Note that the home cooked version of bland diets is for short term feeding only, it is not a balanced diet for long term use. Commercial prescription diets are balanced for long term use.
There are commercial prescription diets for this purpose available for purchase at our hospital, or you can cook your own at home. Please note that a home-cooked bland diet is usually for short-term management of gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea and vomiting, and is not suitable for long-term feeding. Unless otherwise instructed by the doctor, your pet should have small, frequent meals and should eat ONLY the bland diet (no treats!).
A bland diet usually consists of one part protein (see below) to three parts cooked, unseasoned WHITE rice (so one cup of protein to three cups of rice, or one tablespoon of protein to three tablespoons of rice, etc.). You can make a larger batch and refrigerate or freeze it (thaw/warm before feeding). It is ESSENTIAL that the protein used is unseasoned, COOKED (unless cottage cheese is used), and as LOW FAT as possible, so if you use must hamburger, please either boil it or cook it in a skillet and then rinse well with water. The carbohydrate should also be unseasoned (no butter, oil, salt, etc.) and cooked.
Unless the doctor tells you otherwise, a bland diet is usually fed until the gastrointestinal symptoms have subsided and the pet has normal stool/is no longer vomiting. Once the doctor approves, a GRADUAL switch back to the regular diet can be made (this means add just a small amount of the regular diet in with the bland diet, and gradually increase the amount of regular food while reducing the amount of bland diet over several days until the pet is 100% back on their normal diet). If at any point the gastrointestinal symptoms reoccur, please return to the bland diet and contact the hospital. We are happy to help you at any point in this process, please call us with questions!
Remember, one part protein to three parts rice!
PROTEINS (choose ONE):
Cooked, unseasoned tilapia
OR
Low fat cottage cheese
WE DO NOT RECOMMEND USING CHICKEN FOR HOME COOKED BLAND DIETS (based on the most current recommendations from specialists)
Cooked, unseasoned WHITE rice (not brown or wild rice)