How to Make Homemade Dog Food for Sensitive Stomachs

When I first adopted my very anxious border collie, she had a terrible upset stomach for weeks. I took her to the vet a few times looking for a solution to my pup's constant diarrhea and flatulence, but the vet found nothing wrong: no parasites, infections, or signs of inflammatory bowel disease. It ultimately boiled down to one simple problem: a sensitive tummy and stress. I tried five different (and expensive!) brands of dog food made for sensitive tummies, but to no avail: my dog's tummy troubles continued. I knew it was time to take matters into my own hands and come up with a food that she could eat without trouble.

My experience as a foster-mommy to special needs pets left me with some experience. Every time I fostered an animal with an upset stomach, vets and shelter staff gave me the same recommendations: canned pumpkin, white rice, and probiotics (or "friendly" bacteria). I always used these to supplement pets' diets, but I decided to come up with a recipe that would actually form the bulk of my dog's meals and be nutritionally complete. After a few tries, here's the perfect recipe for homemade dog food for canines with sensitive tummies.

You'll need the following ingredients to make homemade dog food that can settle your pooch's sensitive stomach:

One pound of ground beef
Five fifteen-ounce cans of pumpkin
Four cups of dry white rice
Twelve cups of water
Five ounces of Naturvet canine multivitamin
One cup of Fortiflora pet probiotic supplement

Start by boiling twelve cups of water in a large stock pot. When it begins boiling, add the four cups of white rice, cover, and reduce it to a simmer. Ordinarily, white rice doesn't need to be boiled for very long. However, when it comes to dealing with a dog with an upset tummy, it's a good idea to drastically overcook the rice, according to my vet. I let it cook for about an hour, until the water and rice were a slushy white mix.

While the rice is boiling, go ahead and brown the ground beef in a separate skillet. Make sure you drain any excess fat, since too much fat can worsen diarrhea and flatulence in dogs. Cook it thoroughly and then stir it into the rice-water mixture. Continue stirring it regularly, so it doesn't sink to the bottom and so the entire mixture stays well-cooked.

Next, you'll want to add the canned pumpkin. This stuff is a staple in animal shelters and vets' offices because it contains perfect, easily digested plant-based fibers that help to add bulk to animals' poo while also making poop soft enough that animals can pass stool painlessly and without straining. In this way, it can help to treat both diarrhea and constipation, and alternating episodes of both. I used five cans of pumpkin in my recipe, but you can add less or more depending on how severe your pet's diarrhea is.

After you've thoroughly stirred the canned pumpkin into the pot, leave it to simmer, uncovered, until it has a relatively firm texture, about the same consistency as refried beans. This might take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on several factors, like how much water evaporated when you prepared the rice-water mixture, and how dense your canned pumpkin is. When it has reached the texture you desire, remove it from the stove and allow it to cool. It will gain a thicker texture after cooling.

When the homemade dog food has cooled to room temperature, mix in a complete canine multivitamin. The multivitamin is especially important if you are using this as your dog's main or sole source of food, since it will ensure that he's getting adequate nutrition. If you don't want to use a multivitamin, make sure you are supplementing your pet's diet with AAFCO-tested foods that can meet your pet's nutritional needs without any deficiencies.

You'll want to add the probiotics next. These are living bacteria (the same stuff found in yogurt, and naturally in your pet's colon) that help your digestion by fighting off bad bacteria and aiding digestion. It's critical to wait until the dog food is room temperature before you add the probiotic, since heat will kill probiotics, rendering them useless. Probiotics can generally survive refrigeration but not freezing.

Your homemade sensitive-tummy dog food will last about four days in the fridge before it starts to turn, so go ahead and set aside anything that you think might be "extra." It's best to put extra food into individual serving-sized Ziploc bags, which can be thawed as needed. In my experience, this amount of dog food will last an average-sized dog (about 30 pounds) about ten days. If your pet continues to have digestive problems after eating homemade food specialized to his needs, be sure to stay in touch with your vet to rule out any treatable, underlying causes of his tummy troubles.