Additional Tips
Rice For Dogs: The Proper Portion
Rice alone is a bountiful source of vitamin D, fiber, and iron for your pup. Vitamin D in rice regulates calcium and phosphorous levels.
Iron helps form hemoglobin, the oxygen-rich molecule in red blood cells. Feeding your dog rice is an easy way to help deliver these nutrients.
Unfortunately, many cheaper dog foods can contain gluten in different forms. This is because gluten based flours are plentiful and very cost effective. Like humans, many dogs suffer from gluten sensitivity or gluten intolerance. This food intolerance can result in stomach upset, rashes, and diarrhea.
Since it is naturally gluten-free, rice is a great carbohydrate alternative to gluten based dog foods.
However, rice fed in high amounts daily should probably not be a part of your dog’s diet. A recent study by the British Veterinary Association states that dogs who had an abundance of rice in their diet showed higher levels of arsenic in their hair[*].
This study compared a group of dogs with no rice in their diet with a group that had very high amounts of rice in their diet. The findings concluded that the levels of arsenic in the group with high rice consumption was significantly higher than the group with no rice.
It is important to note that the rice-fed group had extremely high amounts of rice in their diet. Also, while arsenic is a well known toxin, it is naturally present in other food too, such as pears, apples, and grapes.
In conclusion, rice in small amounts may be beneficial for your dog, but it should not be the number one ingredient in their dog food.
Furthermore, if you are making homemade food for diabetic dogs, we recommend avoiding rice and other simple carbohydrates altogether.
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Can I feed my dog rice and chicken everyday?
Feeding dog chicken and rice everyday
Cooked chicken either boiled or dry fried is safe and healthy for your dog to eat. Canned chicken should be avoided as it contains a lot of sodium (salt). Adding fresh veggies is ideal as they provide lots of vitamins and minerals not found in the meat.
How Much Chicken And Rice Should You Feed Your Sick Dog?
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It is common knowledge to offer your pet a ‘bland’ diet when they develop signs of gastrointestinal upset such as vomiting or diarrhoea. The thought behind this is to simply give their gut a ‘break’ and reduce workload by eating easily digestible foods instead. Traditionally, the go-to bland diet has been boiled chicken and rice.
At My Vet Animal Hospital, we often see pets with acute gastrointestinal issues that are managed through dietary modifications. Nutrition is pivotal in the management of gastrointestinal problems as well as the overall health and development of your pet. Although ‘chicken and rice’ smells and tastes amazing, we have started to trend away from a home-cooked bland diet and instead recommend you trial better alternatives first. Just because ‘chicken and rice’ is common, doesn’t mean it’s the best for your pet!
Here are some of the pitfalls and reasons why you should look beyond the traditional ‘chicken and rice’ bland diet:
1. Not complete and balanced nutrition, and not suitable for long-term use or growing pets Just feeding ‘chicken and rice’ is simply not a complete and balanced diet as it is lacking in certain nutrients, vitamins, amino acids and minerals that are important for your pet’s health. If fed for more than three days or longer-term, your pet may start to have multiple nutritional deficiencies that can develop into serious health concerns. We regularly see puppies and kittens for gastrointestinal issues as they often have more sensitive stomachs than adult pets as their immune system continues to develop. Growing puppies and kittens have special nutritional requirements and being on an unbalanced diet, even very briefly, may be detrimental to their health and development.
2. Low energy dense nutrition, inconvenient, higher risk of contamination A 10kg dog requires around 470 kilocalories a day which approximately equates to around 2 chicken breasts and 1.5 cups of rice. Many pets with gastrointestinal issues often have a reduced appetite and are in a negative energy balance state so it is difficult to ensure they eat enough to maintain their daily caloric intake. Although it may appear to be a lot of food (which is already an added challenge for an upset gut to digest), because of the low energy density of ‘chicken and rice’, you may still actually be underfeeding your pet. Additionally, ‘chicken and rice’ should be cooked fresh every time during feeding to reduce risk of contamination. Despite daily effort to prepare ‘chicken and rice’, as mentioned above, it isn’t even nutritionally complete and balanced!
3. Does not replace lost electrolytes and vitamins Gastrointestinal issues often cause vomiting and/or diarrhoea. Besides falling short of meeting your pet’s daily maintenance requirements, a ‘chicken and rice’ diet does not contain additional electrolytes and vitamins to replenish any losses that may have occurred with vomiting and diarrhoea.
4. Lacks prebiotics & probiotics to support the gastrointestinal microbiome Gastrointestinal issues are often caused by or are the result of an imbalanced gut microbiome. Compared to better alternative gastrointestinal diets, a ‘chicken and rice’ diet contributes very little to correcting these imbalances to support the gastrointestinal system. Simply put, the gut microbiome is a dynamic population of microorganisms, mostly bacteria, that play a key role in the digestion, synthesis and absorption of nutrients. Probiotics are live microorganisms which provide health benefits when consumed and are often called ‘good’ bacteria. Prebiotics are types of dietary fibre that feed the ‘good’ bacteria in your gut and allow them to flourish. The addition of prebiotics and probiotics can help restore any imbalances and promote a well-function gut microbiome.
At My Vet Animal Hospital, an alternative to ‘chicken and rice’ that we often recommend is the Hill’s Prescription Diet i/d (Digestive Care) range as it is a complete and balanced, high-energy dense nutritious diet, that is conveniently pre-made and contains prebiotics and probiotics. It also exceeds the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrition standards and also has a 100% money-back guarantee for quality, consistency and taste.
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If your pet develops any vomiting or diarrhoea, please call My Vet Animal Hospital on (02) 8484 2020 for an appointment and consider better alternative diet options before cooking up some homemade chicken and rice.
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