And I'm not a health professional!

I have had access to vets with nutrition specialties in classes and seminars, and I've noticed that home treatment for acute diarrhea is pretty universal, not differing much from traditional vets to holistic vets.

I think that the blandness and the binding quality of rice (as well as the extra fluid the dog takes in when you make a soup out of it) is the point of it.

But a little pumpkin or sweet potato made into a soupy dish might be as good.

It's been many years since I stopped to think about the pumpkin-for-pudding, rice-gruel-for-watery protocol. It hasn't let me down, and others echo it, so I guess I overlooked really putting any thought into it.

 Quote: Yuko Blum

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

Lightly-cooked whites do sound nice and bland and easy to digest. No binding qualities, but I wouldn't repeat the rice either if my dog reacted badly to it.

Did you include the yolks? I know it's not universal, but I try to eliminate fat with acute diarrhea (for a day or so, after fasting).

Also, Yuko, do you happen to know about bentonite clay with dogs? I have it written down to check it out, but haven't yet.

Well, I'll be darned. I went back and looked at notes from a seminar a couple of years ago, and found something I had totally forgotten.

A holistic vet with a nutrition specialty recommended RICE WATER. He said either a couple of tablespoons of soupy white rice or 1/4 to 1/2 cup of rice water, the water that you cooked the rice to death in, strained (with some pressure) through a mesh strainer. It was described as slightly thickened water, so I imagine that the rice has cooked almost to a pulp before you strain the water.

I wish I had written down whether the rice water was for dogs who didn't tolerate any grains.

Thanks Connie!

All my dogs love yogurt and have no problems with it, so it's good to know that I could use that if needed.

Actually none of them (even Moka) have ever had diarrhea while on raw. Not once. I noticed that Moka has a lot better tolerance for the "yucky" stuff that she gets into now that she's been on raw for a while.
Drinking from smelly stagnant puddles used to make her sick for days, but those same puddles have no effect on her now that she's on raw.
Weird... not complaining though


We included the yolks. Eggs were the only thing that guaranteed to soothe her system. Cooked chicken was second on the list. Rice unfortunately made her worse.

The reason I tried eggs with her is that my mom used to give me that when I got sick as a child and it always went down really easily. Since it seemed to work, we kept using it. That was our logic, Lol. But yes, we were careful about avoiding fats (besides the eggs).

I have never heard of bentonite clay... you have me curious now

Thanks again for your answers Connie >:3

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/clay.htm
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/clay.htm#books
Basic clay info. Raw Instinct actually puts Montmorillonite clay in their foods.

In addition to pumpkin and the others mentioned, I actually up the bone intake if a dog gets loose. I have to admit, my dogs almost never have irregularity, but for new switch-overs, I give more bone than I normally would, and it's worked beautifully, along w/pumpkin. I also do this when increasing Vitamin C. Occasionally, I'll use bone meal powder in a pinch, but I usually use heavy-on-bone foods like pork neck bones, poultry wings/backs, etc. I haven't had to resort to any grains as of yet. In fact, not to go too off-topic, but Stark had been kibble-fed for 6 years, and I switched him immediately (after a 24+hr fast) to pork neck bones and chicken leg quarters and drumsticks, along w/pumpkin. He was absolutely fine from the first meal, so I backed off the bone, but it really does firm up stools...learned this when a sneak ate a whole bunch of bone at once...pooped out chalk.

Stark's new owner was trying to be nice to him, and gave him a little Solid Gold to munch on between meals...after being grain-free, he had MEGA problems w/any grains, which is the same thing that has happened to a few puppies I placed who I fed prey model from the get-go. Long story short, there ARE dogs who the rice+chicken fix doesn't work on. If it's gonna work, it usually works fairly quickly, so don't let diarrhea go on for 3 days, waiting for the rice to work. Especially in a dog not used to it, it may make things worse. Rare, but possible.

Yuko, glad to know my dogs aren't freaks (not that I minded thinking they were!). They are literally never sick. No puking, no diarrhea, no sickness from eating rancid crap or drinking from puddles. 100% normal, healthy bowels all the time, and have been for years. My 7.5yr old has never had diarrhea, except when I brought him home the first day as a result of the wormer. He has also only thrown up once in his life, and I think he learned that as a 6lb dog, eating a 1.5lb Mrs.Field's cookie sandwich is not a very good idea. The puke smelled fantasitc, however.

People ask me why I'm so "lucky" to have healthy animals, yet they won't listen once I tell them!

 Quote: jenni williams

People ask me why I'm so "lucky" to have healthy animals, yet they won't listen once I tell them!

Ain't that the truth.

It's as if "fresh food" was some weirdo notion.....

 Quote: susan tuck

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.

That was the first thing that came to my mind.


I say, do whatever works. I had just wondered about that for a while.

One reason that I like feeding the chicken raw is hydration. Since starting raw he'll only drink after very heavy exercise, so I like having that hydration from raw food. I will bait water if I feel he is really dehydrated.

Thanks for all the responses.

 Quote: Jenni Williams

The puke smelled fantasitc, however.

Can I just say...

Careful with the chicken broth. Most of it is loaded with salt.

 Quote: Old earth dog Bob Scott

Careful with the chicken broth. Most of it is loaded with salt.

Good thing to remind people of, because salt is dehydrating--exactly the opposite of what you're trying to do by giving the broth. I just give my dog the broth that was made when I boiled the chicken and rice together. The dogs love it, and it's salt free.

And if you happen to be out of chicken breast, you can use other chicken parts to make broth. To get rid of the majority of the fat (which some dogs with water diarrhea may be sensitive to), you can remove the skin, boil the chicken, and then cool the broth. When it's cold, the fat will congeal on the top and you can scrape it off.