Tag: diarrhea

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Upset belly blend

Nobody likes when their dog is feeling sick, so when tummy troubles arise, I want them to stop as soon as possible!

Petunia had some unexpected tummy troubles yesterday, she was having liquid diarrhea every 10 minutes, she was drooling and puking. I was concerned about my girl, but she was acting completely normal otherwise. She was running around like the little psychopath she is, wanting me to throw her Frisbee, bringing me her ball. She had been with me all day and I knew with certainty that she didn’t get into anything or eat anything out of the norm for her. If she were lethargic, not drinking and refusing food, I would have rushed her to the vet. It’s always best to consult your vet if you are unsure, and know where the nearest emergency vet is.

Luckily I was fairly sure the heat was just getting to her despite having access to water, she plays hard and doesn’t handle heat well. So a quick hose down, a drink of water and laying in the shade was step 1 for this girl since we weren’t home at the time. I knew what she needed when we got home though, our delicious upset belly blend!

I’m not promising it will work for your dog, or that it will work this quickly. As soon as she ate it she didn’t get sick again for the rest of the night (I thought for sure i’d be up all night with her) and this morning her stool was almost completely normal. I made enough to feed her last night, this morning and this evening, then she should be good to go back to her normal food!

Disclaimer: This is not a balanced diet or something that can replace their food long term. This is a short term solution to fix some belly issues, make them feel better quickly, or to supplement their normal diet for chronic issues.

Ingredients:

  • Cooked white rice
  • Boiled unseasoned chicken
  • Canned pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
  • Slippery elm tea (It comes in powder form and we mix 1 tsp with 1 cup of water and bring to a boil.)

Take 1 cup of cooked white rice and 1 boiled chicken breast. Shred the chicken and mix it in with the rice. Next add 3-4 tbsp of pumpkin, and 9-10 tbsp of slippery elm tea.

This batch is about 3 meals for Petunia. She’s 40-45 lbs, if you have a larger or smaller dog feed accordingly!

Leave a comment below to let us know how this recipe works for your pup!

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Benefits of Slippery Elm

Slippery elm is a must have in our house, we never let ourselves run out, and here’s why!

Treats Diarrhea

Slippery elm is our go-to for any type of stomach upset for our dogs. In our experience it can stop diarrhea in 1-2 doses. We will also give this on days where we may be feeding them some extra treats or snacks. We always give them a dose or two of slippery elm for doggy birthday parties, it keeps them regular and prevents diarrhea!

Treats Constipation

Slippery elm is also perfect for constipation, this “magic” herb works both ways!

Soothes sore throats and coughs

Kennel cough is so common, especially if your dog is a social butterfly like our puppies. We’ve had our dogs catch kennel cough multiple times despite our best efforts; slippery elm tea is perfect to soothe their throats and stop their coughs. If your dog socializes with other dogs, goes to pet stores, grooming shops, doggy daycare or dog parks there is always a risk of kennel cough. If your dog catches it, keep them home, make them some slippery elm tea and let them rest!

Immune system

Slippery elm has vitamins and minerals and it has been known to help boost the immune system. It definitely doesn’t hurt to try it!

Topical use

Slippery elm can also be mixed with a bit of water to make a paste. This paste can be used topically on cuts, scrapes, abscesses and hot spots to promote fast healing. The perfect thing about using it topically, is it’s completely edible therefore safe to lick so you don’t need to worry about your dog ingesting it!

Where to buy and how to feed

We buy our slippery elm powder from Totally Raw (click here), as directed we mix 1 tsp of powder with 1 cup of cold water (we typically double or triple the recipe since we have a large pack) then whisk and bring to a boil. Allow to cool then add the proper dosage to their meal and either refrigerate (good for up to a week) or freeze in an ice cube tray! Our ice cube tray holds 1 1/2 tbsp of tea per cube, which is the perfect dose for our little dogs.

We feed our small dogs 1 1/2 tbsp 1-2 times a day as needed. Our Aussie’s get 2 ice cubes (3 tbsp) 1-2 times a day as needed, and Mable, our Doberman gets 4-5 tbsp 1-2 times a day. Read the package and start out with the recommended dose but then you can play around with the amounts slightly to see what works for your dog!

When we first got Mable she had the worst stool quality; It was constantly runny. She was otherwise happy, active and eating well. With the right food and supplements, her stool is almost always solid now and slippery elm has played a huge part in that, we recommend it to everyone!