⏳ Your post is pending review, it will appear publicly once a moderator approves it.
Our dog Nimbu (3-year-old indie mix) ate commercial dry food until recently when she had a bad gastrointestinal episode and the vet put her on plain rice and boiled chicken as a "bland diet." It worked great — she recovered fast and her stools became perfect for the first time in a year.
Now the vet has cleared her for normal food but she seems to feel better on the rice-chicken diet and we're wondering if we should just keep her on it. She eats it eagerly, her energy is great, coat looks good.
The question: is plain rice + boiled chicken nutritionally complete as a permanent diet? What's missing that we'd need to add? And is an indie dog's nutritional requirement different from a pedigree breed's?
Rice and chicken is NOT nutritionally complete long-term — it's a short-term recovery diet. What's missing: calcium (critical for bone health, especially in a medium/large dog), essential vitamins (A, D, E, K), trace minerals (zinc, iron, copper), and omega fatty acids.
Dogs on rice-chicken only for more than 2-3 weeks typically start showing deficiencies. Calcium deficiency is the most dangerous — it can lead to skeletal problems. Please don't keep her on this without adding supplements.
The missing calcium point is so important. We found a homemade diet guide online that left out calcium completely and followed it for 3 months before our vet caught the issue on bloodwork. Eggshell powder is genuinely the easiest fix.
How much eggshell powder per day for a 15 kg dog? We've seen different recommendations and aren't sure what's right.
If you want to continue a homemade diet (which is fine), you need to balance it. Minimum additions to rice + chicken:
With these additions, rice+chicken becomes reasonably balanced for a healthy adult dog.
Indie dogs (Indian pariah dogs) are actually quite nutritionally adaptable — they evolved over millennia on varied scavenged food. They tend to do very well on homemade diets compared to imported breeds that were bred on highly specific commercial diets. The core nutritional requirements are the same, but indigs are generally more robust about variations.
The sardines in water tip is brilliant and our dogs go absolutely crazy for it. We use the tinned ones from Reliance or D-Mart — plain sardines in water, no salt. Added 3x a week and the coat shine improved visibly.
The reason commercial kibble exists is that balancing homemade dog food correctly is genuinely hard for the average owner. If you want to do full homemade, consider consulting a veterinary nutritionist — there are some in Indian metro cities who will design a recipe for your specific dog's weight and age. One-time consultation cost, permanent recipe.
An easy upgrade: replace some of the chicken with sardines or mackerel 2-3 times a week. Canned sardines in water (not oil, no salt) provide omega-3s and phosphorus that rice+chicken lacks. Cost-effective and most dogs love it.
If the GI episode that started this was related to a specific ingredient in her kibble (common culprits: corn, wheat, chicken by-product meal), switching to a limited-ingredient grain-free kibble might solve the original problem without the complexity of full homemade. Worth investigating with a vet what triggered the episode.
Get bloodwork done every 6 months if you stay on a homemade diet. A basic metabolic panel will catch any nutritional deficiencies before they become visible symptoms. Many home-diet issues are caught early this way.
Replies are reviewed before going live. Medical advice needs a vet source. Undisclosed promotion is removed.
Homemade vs packaged food for a Beagle — what's the community's actual experience?
Paneer, curd, ghee — which dairy products are safe for dogs and how much?
Indie dog refuses dry kibble — tips for transitioning a stubborn fussy eater
My indie eats everything off the street on trips — how do you manage this?