The Hamburger (or Chicken) and Rice Diet
I’m sure you’ve all heard it before at one time or another – if not from your vet, then from a friend, relative, or a neighbor. If your dog is having some gastrointestinal upset – vomiting, diarrhea, or both – we frequently recommend a “bland” diet. This particular diet is intended to be something that is easily digestible in an effort to help rest the GI tract and allow things to slowly and gently return to normal. Often we will offer a prescription diet but this is one of the occasions where a home remedy can be just as effective. Probably the most commonly suggested home diet is the hamburger and rice diet, or the chicken and rice diet, depending upon your or your veterinarian’s preference. Usually your doctor will also give an injection or two and send home some prescription medications as the main component of the treatment. The diet is to help the ease the transition from illness back to sound GI health.
You need to realize that, just like the medications given to treat the condition, this special diet is only a temporary thing. Sometimes we as veterinarians are a little less than detailed in our explanations regarding home treatment and our intentions may get lost in the hustle and bustle and barks and waggles of patient discharge time. The boiled hamburger and rice diet or the boiled skinless, boneless, chopped chicken and rice diet is intended to last for just a few days. I usually try to have my patients back on their normal commercial diet within 1-2 days of their visit or within 3 days if they have been hospitalized. In addition, it is important that the hamburger be boiled and drained of any and all grease – the idea is bland. The meat is only there to help give the rice a little substance and flavor. Don’t fry it, don’t lace it with taco seasoning, Tabasco, Lawry’s, seasoned salt, or any salt and pepper – nothing. Meat should be nothing more than about 1/4 of the total mix. The rice should be plain white rice. It’s bland and easily digestible. Wild rice, brown rice, long grain and all of those other good-for-you kinds of ricy things are not as bland and therefore not as good as plain old white rice. The rice can be quick rice, or good old fashioned slow-cooked rice. Cook everything up, mix it together, and throw it in the fridge. It will keep for two or three days, and by then you’re done with it anyhow.
Don’t be like the little old lady who came in for a routine visit a while back. As part of any visit I always try to touch upon what diet is being fed. Now I’m not a pusher of any particular diet. If your dog does well on its diet, then I’m a strict adherent of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” school of thought. But I always ask just in case something weird is going on, like the “all-Oreo” diet, or the “potato chips and hot dog diet”, or some other oddball thing. But I digress…
Anyway, in the process of examining her dog I asked about diet and she mentioned that she was feeding the dog the hamburger and rice diet that her old vet recommended. I, of course, being the inquisitive guy that I am, asked if the dog had been having some GI issues recently. She said that, no, he hadn’t had any problems like that ever since he had been on the diet. So I discreetly inquired just how long had she been feeding this special diet and she told me that back when ‘Brownie’ was a pup he had some diarrhea and old Doctor Ned said that this diet would probably help. Well, the diarrhea cleared up and the dog liked it so well that she just kept right on feeding it and he never had another problem.
It’s pretty difficult to argue with that, but the fact is that a meat and rice diet is a very bad diet. It is completely unbalanced and is likely to lead to nutritional problems when fed long term. In order to balance it out, it would require a number of modifications and then, just like any “complete and balanced” diet it would no longer be simple. So the moral of the story is multiple:
- Dont’ feed a hamburger (or chicken) and rice diet long term unless your veterinarian clearly specifies that you are to feed it long term
- When your veterinarian gives you directions be absolutely certain that they are complete and that you understand them completely before you go home and do the wrong thing.
Don’t wait years between veterinary visits only to find out years after the fact that you violated #1 or #2 above.