A bland diet is a short-term, easily digested food used while a dog’s gut recovers from a mild upset. It is not a long-term diet and it is not a treatment for anything serious.
First: is this a home case at all?
Go to the vet, do not try a bland diet, if there is:
- Blood in vomit or stool, or black tarry stool
- Repeated vomiting, or vomiting with a swollen abdomen
- Unproductive retching — a bloat emergency
- Lethargy, weakness or collapse
- Severe abdominal pain, or a hunched praying posture
- A puppy, a toy breed, a senior, or a dog with existing disease
- Suspected poisoning or a swallowed object
- Diarrhoea lasting beyond 48 hours
- Signs of dehydration — tacky gums, skin that is slow to spring back, sunken eyes
- A dog who cannot keep water down
A bland diet is for a bright, alert dog with a mild upset who is otherwise themselves.
The fasting question has changed
The traditional advice was to withhold food for 24 hours. That has been revised.
Current thinking favours feeding small amounts early, because the cells lining the gut are fed directly from the gut contents, and they repair faster when they are fed.
Practical version: skip one meal if you like, no more. Then start small bland meals. Never fast a puppy, a toy breed, or a diabetic dog at all.
Never withhold water.
The classic recipe
Boiled chicken breast and white rice, roughly one part chicken to two parts rice.
- Skinless, boneless chicken breast, boiled in plain water, no salt, no oil, no seasoning
- Drain and discard the water and any fat
- Shred or chop
- Plain white rice, boiled until soft — slightly overcooked is better
- White rice, not brown. Brown rice has more fibre and is harder to digest, which is the opposite of what you want here
- Mix, cool to body temperature, and serve
Alternatives if chicken does not suit:
- Plain boiled white fish (cod, coley) and rice
- Plain boiled turkey breast
- Very lean boiled minced beef, with the fat poured off
- Low-fat cottage cheese, if your dog tolerates dairy
- Boiled pasta instead of rice
Better still: a veterinary gastrointestinal diet. These are formulated to be highly digestible, with an appropriate fibre blend and controlled fat, and — unlike chicken and rice — they are nutritionally complete. If your dog has upsets often enough to justify keeping something in the cupboard, this is what to keep.
Portions and timing
Small and frequent is the whole principle.
- Roughly a quarter of the normal daily amount to start
- Divided into four to six small meals through the day
- If that stays down for 12 hours, increase gradually
- Over two to three days, work back up to normal quantities
- Then transition back to the normal food over another two to three days, mixing it in
Feeding a large bland meal is as likely to cause vomiting as the original problem was.
Useful additions
Plain tinned pumpkin. A spoonful for a small dog, a few for a large one. Contains both soluble and insoluble fibre, and it helps firm loose stool. Not pie filling, which contains sugar and spices.
Psyllium husk, for the same purpose, at a dose your vet suggests.
A probiotic. There is reasonable evidence that specific canine strains shorten the duration of acute diarrhoea.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — it helps keep this site free. We only recommend products we would use with our own dogs.
Purina FortiFlora Canine Probiotic Supplement
Single-serve sachets of a well-studied strain, widely used for acute upsets. Highly palatable, which matters with a dog who is off their food — and worth keeping in the cupboard before you need it.
How long to feed it
Three to five days at most.
Chicken and rice is not nutritionally complete. It is short on calcium, essential fatty acids, several vitamins and several trace minerals. Dogs fed it for weeks develop real deficiencies, and it is a genuinely harmful long-term diet — particularly for a growing puppy.
If your dog still needs a bland diet after five days, they need a vet and a properly formulated gastrointestinal diet, not more chicken.
What not to do
- No fatty additions — no chicken skin, no gravy, no butter, no oil. Fat is a common trigger for pancreatitis and for further upset
- No milk. Lactose makes most cases worse
- No human anti-diarrhoeal medication unless your vet directs it. Loperamide is dangerous in collies and other herding breeds carrying the MDR1 variant
- No treats, chews or table food until it has resolved
- No seasoning, onion, garlic or stock cubes
- Do not withhold water
Checking hydration
Skin tent: lift the skin over the shoulders and release. It should snap back instantly.
Gums: should be moist and pink. Press until pale and release — colour should return within two seconds.
Tacky, dry or pale gums, or slow skin return, means a vet now.
Going back to normal
Transition over two to three days:
- Day 1: 75 percent bland, 25 percent normal
- Day 2: 50/50
- Day 3: 25 percent bland, 75 percent normal
- Day 4: normal
If diarrhoea returns on reintroduction, that is useful information — it may point to a food intolerance rather than a one-off upset, and it is worth mentioning.
Preventing the next one
Most repeat upsets come from the same short list:
- Scavenging on walks — work on “leave it”, and consider a basket muzzle for committed scavengers
- Bin raiding — get a lidded bin, ideally inside a cupboard
- Table scraps and fatty treats
- Sudden food changes — transition over seven days
- Drinking from puddles and streams
- Stress, which causes colitis reliably
Outward Hound Fun Feeder Slo Bowl
For dogs whose upsets come from bolting food and swallowing air. Slowing the meal down solves a surprising proportion of recurring mild vomiting.
And keep a note of what happened, what your dog had eaten, and how long it lasted. For a dog with recurring upsets, that record is the most useful thing you can put in front of a vet.
