Bland diet for dogs: chicken and rice, amounts, how long

A bland diet means food that is easy to digest, low in fat and low in fibre. The classic is cooked chicken with very soft rice in a ratio of 1 : 2 – this has around 140 kcal per 100 g. A 10 kg dog needs about 450 g of it a day; on the first day, you start with half, in five small portions, and increase over two to three days. Three to five days of bland diet are usually enough.

With our Nami, the first time came at around 8 months. A classic with Shibas – she secretly ate something off the ground on a walk and had soft stools the next morning. No drama, but 2 days of bland diet were called for. With a single bout of diarrhoea and no other symptoms, a short plan with small, mild meals and plenty of water is often enough.

Acute diarrhoea after raiding the bin, an upset stomach after table scraps, the day after a mild tummy upset – these are the classic cases. Water is the most important thing: always offer fresh water, ideally in small portions if your dog drinks too hastily and then vomits.

Not a case for trying things out at home: a puppy with diarrhoea, a weakened senior dog, blood in the stool, vomiting that won't stop, fever or listlessness. In that case, your dog belongs at the vet, not in the kitchen.

Fast or feed? A fasting period of 24 to 48 hours used to be standard. Today, many vets recommend not letting healthy adult dogs go hungry for long, but starting early with small portions of easily digestible food. A short break of a few hours can make sense if your dog is vomiting at the moment. Never fast puppies, very small dogs, senior dogs or chronically ill dogs without talking to your vet first.

• 1 part chicken: chicken or turkey breast without skin or bones, cooked through in water without salt or seasoning and pulled into small pieces.
• 2 parts rice: white rice, cooked in plenty of water until very soft, almost mushy.
• Optional: one to two tablespoons of soft-cooked, puréed carrot.

Mix everything and serve lukewarm – not cold from the fridge. The amounts in the table refer to the cooked weight. For 150 g of cooked chicken, you need about 200 g of raw meat; for 300 g of cooked rice, around 100 g of uncooked rice.

The full daily amount matches the normal energy requirement of a neutered, normally active adult dog (resting requirement 70 × body weight^0.75 × 1.6). On the first day, you give half, split into five meals. Three examples:

For any other weight, the bland diet calculator works out the amounts – with rice or potato, for the first day and with the portion size.

How to increase the amount as the stools improve:

• Day 1: half the full daily amount, split into 5 small meals
• Day 2: about three quarters, in 4 to 5 meals
• Day 3: the full daily amount, in 3 to 4 meals

Entire (unneutered) or very active dogs need a little more, calm dogs a little less. The table is a starting point – what matters is how your dog is doing.

Both work. Rice is the standard because it's mild and easy to cook soft. Potatoes are a good alternative if your dog doesn't like rice. They have fewer calories: chicken and potato in a ratio of 1 : 2 provide around 105 kcal per 100 g, so you need about a third more volume (see the right-hand column of the table).

Always peel potatoes and cook them thoroughly. Raw potatoes, green patches and sprouts contain solanine and are not suitable for dogs.

Some dogs barely want to eat in the first acute phase. Rice water is then a gentle start: simmer 50 g of white rice in about 1 litre of water for 45 to 60 minutes until you have a creamy liquid, then press it through a sieve or purée it. Offer it lukewarm in small portions.

Rice water provides fluid and a little easily digestible starch, but hardly any energy and no protein. It's a bridge for a few hours, not a substitute for the bland diet. As soon as your dog is eating again, carry on with chicken and rice.

Rusks are easy to digest, which is why they're often given for diarrhoea. One or two slices as a small extra are fine for most dogs. But rusks usually contain sugar, hardly any protein and no significant nutrients for recovery. So they're no substitute for a bland diet. Varieties with chocolate, raisins or sweeteners are off-limits.

Unseasoned, homemade chicken broth makes the bland diet juicier and gets extra fluid into your dog. Important:

• No salt, no seasoning, no stock cubes. Ready-made stocks contain a lot of salt and often onion or garlic powder.
• No onion, no garlic, no leek. Plants from the onion family damage red blood cells in dogs – even when cooked and as powder.
• Skim off the fat: Let the broth cool and skim off the layer of fat. Fat is best avoided in the acute phase.

A few tablespoons over the portion or a little broth in the bowl is enough.

If your dog tolerates dairy, you can replace part of the chicken with low-fat cottage cheese or low-fat quark – about a third. Both are mild and high in protein. However, dogs only have a little lactase, the enzyme that breaks down milk sugar. If the stools turn softer again as a result, leave them out. What else quark and cottage cheese are good for is covered in Quark and cottage cheese for dogs: how much, how often?

This long-cooked carrot soup comes from paediatrics: boil 500 g of carrots in 1 litre of water for 60 to 90 minutes, purée and top back up to 1 litre with boiled water – for dogs, without salt. There are hardly any studies on how well it works in dogs. But as a gentle addition mixed into the rice, it's unproblematic and adds extra fluid.

Puppies dehydrate faster with diarrhoea than adult dogs and can develop low blood sugar. That's why:

• Don't let them fast. Offer small, frequent meals and water.
• See a vet sooner: if the diarrhoea lasts longer than a few hours, if there's vomiting or lethargy, or if they're not yet fully vaccinated.
• Only briefly: chicken and rice don't cover the needs of a growing dog. For puppies, a bland diet is a bridge for a few days.

Puppies need more energy per kilo. A 5 kg puppy from four months of age needs around 335 g of chicken and rice a day, compared with 270 g for an adult dog of the same weight. For the normal ration afterwards, the puppy food amount calculator will help.

Once the stools have been firm again for one to two days, switch back over two to three days:

• Transition day 1: three quarters bland diet, one quarter normal food
• Transition day 2: half and half
• Transition day 3: one quarter bland diet, three quarters normal food
• After that: back to the normal ration

If the stools get softer again at any step, go back a day. For sensitive dogs, the transition can take longer – how to do that is explained in our guide to changing food the right way. You can work out the normal daily ration with the food amount calculator.

If you want to carry on cooking yourself afterwards, you need a complete recipe: in the long run, chicken and rice alone provide too little calcium, vitamins and essential fatty acids. Chicken & rice and Turkey & rice are recipes of this kind – they're topped up with oil and a mineral and vitamin supplement shortly before feeding.

If your dog hasn't drunk anything for many hours, that's also a reason to call straight away. When in doubt, it's better to call once too early than too late – many practices offer telephone consultations.

Nami during her bland diet phase – small portions, lukewarm, lots of rest.

You'll find background on causes, home remedies and how long digestion takes in our guide to stomach and gut problems in dogs. In the DoggoMeal app, you'll find bland diet recipes with exact amounts for your dog's weight, and you can keep track of how things are going. Get the app.