Just how nutrient deficient is chicken and rice?
Feeding only cooked, boneless, skinless chicken breast and cooked, long-grain, white rice is deficient in many nutrients. Even if we add corn oil to supply energy and linoleic fatty acid (an essential omega-6 fatty acid for dogs), this combination of ingredients is deficient in 17 nutrients for adult dogs. Yes, I said 17 nutrients!
Which ones you ask? Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, riboflavin, Vitamin B12, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, copper, iodine, iron, selenium, zinc, and choline.1
Keep in mind, dogs don’t store water-soluble vitamins like riboflavin, so they need to be part of the diet. And more importantly, riboflavin is needed for metabolism of carbs, fats, and proteins. This is just one example of why vitamins are kind of a BIG DEAL!
Dogs with diarrhea can also lose electrolytes like potassium from their GI tracts, so it becomes important to replenish potassium through either the diet or fluids. This is just another way a complete and balanced diet offers so much more to patients with sudden onset, uncomplicated diarrhea!
The other concern with feeding chicken and rice is the lack of dietary fibre (ed note: this is how Canadians like Dr. Parr spell fiber, so no need to email us). Fibre is amazing! Especially for dogs with large bowel diarrhea (i.e. colitis). In 100 grams of cooked, long-grain, white rice there is under 1 gram of fibre!2
Adding fibre can help provide form to the stools so the pet can go from Hershey squirts to stools the owner can actually pooper scoop. It can also help regulate the movement of the gut. Additionally, some fibres can be fermented by the bugs in the GI tract (i.e. the microbiome) to produce energy for the cells of the GI tract. Feeding the cells of the gut is a good thing.
Now there is also a time and place for highly digestible (i.e. lower fibre diets) when dogs have diarrhea, so determining if there are any complicating factors (e.g. a growing puppy, a dog with pancreatitis or malabsorptive small intestinal disease, etc.) and if it is small, large, or mixed bowel diarrhea is a good place to start. For an extensive review on fibre, check out the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (ACVN) Nutrition Notes from Today’s Veterinary Practice!
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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How long does colitis usually last?
Recovery depends on the severity of infection and the type of infection. Some mild-to-moderate cases in children can last for up to three days, while it is evidenced in adults less than a full week. More serious cases can last for up to four weeks.