When your pup isn’t feeling well, it’s beneficial to provide them with a bland diet with foods that are easy to digest and supportive of the digestive system. It’s good to have a sick dog food recipe on hand in case your pup isn’t feeling well.
We created a recipe that is super simple for you to make. It contains ingredients that are nourishing and easy for your dog to digest.
Sick Dog Food Recipe
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 4 cups
Servings: 8
Recipe Ingredients:
- 1 cup cooked chicken, shredded (see notes)
- 2 cups cooked white rice
- 1 cup cooked sweet potato, cubed
- 2 tablespoon pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoon bone broth
Tools needed:
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoon
- Large bowl
- Pot to cook rice
- Large spoon or spatula
Recipe Instructions:
- Cook 1 cup of white rice, this yields about 3 cups.
- Measure out 2 cups of cooked rice and place in a large bowl.
- Mix 3 tablespoons of bone broth and 2 tablespoons of pumpkin puree into the rice.
- Measure 1 cup of shredded chicken and add to the rice. Mix well with a spatula or spoon.
- Add in the 1 cup of sweet potato and mix gently.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- This food should be consumed within 4-5 days.
- You can freeze this food in smaller portions, in a ziplock bag or other airtight container.
Recipe Notes:
- When creating sick dog food recipes, it’s important that the ingredients are easy to digest. We used chicken because it provides nutrition and is easy on the digestive system. We used chicken breast from a rotisserie chicken (no skin) and shredded it. You can also cook a chicken breast and chop or shred it.
- Depending on your dog’s weight, you can feed ¼ – ½ cups 2x a day.
- If you have a larger dog and want to make a larger batch, you can double or even triple the recipe.
When your dog is having digestive upset, sick dog food recipes like this one will provide them with nutrition and let their digestive system heal. The ingredients in this recipe are simple and nutritious.
Below we’ll talk about why we chose these ingredients as well as alternatives and variations you can use.
Chicken for a Sick Dog Food Recipe
This protein choice is packed full of nutrition, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. Be sure not to give your dog chicken with bones.
When your dog has an upset stomach or diarrhea, chicken should be given to your dog unseasoned. Boiled or shredded chicken is the best choice for sick dog recipes. If you want to boil chicken for your dog, use skinless boneless chicken breast.
White meat is easier to digest than dark meat. If you want to make variations of this recipe or substitute the chicken due to dietary reasons, you could use turkey or lamb.
Bone Broth in Dog Food Recipes
One of our favorite things to give our dogs is bone broth. It can help with digestion and joint health. Bone broth, when cold, is very gelatinous due to the high amount of collagen it contains. Collagen is great for joints, the immune system, skin, and digestive health.
Bone broth also has detoxifying properties for the liver which can in turn benefit the digestive system and immune system. Some pet owners give their dogs bone broth daily to enhance the potential benefits. Some even claim that after starting their senior dog on daily servings of bone broth, they have seen a significant improvement in their mobility and joint health.
You can either make bone broth at home or buy bone broth with dog-safe ingredients. If you buy bone broth, find one that does not contain onion and garlic.
Pumpkin in Dog Food
Pumpkin is high in fiber, which can help balance an upset digestive system. You can buy canned pumpkin puree (unseasoned) to add to your dog’s food. Some companies also sell pumpkin powder.
During the fall season, it can be fun to bake a pumpkin to add to your dog’s diet. If you bake a pumpkin, be sure to remove the seeds and skin before feeding it to your pup. Besides being high in fiber, pumpkin is comes packed with nutrition.
Pumpkin contains:
- Vitamins E, C, and A
- B Vitamins: Thiamine, niacin, folate, riboflavin, B6
- Essential minerals such as copper, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese
- Iron
An unseasoned can of pumpkin puree is something to have on hand for when your pup isn’t feeling well. Since pumpkin is so nutritious and full of fiber, it can be beneficial to add it to your dog’s diet anytime, even when they are feeling fine.
If you want to skip the pumpkin in this recipe, you could substitute it with low-fat yogurt as long as your dog tolerates dairy. Yogurt contains beneficial probiotics that promote gut health and is typically easy to digest.
Sweet Potato in Dog Food Recipes
Sweet potato, like pumpkin, is another nutritious ingredient you can add to your sick dog food recipe. It’s also easy to digest and dogs love the taste.
Sweet potato is very high in Vitamin A which benefits skin health, immune health, vision, nerves, and muscles. Sweet potatoes also contain antioxidants, which are anti-inflammatory. The anti-inflammatory properties of sweet potatoes can help to calm down an inflamed digestive tract.
Steamed carrots could also be substituted in place of sweet potatoes if needed.
Rice in Dog Food
When your pup is having digestive issues, most veterinarians recommend a bland diet like chicken and rice. We used white rice in this recipe because it doesn’t have the bran.
Brown rice still has bran and other parts of the whole grain which can be harder to digest. White rice is generally well tolerated and easy on the digestive system.
It is high in carbohydrates which will give your dog energy, while letting their digestive system rest and recover. Oats are also easy on the digestive system and can be substituted for the rice in this recipe.
In our opinion
When your pup’s digestive system is out of whack, it can be helpful to provide them with a low-fat diet while their digestive system recovers.
This recipe has the necessary protein your dog needs and the nutrition, but is lower in fat thanks to the healthy ingredients and boneless skinless chicken. If your doggo likes pumpkin, when they recover from being sick, you can also give our other chicken and pumpkin dog food recipe out too!
Save this recipe to have on hand if your pup isn’t feeling well in the future. And don’t overlook the fact that this recipe is packed full of nutrition and potential health benefits, so you can also feed it to your dog even when they are not sick!
