chicken/rice diet??

[stingrhea]

I have been feeding William cooked chicken breast and white rice due to his feeling so bad with pain. He loves it and I was wondering if it is bad for them to eat only this for a diet? I added a bit of cooked carrot the other night and he loved that too, along with a little taste of applesauce. From reading dog cookie recipes, I see that those are ingredients that are used for that. Can he get too much chicken? Not enough of something?
Please help.
~Melody

[pepe mint]

I have also wondered about this. Right now maggie is on a chicken and rice diet because of being sick. I was just about to post on here asking how much I should be feeding her. she LOVES it.

[marcerella02]

Originally Posted by stingrhea

I have been feeding William cooked chicken breast and white rice due to his feeling so bad with pain. He loves it and I was wondering if it is bad for them to eat only this for a diet? I added a bit of cooked carrot the other night and he loved that too, along with a little taste of applesauce. From reading dog cookie recipes, I see that those are ingredients that are used for that. Can he get too much chicken? Not enough of something?
Please help.
~Melody

Hello. well frist he needs a suppliement if you are going to home cook. If you have a quality locally owned pet store around they usually carry suppliements. If you can get the Solid Gold Seameal.. it's great.
You should probably give him more of a varitey of meat.. i just went to the grocery store yesterday and bought Layla some ground lamb, ground veal and ground extra lean beef. And veggies are VERY important... but they need to be raw and kinda ground up... carrots are very important and you can add other veggies like broccoli, cauliflour, celery.... and if you are going to give him a grain (not needed but you can) try to not give him white rice.. it has very little nutritional value but brown rice is great or potaote, or sweet potatoe and if you decdied to homecook for a while.. i suggest that after 6 months you go to the vet to get a blood panel just to make sure he is not lacing in a certain nutrient! good luck! homecooking is great

[chachi]

You can continue to feed that it is quite nutritious. I would contnue to mix veggies in it and you have to suppliment cacium. Some people bake egg shells and feed them for the calcium or you could buy a suppliment. Mine love baked salmon and rice and veggies also

[BLEU BOY BARBER]

Only From Experience Of This Past Week I Was Told Directly By My Surgeon That Chicken Does Not Process In The Liver Like It Should Due To The High Protein.... I Had Bleu Boy On Gerber Graduate Baby Food Chicken And We Have Ceased All Chicken

Im Sorry I Can Not Be Of Better Help ... I Would Personally Only Based Up On Our Situation Stick To A Very Bland Diet And I Cant Tell You What Ours Is Cause I Dont Know Yet I Will Know When He Is Released But They Thought At First Bleu Had Liver Shunt And It Could Have Been From Too Much Chicken But Thank The Lord It Was Not .....

I Hate To Tell You But My Vet Is The One Who Put Him Strictly On Baby Food Chicken For 6 Weeks And I Only Had Him On It 5 Days And We Had Bad Signs Needless To Say Not Seeing That Vet Anymore

IM EXTREMELY NEW TO ALL OF THIS SO LISTEN TO OTHERS THIS IS JUST OUR EPERIENCE.


Hugs
Vicki

[BLEU BOY BARBER]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh And I Might Addddd

Bleu Boy Gobbled It Up And Loved It!!!!!!


But No More Chicken For Him

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by stingrhea

I have been feeding William cooked chicken breast and white rice due to his feeling so bad with pain. He loves it and I was wondering if it is bad for them to eat only this for a diet? I added a bit of cooked carrot the other night and he loved that too, along with a little taste of applesauce. From reading dog cookie recipes, I see that those are ingredients that are used for that. Can he get too much chicken? Not enough of something?
Please help.
~Melody

It sounds like you're doing well with the beginning of home cooking! I would recommend you look around and also post in the "Yorkie Health/Diet" section-there's tons more information there.

While the chicken and white rice is probably healthier than some commercial dog foods on the market, there are a few things you can do to make this diet even healthier for your dog:
-Make sure you supplement-dogs need vitamins and minerals like calcium, Vitamin E, Omega 3's, and others to be at their optimum of health. I use a book, called "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats" as a guide for supplements and home preparing dog food. Other members use this guide as well. You may want to check with your vet to see if s/he has specific guidelines to follow for your individual dog.
-Change up the ingredients every so often-you're already doing great by adding carrots and applesauce, and you're doing it correctly by adding only one new thing at a time. This way, you can see if anything doesn't agree with your dog, and adjust the food accordingly. Try ground beef instead of chicken, grated zucchini instead of carrots, sweet potato or potato instead of rice, etc. Also, brown rice is a healthier option to white rice.
-You might want to try adding some dairy to your dog's diet, such as cottage cheese, grated cheddar, or some yogurt. The dairy will add protein to the diet, and yogurt is excellent because it promotes good digestive health. Make sure you get the best yogurt possible-an all-natural or organic plain or vanilla flavor is best. If that's not available, just make sure there is no artificial sugar, or artificial fat in the yogurt, and stick to natural fruit flavors like peach or strawberry.
-Give healthy treats-my dogs like frozen green peas, pieces of baby carrots, plain cheerios, pieces of fruit like apples, peaches, and watermelon. Just make sure not to feed them any seeds, onion, garlic, chocolate, or raisins.

Best of luck to you in your next homecooking adventure! Please feel free to PM me if you need any help or have questions.

[stingrhea]

Originally Posted by marcerella02

Hello. well frist he needs a suppliement if you are going to home cook. If you have a quality locally owned pet store around they usually carry suppliements. If you can get the Solid Gold Seameal.. it's great.
You should probably give him more of a varitey of meat.. i just went to the grocery store yesterday and bought Layla some ground lamb, ground veal and ground extra lean beef. And veggies are VERY important... but they need to be raw and kinda ground up... carrots are very important and you can add other veggies like broccoli, cauliflour, celery.... and if you are going to give him a grain (not needed but you can) try to not give him white rice.. it has very little nutritional value but brown rice is great or potaote, or sweet potatoe and if you decdied to homecook for a while.. i suggest that after 6 months you go to the vet to get a blood panel just to make sure he is not lacing in a certain nutrient! good luck! homecooking is great

Thank you. I was thinking of other meats as well. I'm on a limited budget, so lamb or veal would be a rarity. But that would get me to eat some too which I love both. And rice is a good inexpensive grain, white or brown. I know flour is not so great for them. Why do the veggies need to be raw? Is it bad for them to eat them cooked? Mostly I buy frozen veggies and I know they are somewhat pre-cooked. I like the idea of cooking for him, I am a cook without someone else to appreciate my efforts! And he certainly does appreciate it.

[pepe mint]

I could be wrong...but I am thinking that the reason it is better to give them raw might have to do with the fact that you lose a lot of the nutritional value when you cook the veggies. again...I could be wrong that's just my take on it. there may be other reasons for feeding raw vs. cooking them

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by pepe mint

I could be wrong...but I am thinking that the reason it is better to give them raw might have to do with the fact that you lose a lot of the nutritional value when you cook the veggies. again...I could be wrong that's just my take on it. there may be other reasons for feeding raw vs. cooking them

Yes, that's right!

[marcerella02]

Originally Posted by pepe mint

I could be wrong...but I am thinking that the reason it is better to give them raw might have to do with the fact that you lose a lot of the nutritional value when you cook the veggies. again...I could be wrong that's just my take on it. there may be other reasons for feeding raw vs. cooking them

yup that's the reason. cooking them takes a lot of nutrients out

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by stingrhea

Thank you. I was thinking of other meats as well. I'm on a limited budget, so lamb or veal would be a rarity. But that would get me to eat some too which I love both. And rice is a good inexpensive grain, white or brown. I know flour is not so great for them. Why do the veggies need to be raw? Is it bad for them to eat them cooked? Mostly I buy frozen veggies and I know they are somewhat pre-cooked. I like the idea of cooking for him, I am a cook without someone else to appreciate my efforts! And he certainly does appreciate it.

Lamb or veal can be hard to come by...if you can find it, you can also try ground buffalo or venison, cuts of beef (cut very small or ground), or fish like salmon, tilapia, perch, etc. You can also add legumes to their diet for a protein boost-my dogs like kidney beans, split peas, blackeyed peas, and others-and those are really inexpensive too!

I feed each of mine a quick breakfast of 1/2 a hard boiled egg, about 1" of mashed banana, and 1 tablespoon cottage cheese or yogurt. Sometimes I switch it up and give 1 tablespoon oatmeal, with a little applesauce mixed in too.

[stingrhea]

Thanks everyone for your input and great ideas. I really appreciate it!
I can definitely do this! All of these great fruits and veggies are things I love too. This will get me to eat healthier too. One question though: I have seen not to feed garlic, but in some dog cookie recipes I have seen garlic powder. Can they have it in powder form or are these people just not educated as to it's toxicity to dogs? I decided yesterday to make him some cookies as he doesn't especially like commercial ones. He is pretty picky about that kind of thing. Oh and peanut butter, my dogs before all loved peanut butter, is it ok too? Sorry I have so many questions...

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by stingrhea

Thanks everyone for your input and great ideas. I really appreciate it!
I can definitely do this! All of these great fruits and veggies are things I love too. This will get me to eat healthier too. One question though: I have seen not to feed garlic, but in some dog cookie recipes I have seen garlic powder. Can they have it in powder form or are these people just not educated as to it's toxicity to dogs? I decided yesterday to make him some cookies as he doesn't especially like commercial ones. He is pretty picky about that kind of thing. Oh and peanut butter, my dogs before all loved peanut butter, is it ok too? Sorry I have so many questions...

Garlic is included in some recipes...even in the book by Dr. Pitcairn too...I think it's ok in very small quantities, but with as small as yorkies are, I would rather not worry about it, so I just omit it from the recipe. My two don't know the difference They eat everything anyway!

If he likes the cookies, check out the Homecooked recipe thread in the health/diet section, and make "Leo's Cookies" for him-these have been a HIT around here, and with many of our canine friends too!

Peanut butter is great-but make sure you're giving him an all-natural one-usually the refrigerated kind is best, but Skippy and Jif have both come out with all-natural non-refrigerated versions, and they both taste great to me, and my dogs like it too!

[chachi]

Smuckers has a good all natural peanut butter too