My dog eats only chicken after upset stomach. Does she need vitamins?

If you decide to do a homecooked diet for Bruiser, you will need to make sure it is a balanced diet. There are a few ways to do that. You could do a consulation with a board certified nutritionist (a veterinarian who has done additional residency training in nurition). One company that offers this service is called Balance It. You can order their vitamin/mineral mix or have a recipe made specially for Bruiser. Another option would be to find a local vet that can help you design a diet for Bruiser. Since I see from your zip code that you are in central Florida, if you are interested in Traditional Chinese Medicine, you might consider seeing Dr. Bartholomew at the Animal Hospital of Dunedin to have him design a diet for Bruiser based on Traditional Chinese Medicine. I hope that answers your question. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

It is a possibility. You can get a sensitive stomach or GI health formula dog food that contains all essentials vitamins and minerals needed for health to try long term since the other are short term. You can do scrambled eggs, low fat yogurt, or ground turkey or lean ground need with no seasonings

Too much chicken is not a problem, but this diet would not be nutritionally balanced for long term feeding. If you want to continue to cook for your dogs I would recommend consulting a veterinary nutritionist to create a balanced recipe. This website has nutritionists on staff and you can create a recipe that uses their vitamin supplement: https://secure.balanceit.com

Thats hard to say. Pets can have upset stomachs for many reasons. This can range from bacterial over growth, to parasites, to inflammatory bowel disease to kidney disease to even cancer. Without a physical exam and likely some basic diagnostics, its impossible to know the cause. Home made diets are not good long term unless they are formulated by a veterinary nutritionist. Otherwise the diets are often unbalanced which can result in problems if they are fed long term. At home you can try feeding her a bland diet of 25% boiled white meat chicken and 75% plain boiled what rice. Feed this for 1 week. Giving her probiotics during this time may also help. If she is not back to normal after 1 week, if she gets worse or if it returns, she needs to see her veterinarian. This diet is not balanced but it is fine to feed for this length of time. Gradually transition her back to her normal diet over 3-5 days. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

I typically recommend by 1 part chicken to 3 parts white rice. Give your dog a couple tablespoons, every few hours to start, and work up to about 1/4 cup every 4-6 hours as she tolerates things better. When your dog is eating well, start adding her dry food. If her signs don't resolve than she should be examined by a vet. She could have an infection or a parasite and your vet can prescribe medications to help.

Poor Louie! I'm sorry to hear that he's sick. My general rule of thumb with vomiting and not eating much is that if it goes on for more than 24 hours, a vet visit is warranted. So if this has been going on for three days now, I would really recommend having him seen by a veterinarian today rather than continuing to try and manage at home, since I would be concerned that he has something more serious going on than a simple upset stomach. If you're not able to get him in to an emergency clinic today, then it's probably best to continue offering small amounts of something bland such as plain boiled chicken every few hours until you are able to see the vet. But I would focus on finding a way to have him seen as soon as possible.

It is certainly possible that the food is the problem. I couldn't say what it is about that brand that is problematic, but some dogs simply do better with certain brands than others. If she has a chicken allergy, I would make sure that whatever brand of food you choose you check extremely carefully for ingredients, and may go as far as calling up the company. Sometimes they can sneak something like "poultry by product" in at the very end of the ingredient list and it is very easy to miss. There are also prescription diets available that are very low ingredient and generally safer for pets with dietary issues. Other issues that can cause gastrointestinal issues in dogs would include inflammatory or infectious diseases, immune-mediated diseases (such as IBD), certain cancers, liver disease, and a few other less common possibilities. If she hasn't already, it might be a good idea to obtain some blood work just to see if everything is checking out OK. Ultrasound and abdominal radiographs are also possibilities if you want to explore the problem in more detail.