# Help with rice and chicken diet for a puppy



## Summer's Mom

For an 11 week old pup, I'd do 1 to 1.5 cups (cooked) of chicken and rice 3 times a day.. In order to grow they do need a fair bit! I like to do it 50-50.. Cos most of the nutrition would come from the chicken...


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## Summer's Mom

When you do get back to kibble, do it super gradually.. Like literally a quarter cup at a time mixed with chicken and rice.. And I would say your vet may have a point! When we fed Summer as per her breeders instructions, she could never produce a firm poop. We cut back a bit and it made a huge difference! 

Many people will advise adding a tablespoon of canned pumpkin to each meal to help firm it up too.. I don't notice a huge difference but it's worth trying!

Good luck, get well soon Arthur!


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## A+J

Thanks for all your advice Summer's Mom. I will introduce the kibble back slowly once we start getting solid poops as advised by the vet too. I think once we are back on the kibble, I will cut him back to 3/4 cup a day x 3. Here and there he leaves some in his bowl anyway so he's certainly not underfed. Ha.


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## julliams

I should start by saying that you should follow your vets advice. But here is what I have been doing (by no means an expert - our 15 weeks old golden is our first pup)

With the chicken, I think you boil it in water as this gets the fat out of it. I have to admit that both times I have fed chicken to Zali she has always had a softer stool right afterwards.

We add cooked pumpkin to Zali's kibble and this always seems to help with diarrhea. Now I alternate with natural yoghurt and pumpkin with her kibble and she is doing great. I feed just over half a cup of kibble in the morning, just over half at lunch, and one full cup at dinner. All foods are different though depending on what's in them. We feed Purina One.

Here is something I found very helpful when worrying about diahrrea in our pup. Diarrhea in Puppies

Hope your pup gets better soon.


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## KellyH

Bronte is just over 8 weeks and she had runny stools too. Sample came back negative but vet still recommended chicken and rice for 2-3 days to help her firm up her stools. She said yes, boil the chicken in water and you can add a tiny bit of stock to make it a little more tasty. However, given that I'm a vegetarian, she said I could also just give her 1/4 cup of low fat cottage cheese four times a day (she's 13.5 lbs). She LOVES it - and it has definitely firmed up her stools! She's coming off it tomorrow and back on her kibble (Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul). I hope she's not too disappointed!


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## A+J

Update on Arthur: The chicken and rice is working. Yah! Stools were nice and formed the next morning (after only one meal of the chicken and rice). Phew! Hopefully the results from the vet come back negative today and we were just overfeeding Arthur. I still have him on the mixture but will be subbing 1/4 cup of the chicken for 1/4 cup of kibble with each meal to introduce it back. I'm not going to introduce any treats back until he's showing he can eat this particular brand of kibble without the runs. Obviously, if the runs return that we'll have to try him on a different brand. 

@julliams Thanks for your advice and the link (very handy). I have read pumpkin works too. Once I have him back on kibble 100% I'm going to only give him 2.5 cups a day (split over 3 meals). The bag says he should be on 3 but I think it might be too much for his tummy. We are feeding Akana Puppy + Junior.

@kellyH, so glad to hear Bronte results came back negative. I remember reading she had a bought of giardia. Wonderful news. Thanks of the tip on cottage cheese. Will keep that remedy in mind should he get an upset stomach again. I too worry how Arthur will feel being back on kibble fulltime too. Hehe.


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## Maxs Mom

When Gabby was on chicken and rice, I tried to give her the usual amount of food, but about 1/2 & 1/2 chicken to rice. She acted so hungry though... Then slowly re introduce the regular food back in after however many days your vet suggested. One thing we also did was add a small amount of pumpkin (pure pumpkin not ready to cook pie filling) as we started re introducing solid food. That really seemed to work for Gabby. 

Also just something to keep in mind. Akana is a good puppy food, but it may not agree with your pup. My dogs did not do well on grain free. So we switched back to a high end food with good grains. May not be your case but wanted to throw that out their. Grain free gave my dogs bad diarrhea.


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## A+J

@MaxsMom, we've been doing the 1/2 split too. 1/2 cup rice and 1/2 cup chicken. He hasn't appeared to be hungry but I hope it's enough. Thanks for letting me know about the Akana. I'll see how he fairs when he's back on it fulltime and make a decision from there. The vet said with the food, combined with treats and the odd PB filled kong, it was probably just way too much for his system. But we'll see.


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## Maxs Mom

Just throwing this out there. I am coming from personal experience. Gabby is 4 months old, and we have had a few bouts of the runs. Have you treated Arthur for coccidia or giardia? Both are hard to detect. The last time Gabby got a bad tummy (New Years Day at the e vet we go) we put her on Pancur for 5 days to treat coccidia. There was not sign of it but it could not hurt to treat either. Gabby's brother did test positive for coccidia shortly after Gabby came home to me. 

Right now as we speak, Gabby has another upset tummy. She had a rough night. I am "hoping" it was because we took her swimming on Sat, and she consumed too much treated water. However, she has a vet appointment on Thursday. I think I will ask the vet about having some metronidazole on hand for future occurances. 

Don't want to make you worry, just the treatment can't hurt. Something to think about. I hate when they have upset tummies. I know how I don't like them on me, and I certainly do not like the mess they can leave behind. 

Hope Arthur feels better.


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## A+J

@Maxs Mom, we had Arthur at the vet on Saturday and we handed over a stool sample. I should get the results back today. The vet didn't seem too concerned based on our responses to her questions. Her first priority was for us to eliminate the possibility it's the brand of food and to remove the treats. He hasn't had a loose stool since we took him off it. I introduced it back to his diet this morning (just a 1/4 cup) mixed in with the rice and chicken so I'll see how it goes. 

I wonder if giardia or coccidia would show up in the stool sample testing? I didn't know it was hard to detect.


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## Maxs Mom

My understanding and I am no expert, is when it is shedding (whatever I don't know) it can show, otherwise no. I have also been told coccidia never really goes away, however a mature dogs system can handle it so it 'goes away' that way. 

I just sympathize and hope it is just the food. We were in the process of switching Gabby from her original puppy food to new food when she got the second bout, we were almost done when she got the third. This round I am not sure if it is related to the other or not. I am hoping she is fine, I am sitting at work worried about what is going on. I tried to get hold of a neighbor but no response. I will feel really bad if she gets sick today, she wants to be a good girl and knows going to the bathroom in the house is bad. 

I hope Arthur's tummy feels better. Sigh....


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## A+J

@Maxs Mom, the vet just called and the tests all showed up negative. 

I gave him a 1/4 cup of kibble this morning and within hours, the poops again. It's looking more and more like it's a food issue. As it's grain-free, I'm wondering if I should just add rice to the food (once he's off the chicken) and see what happens. Then remove the rice for one day (assuming poops are good) to see if the runs reoccur. Then I'll know for sure it's the food.


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## A+J

I hope Gabby gets better soon. I'm home all day so thankfully can put Arthur out when needed.


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