Feeding my dog rice & ground beef

[LuvOrlando]

My dog was on the decline, he had a bad smell, was lethargic and seemed to be all over ill and we thought he was at the end. Always had high end ($40 a bag pet store only) food but I started to switch kinds then brands up thinking it could be his diet since he started to turn away from his bowl but would gobble regular food, no matter what I tried it was getting worse and worse. A few weeks ago I switched to plain rice and cooked ground beef about 4 times a day in a 1:3 ratio and he's completely bounced back, I'm astonished. Now I want to make sure this is ok as a permanent thing, does he need me to add anything to his diet?

 

[stsomewhere]

the vet told me that My dog had to eat plain rice or plain boiled potatoes, boiled chicken breast or boiled hamburger. She ate it for about two months before slowly switching het back to dog food. My dog was very sick and lethargic, too. She was 11 yrs old and I thought that she was going to die. Two years later,, she is still going strong.


We switched our dogs to DR Gary's food ( freshwater) and noticed a big improvement in their health. It is expensive $50 for a 25 lb bag. but it lasts over a month. They eat less food than when they eat the cheaper food.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I‘m glad he’s doing better!

 

[Kamy04]

Our mini dachshund is 15. He has had a few bouts of pancreatitis and we had to severely change his diet. He was losing weight, throwing everything up…bad stuff. We tried the prescription diet from the vet and he couldn’t tolerate it. We did plain chicken for a while, but like you felt it wasn’t complete. (If we add rice he starts puking again). What works now is shredded chicken and the Freshpet refrigerated food. He loves it. It’s not cheap, but he does great on it. The issue now is the particular kind he does best on is having supply issues…. I currently can’t find it again. He can do another “type” in the brand briefly before it starts bothering him again (it has a higher fat content). Anyway, didn’t know if your dog would like/tolerate the Freshpet and it’s more complete. I think his type has chicken and carrots.

ETA: https://freshpet.com/dog/freshpet-select/fresh-from-the-kitchen-home-cooked-chicken-dog-food/

That is the type he does best on. I think you can see the ingredients through that link.

 

[belleatdisney]

I am glad he is doing better.

Not a vet but I don’t think it is nutritionally complete long term. You could ask your vet, maybe there is a multi vitamin supplement you can add if you don’t want to go back on kibble.

 

[NannyBeBe]

I strongly urge you to take your dog to your veterinarian. There are a few things, like pancreatitis, that can sneak up on a dog and be deadly. I nearly lost one of my dogs a while back to pancreatitis. She now has to be on a low-fat food permanently. Rice and ground beef is not nutritious and should only be used temporarily.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I take it your dog is elderly, Luv? If so, I don’t think I’d worry about it too much if he’s eating and doing well on his current diet.

Honestly, dog foods are a sore spot with me, as there have been so many problems with so many of them. It’s hard to know which brands to trust. Same with some other pet products, like the Sargento flea collars that my dog was wearing.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I'll check into things, I figured it may just be an allergy to an additive but pancreatitis is really very serious and I never thought of it. If that's what it is it had to come from the dog food, he doesn't eat anything else. Can that come from other things? He did just get a few vaccines which I spread out quite a bit but I've never heard of those hurting a dog. Come to think of it, I never treat my house's backyard with chemicals but they do put down some stuff at the apartment up in Massachusetts so maybe I need to avoid the public space shared lawn. He is a 10 and a half year old Cavalier so not what one would call a sturdy working breed, he's little fluffy and snuggly.

Thanks for the input.

 

[shawthorne44]

You try one of the dog food additives, like ... Rough Greens?

We buy expensive food too. There is a very short list of brands that promise their dog food doesn't contain dog. The others (including the expensive one I had been using) don't say that their food contains dog, they refuse to say that it doesn't.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We buy expensive food too. There is a very short list of brands that promise their dog food doesn't contain dog. The others (including the expensive one I had been using) don't say that their food contains dog, they refuse to say that it doesn't.

What?? Are you saying that dog foods contain dog meat?

 

[shawthorne44]

What?? Are you saying that dog foods contain dog meat?

Well, if the company refuses to say that they don't ....

There are some that promise no dog. I remember I had a list of the good companies and I went to Petsmart where I used to shop. They literally had no food on the good list. Of course, this was 10 years ago.

I'm not even that particular. It is the disease aspect that I don't like. Remember Mad Cow from cows being fed cows? I'd be less bothered by cats in dog food and dogs in cat food. Although, thinking about it, I'd also pay more for no cats in dog food.

 

[LuvOrlando]

You try one of the dog food additives, like ... Rough Greens?

We buy expensive food too. There is a very short list of brands that promise their dog food doesn't contain dog. The others (including the expensive one I had been using) don't say that their food contains dog, they refuse to say that it doesn't.

I don't think I'll do additives, will probably research the nutrients he needs and make a home made blend like a stew.

I have no idea what is in the food but there was definitely something up with it, he ate the same thing his whole life then out of the blue he would sniff it and if a dog could be gaggy he would be sort of sniff and be gaggy at it over the course of months, very unlike him and it wasn't for lack of appetite because when I would offer something else he'd go for it. Weird because his food was his favorite, we could even use it as a treat for training. I considered the food maybe had a bad run during Covid with stuff in short supply, maybe they were using different fillers and he was allergic? So in addition to a few bags I threw out I kept buying new bags to the point I now have 5 bags of dog food with 3 for sensitive stomach chicken, 1 for his joints because at first I thought he was sluggish over doggy arthritis and 1 bag of healthy weight I thought I'd mix in. I haven't even brought this food to donate because I don't want to make any shelter dogs sick if it's the food.

Pea, I think there was a whole thing in the news about cows and other livestock we eat being fed their own kind as being a serious issue so it's not impossible. It would be ghastly though.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Well, if the company refuses to say that they don't ....

There are some that promise no dog. I remember I had a list of the good companies and I went to Petsmart where I used to shop. They literally had no food on the good list. Of course, this was 10 years ago.

I'm not even that particular. It is the disease aspect that I don't like. Remember Mad Cow from cows being fed cows? I'd be less bothered by cats in dog food and dogs in cat food. Although, thinking about it, I'd also pay more for no cats in dog food.

Pea, I think there was a whole thing in the news about cows and other livestock we eat being fed their own kind as being a serious issue so it's not impossible.

I’ve followed a lot of the stories, but I haven’t heard about dog meat before. I know there were problems with barbiturates being found in food and some pets died eating them; they’d come from euthanized animals in rendering substances, obviously, but I’d always read that it was more livestock than dogs or cats. If anyone has any links to anything like this, I’d be interested in reading them.

 

[2China2009]

I could have written this post also. Before our Minnie died of a brain tumor in Feb we saw her decline starting in January. She quit eating all kibble. Tried so many different brands. I ended up making her home made food. Rice, g beef, pumpkin, different vegggies. She loved it. We now have a 12 week old Bernadoodle and I will start making homemade soon. I will still add kibble for the vitamins and minerals.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I could have written this post also. Before our Minnie died of a brain tumor in Feb we saw her decline starting in January. She quit eating all kibble. Tried so many different brands. I ended up making her home made food. Rice, g beef, pumpkin, different vegggies. She loved it. We now have a 12 week old Bernadoodle and I will start making homemade soon. I will still add kibble for the vitamins and minerals.

And why haven’t we seen a picture of that little cutie on the Daschund thread?

Sorry to hear about your Minnie.

 

[luv2cheer92]

When my dog was getting older, we started making her food. We did rice, pasta, canned chicken, different veggies (green beans and carrots usually), and different fruits (she loved mangos, but also did peaches). She loved it, and we are certain it is what got her to live as long as she did. Part of the reason we switched is that she was having bad ear infections and our vet attributed it to her food, we tried so many different kinds and they all did the same thing. Once we switched to homemade food, she stopped having them.

 

[slo]

My dog was on the decline, he had a bad smell, was lethargic and seemed to be all over ill and we thought he was at the end. Always had high end ($40 a bag pet store only) food but I started to switch kinds then brands up thinking it could be his diet since he started to turn away from his bowl but would gobble regular food, no matter what I tried it was getting worse and worse. A few weeks ago I switched to plain rice and cooked ground beef about 4 times a day in a 1:3 ratio and he's completely bounced back, I'm astonished. Now I want to make sure this is ok as a permanent thing, does he need me to add anything to his diet?

I’m so glad your dog is feeling better

 

[LuvOrlando]

I’ve followed a lot of the stories, but I haven’t heard about dog meat before. I know there were problems with barbiturates being found in food and some pets died eating them; they’d come from euthanized animals in rendering substances, obviously, but I’d always read that it was more livestock than dogs or cats. If anyone has any links to anything like this, I’d be interested in reading them.

I didn't know anything about barbiturates in food but I am doubtful anyone running a farm with animals meant for food would spend the money to have them euthanized with an expensive medication. Medications to eliminate pain are more of an "I love you and don't want to see you in pain" sort of thing.

I was thinking on some of what's mentioned and really, since most of us have seen the whole pink slime videos of what big business is ok with feeding humans it's not really a big stretch to think the definition of food for pets might be on the shady side . The more I think about it the more I wonder the pet food businesses were they using when the whole country was having massive meat shortages last year?

 

[shawthorne44]

Yes, the only 'lifestock' I can see being drugged to death is horses. You do that for pets.

One thing to consider adding is eggs. We have free-range chickens. I used to sell our spare eggs to a co-worker but with the lockdown our Akita is getting them. I saw a small uptick in her health with that. She's a 12-year-old Akita and 'they' say their lifespan 9-11. She is mostly blind, mostly deaf and her joints hurt. We saw a huge uptick when we started to give her what I call Dog Oil. It has Hemp and some stuff good for joints in it. It seems to mostly take care of the joint problem.

 

[Moliphino]

Honestly, dog foods are a sore spot with me, as there have been so many problems with so many of them. It’s hard to know which brands to trust. Same with some other pet products, like the Sargento flea collars that my dog was wearing.

I think you mean Seresto, but I got a giggle out of this because my dogs would totally prefer a cheese collar (Sargento is a brand of cheeses).

I would at least try to add some vegetables to make it a bit healthier. We usually use chicken when our dogs need a bland diet for a bit.
My mom has been making our 14 year old dog special food because he's too picky to eat his kibble plain. Chicken, rice, vegetable (sweet potato/carrot/green beans/broccoli/whatever was left from human dinners), chicken livers, maybe some broth (or cook the rice with partly broth).