Alright, sharing something a bit different today. My buddy, Rex, got hit with a nasty stomach bug a couple of weeks back. Wouldn’t eat his regular kibble, looked miserable, you know the drill. Vet checked him out, ruled out anything super serious, thank goodness, but suggested a bland diet for a bit to let his system recover.
Instead of buying some special canned stuff, I figured, heck, I can make something simple myself. At least I’d know exactly what was in it. The vet basically said boiled chicken and white rice is the go-to, so that’s what I ran with.
Getting Started – The Plan
First thing, I went to the grocery store. Kept it super basic. Here’s what I grabbed:
- Plain chicken breasts (boneless, skinless is key!)
- A bag of simple white rice (not brown, needs to be easy to digest)
- A can of plain pumpkin puree (Important: Make sure it’s 100% pumpkin, NOT the pie filling mix with spices and sugar!)
That was it. No salt, no oil, no seasonings. The goal was bland, bland, bland.
The Cooking Part – Simple Does It
Back home, I got to work. It wasn’t complicated.
I put a couple of chicken breasts in a pot and just covered them with plain water. Brought it to a boil, then let it simmer until the chicken was cooked all the way through. Took maybe 20-30 minutes?
Once cooked, I pulled the chicken out and set it aside to cool down. Don’t throw out that water! That’s some nice broth now. While the chicken cooled, I cooked the white rice. I used some of that chicken broth and added more plain water to get the right amount of liquid. Cooked the rice until it was really soft, almost mushy.
When the chicken was cool enough to handle, I shredded it up into tiny pieces. Easier for a sick pup to eat and digest.
Then, I just mixed it all together. I aimed for roughly one part shredded chicken to about two or three parts soft rice. I also stirred in a tablespoon or two of that plain pumpkin puree. Heard it’s good for digestion, and the vet didn’t object.
Feeding and Watching
I let the whole mixture cool down completely to room temperature. Never serve hot food to your dog.
Started him off with a small portion. Didn’t want to overload his sensitive stomach. He actually ate it, which was a huge relief! I fed him small meals of this chicken and rice mix several times a day for the first couple of days.
The main thing during this time was just watching him. How was his energy? Was he keeping the food down? And yeah, you gotta monitor the poop situation. Sounds gross, but it’s the best indicator if things are getting better. Slowly but surely, things started looking more… solid. His energy picked up too.
Getting Back to Normal
After about three or four days, Rex was acting much more like himself. Poops were normal, appetite was good. So, I started the transition back to his regular food. You can’t just switch back cold turkey.
I began by mixing just a tiny bit of his usual kibble into the chicken and rice meal. Like, maybe 10% kibble, 90% homemade stuff. Each day, I slightly increased the kibble and decreased the chicken and rice. Did this gradually over about a week.
Took it slow and steady, watching for any signs of upset stomach returning. Thankfully, it all went smoothly. Now he’s fully back on his regular food and doing great.
It was definitely a bit of extra effort boiling chicken and rice when I was already worried about him, but honestly, it felt good to be doing something hands-on. And seeing him eat and start feeling better made it totally worth it. Simple, bland, homemade stuff really did the trick this time.
