of road-kill loaded with pathogens, or just pigged out on a lot of fat in meat that I didn't realize was extra-fatty, or maybe ate dirt and sand. Or maybe he just over-ate, period. All these (and more) would cause the system to purge the unwanted material (and dogs seem to be very good at this).

I guess what I'm saying is that my goal is to soothe and calm the system while it does its thing, especially aiming at keeping the dog hydrated.

I should read more (and I will) about exactly how phyllosilicates act on a dog, and also whether brown rice might be even more effective at bulking up the stool. In a human, insoluble fiber (like the rice bran on brown rice) plus fluids do indeed help bulk up the stool. I have to read whether the relative canine lack of the enzymes that process sturdy grains would make brown rice less desirable when you're treating acute diarrhea.

Of course, this is all a very temporary measure to help diarrhea that seems to have turned into a cycle (of unwanted material or toxins causing purging and inflammation which causes purging and inflammation, etc.).

As posted earlier, a little plain pumpkin seems to work for minor cases.

Interesting questions. I wish I knew the answers right this second.

Connie, would you say that rice is more or less effective than pumpkin?

Just inquiring for people whose dogs don't tolerate even one meal of grains

Or how about the alternative of just fasting the dog for a day or two to let its gut recover (with plenty of chicken broth for hydration of course)?

Oh, I guess we all (except Michael) kind of forgot to be clear on the fast-first principle. YES YES YES! A fast (12 to 24 hours, IME) is the first thing to do, while encouraging water (baited if need be).

I haven't run into acute diarrhea that didn't respond to either plain pumpkin (for pudding diarrhea) or rice gruel/chicken breast (for watery diarrhea). But I have heard of it, and I have read about unsalted cottage cheese instead of rice, and also live-culture yogurt. I'd lean towards yogurt, because of my experience with dogs having much better tolerance for fermented dairy than unfermented.

I don't try any of this unless the dog is reasonably happy, active, and eating. If those are absent, I take the dog to the vet.

So everything here is strictly for the occasional acute diarrhea in an otherwise healthy dog.