Your dog throws up or has the runs, and you want to help without rushing to the vet. A bland diet is usually the first step.
The idea is simple food that sits easily in the stomach. Most recipes come down to a lean protein and a starch, like chicken and white rice, paired with rest and plenty of water.
This article covers what a bland diet is, when to use one, what to cook, and how much to serve. It also flags the signs that mean you should call your vet rather than try to handle things at home.
Let’s start with the basics.
What Is a Bland Diet For Dogs?
A bland diet is food that sits easily in the stomach, won’t trigger diarrhea, and is straightforward for the body to digest and absorb.
It’s sometimes called a “flat” diet because it contains no seasonings or spices.
Many spices are too harsh for an already irritated digestive tract.
Some helpful tips on a bland diet for dogs:
- A bland diet can help dogs with gastrointestinal issues including vomiting and diarrhea
- Most contain a simple protein, a starch, and optional vegetables
- Before starting a bland diet, talk to your vet to rule out other health issues
- Portion sizes depend on your dog’s size
- If symptoms don’t improve after starting a bland diet, see your veterinarian
When To Use a Bland Diet For Dogs
Dogs with mild stomach upset, such as vomiting, diarrhea, or a reduced appetite, tend to respond well to a bland diet.
It gives your dog a source of easy-to-digest nutrition while their gut settles.
The ingredients are gentle on the digestive tract because they don’t add to the existing irritation and help absorb extra moisture.
A bland diet shouldn’t replace veterinary care and should only be used when your vet recommends it.
If your dog has bloody diarrhea, ongoing vomiting, or hasn’t eaten for an extended period, make a vet appointment to rule out something more serious.
Ingredients In a Bland Diet For Dogs
A bland diet combines just a few simple ingredients.
At minimum it needs a protein source and a starch.
You can also add a vegetable, making up to about one-third of the total recipe.
Insipid weight control plans for dogs commonly comprise
A low-fat protein
Good options include chicken, turkey, or lean ground beef.
Higher-fat proteins are generally too heavy for a dog dealing with stomach trouble.
They can also make vomiting and diarrhea worse.
Excess fat reaching the intestines draws in extra water, which means more diarrhea.
Sugar sources
White rice is the traditional choice.
It gives the body an easy-to-digest source of energy and absorbs excess water in the digestive tract.
If you don’t have white rice on hand, millet, barley, winter squash, brown rice, rice bran, or whole wheat macaroni can also work, though white rice absorbs water better than the alternatives.
A discretionary vegetable
Some dogs with vomiting or diarrhea respond well to the addition of vegetables, largely because of their fiber content.
Vegetables that can help settle an upset stomach include cucumber, celery, lettuce, culinary mushrooms, and pumpkin (canned, plain).
A probiotic
Gut bacteria play an important role in your dog’s overall health.
Giving dogs a probiotic or a prebiotic can help rebalance the digestive tract and keep symptoms from getting worse.
Don’t add a probiotic or prebiotic without checking with your vet first.
Things To Consider When Feeding a Bland Diet
A bland diet is usually a solid first step for dogs with an upset stomach, whether that’s vomiting, diarrhea, or both.
That said, it isn’t always the right call.
Stomach upset has many causes, and some of them are dangerous.
If you saw your dog swallow a sock, toy, rock, or any other object and they then start vomiting, the situation can become life-threatening fast.
Organ disease can also trigger vomiting and lead to other complications.
Dogs dealing with serious illness typically eat very little and show low energy.
A dog that isn’t eating and seems lethargic should see a vet right away.
A dog that keeps vomiting their food after eight hours should also be seen by a vet.
Diarrhea that doesn’t improve on a bland diet within 24 hours will likely need medication to bring it under control.
Youthful Dogs With Intestinal Bombshells Need Extraordinary Consideration
If your dog is under 1 year old, get veterinary advice for any stomach upset rather than handling it on your own.
Young dogs dehydrate quickly and can decline much faster than adult dogs.
If a young dog has been vomiting for more than four hours, has had diarrhea for more than six hours, is eating less than usual, or seems low on energy, they need to see a vet right away.
A bland diet isn’t complete and balanced nutrition.
A complete and balanced diet supplies every vitamin and mineral your dog needs each day.
Most commercial dog foods meet that standard.
Feeding a bland diet is safe short-term, but continued too long it can start causing metabolic imbalances in your dog.
Those imbalances can lead to illness, weight loss, and a weakened ability to digest food or fight off bacteria.
If your dog needs to stay on a bland diet for an extended period, add a pet-safe multivitamin or talk through the options with a veterinary nutritionist.
There are also a few commercial dog food brands that make bland diets for dogs if you’d rather not cook.
Bland Diet For Dogs Recipe
When cooking a bland diet for your dog at home, boil or bake the meat with no added butter, oil, or seasoning.
Vegetables should be blanched, not served raw.
You can mix and match the options below to build a bland diet based on your dog’s body weight:
- Protein options: chicken, turkey, or lean ground beef
- Starch options: white rice, brown rice, or whole wheat macaroni
- Vegetable options: cucumber, celery, lettuce, culinary mushrooms, or pumpkin
Split these serving sizes into two meals per day.
Pay close attention to the dosing recommendations for any probiotic you add.
Dogs under 40 pounds shouldn’t receive more than one probiotic per day.
Cooking Directions
Bake or boil your protein (chicken, turkey, or lean ground beef) until fully cooked through.
A multicooker works just as well.
Cook your chosen starch according to the package directions.
Blanch or pressure-cook any vegetables so they’re easy for your dog to digest.
Combine the protein, starch, and blanched vegetables in roughly a 1:1:1 ratio.
If you’re skipping the vegetables, split the protein and starch 1:1.
Add canned pumpkin.
Add 1/4 tsp of olive oil.
Add a multi-strain probiotic to the food (optional).
Stir everything together until well mixed.
Serving And Storage Instructions
Wait until the food has cooled to room temperature before serving.
Start with a portion that’s 1/4 to 1/2 of your dog’s normal meal size.
If they eat it and keep it down, you can offer a little more.
Store leftovers in a covered container in the fridge for up to three days.
Warm the food to room temperature or slightly above before serving.
Don’t serve it cold.
If it feels hot after reheating, let it cool down before giving it to your dog.
Duration Of a Bland Diet For Dogs
Keep feeding the bland diet for the next two to three days.
If your dog is known to have a sensitive stomach, it may be worth sticking with it for five to seven days after symptoms clear before slowly transitioning back to their regular food.
You should see improvement within 24 hours of the first meal.
If you don’t, schedule a vet visit.
If your dog stops having stomach trouble on the bland diet but symptoms come back as you reintroduce regular food, talk to your vet about your options.
Best Bland Foods For Dogs
Dogs can eat a lot of different things without trouble, but every dog hits a rough patch with their stomach at some point.
If your dog is vomiting or has diarrhea from a stomach bug or something they swallowed, vets will often recommend a bland diet to help reset their digestive system.
These simple meals soothe the gut and help get eating, drinking, and normal stools back on track.
They let your dog eat, keep food down, and get the nutrients they need to recover while they’re fighting off the illness.
A highly digestible, low-fat diet takes pressure off the stomach and helps your dog start feeling normal again.
Still, with so many options out there, it can be hard to know what to choose for dogs with sensitive stomachs.
This is why checking with your vet first is always the smart move.
More often than not they’ll send you home with one of these simple recipes and tell you to keep feeding it until your dog is fully back to normal.
When Should I Feed My Dog a Bland Diet?
Stomach problems can develop for all kinds of reasons.
If your dog is vomiting or having loose stools and you can clearly identify the cause, switching to a bland diet is a reasonable way to avoid a vet trip.
If you don’t know what’s causing the illness, or you notice blood in the vomit or stool, a fever, or unusual lethargy, call your vet before trying any home remedies.
Ongoing vomiting left untreated can lead to dehydration and more serious problems.
If you think your dog swallowed something toxic, call poison control or your vet immediately.
If your dog is a puppy and has repeated vomiting and diarrhea, take them to the vet right away, as this can be a sign of parvovirus.
Puppies are also extremely vulnerable to dehydration and may need fluids administered by a vet.
In less serious cases, a call to your vet will usually end with them recommending a bland diet.
Some common triggers for mild stomach upset include sudden food changes without a gradual transition.
Eating something that typically disagrees with your dog, or dealing with a stressful event like moving or a long car ride, can also cause a temporary upset.
These situations usually resolve with a reliable, simple diet and rest.
The main priority is making sure your dog is getting enough nutrition and water during this uncomfortable stretch.
Controlling The Bland Diet
Most vets recommend starting a bland diet a few hours after your dog’s last vomiting episode or bout of diarrhea, to make it easier for them to keep food down.
When the time comes, offer water in very small amounts and watch how your dog reacts.
If they don’t start vomiting again within the next three hours, you can begin introducing the bland diet gradually.
Start with small portions until you’re confident they can eat more without triggering further stomach issues.
Continue offering small meals every few hours to make sure the bland diet is working.
You can keep feeding this way for the next few days after vomiting has stopped and stools return to normal.
After a couple of days, start mixing the bland diet with your dog’s regular food over another week until you’re satisfied their digestive system has fully settled.
Keep track of how much water your dog is drinking throughout to avoid dehydration.
Bland Diet Recipes
Remember to reintroduce food in small increments over several hours so you don’t make your dog’s stomach worse.
Here are some simple recipes you can put together at home when your dog has an upset stomach.
Chicken And Rice
What you need: chicken breast and white rice.
Preparation:
Boil the rice until fully cooked and tender.
In a separate pot, cook the boneless, skinless chicken breast.
Shred the chicken into small, bite-sized pieces to make it easier on your dog’s stomach.
Mix the rice and chicken together, with the rice making up the larger portion of the meal.
Shredded Chicken
What you need: a boneless, skinless chicken breast.
Preparation:
Plain, unseasoned, boiled and shredded chicken is one of the easiest things you can offer a dog with an upset stomach.
Cook the chicken and shred it into small pieces your dog can snack on throughout the day.
This is a great option for the first few days when you’re feeding small meals spread across several hours.
Pumpkin
What you need: canned pumpkin.
Preparation:
Canned pumpkin is genuinely useful for dogs with digestive upset.
It’s high in fiber and helps firm up loose stools.
It also contains a variety of vitamins and minerals that support recovery.
You can mix pumpkin into any of the bland diet recipes here, or stir it into your dog’s regular food if you’re dealing with a mild case of diarrhea.
Vets generally recommend around four tablespoons, though the right amount will depend on your dog’s size.
Bone Broth
What you need: beef marrow bones.
Preparation:
Place the beef marrow bones in a slow cooker, cover them with a few inches of water, and cook on low for 24 hours.
Let the broth cool, then serve it to your dog as a gel straight from the fridge or pour it over softened dry food later in the diet.
This is a great thing to have on hand if your dog tends to have a particularly sensitive stomach.
Remove all bones from the broth before serving, as cooked bones can splinter and become dangerous in the throat.
Eggs
What you need: eggs.
Preparation:
Scramble the eggs without adding any butter or milk.
This works well as a substitute when you don’t have rice, chicken, or pumpkin available.
You can also bake the eggs.
Don’t use baking powder or salt, as either can irritate your dog’s stomach further.
Child Food
What you need: stage II meat-based baby food.
Preparation:
It might seem unusual to feed your dog baby food, but many vets keep it in the clinic specifically to feed sick dogs.
These soft blends are easy to swallow and digest.
Stage II meat-based baby foods aren’t appealing to most adults, but dogs don’t mind them, and they come in chicken, lamb, and turkey varieties.
This is one of the quickest and simplest bland options you can pull together when you’re in a pinch.
Cheeseburger And Rice
What you need: white rice and lean ground beef.
Preparation:
Boil the rice until fully cooked and tender.
In a separate pan, cook the lean ground beef and drain off the fat.
The less fat left in the meat, the easier it’ll be on your dog’s stomach.
Mix the rice and beef together, with the rice making up the larger part of the meal.
Fish And Sweet Potato
What you need: white fish and sweet potatoes.
Preparation:
Peel the sweet potato, cut it into cubes, and boil for twelve minutes.
Bake the white fish in the oven for 35 minutes with a little sunflower oil.
Cut everything into small pieces and combine for your dog.
This is a good short-term bland diet option for when your dog is further along in their recovery.
Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamins C, B6, and B5 along with manganese, potassium, and fiber.
Like pumpkin and carrots, the fiber in sweet potatoes helps settle an upset stomach and firm up stools.
Curds
What you need: low-fat cottage cheese.
Preparation:
Vets suggest using cottage cheese sparingly, but it does contain a good amount of protein and fat that can help firm up your dog’s stool.
Don’t serve too much, and mix it with rice if it seems too rich for your dog.
Skip it entirely if your dog is lactose intolerant.
Watermelon
What you need: large, sliced and deseeded watermelon.
Preparation:
Once the seeds are removed and the watermelon is cut up, serve it to your dog in small amounts.
Watermelon is high in fiber and water content, which helps firm up waste and reduces the risk of dehydration.
It’s also low in calories, easy on the stomach, and packed with vitamins that support your dog’s immune system.
Final Thoughts
A bland diet isn’t a long-term solution but it’s one of the fastest and gentlest ways to give a dog’s digestive system a chance to reset after vomiting or diarrhea. Plain boiled chicken with white rice, fed in small amounts throughout the day, gives the gut something easy to process without taxing it further.
Most dogs improve within two to three days on a bland diet, at which point you can begin mixing their regular food back in gradually over another two to three days. If symptoms don’t improve within 48 hours or return as soon as regular food resumes, that’s your signal to call the vet rather than extend the bland diet further.
A bland diet is also a useful short-term bridge after illness before returning to a richer diet, but it lacks the fiber and nutrients dogs need for the long run. Once your dog is recovered, it’s worth looking at whether their regular food is doing its job well.
Persistent digestive trouble after recovery is often a sign that a dog’s everyday diet needs adjusting, not that they need repeated bland diet resets.
