Yes its true, dogs get IBS (irritable bowl syndrome). After much struggling with my own dog’s issue I spoke to somebody who has studied dog nutrition and found out her symptoms are typical of a dog with IBS.

She swings from having constipation to diarrhea, and often appears distressed when about to go.

It got out of hand and involved us taking turns to get up in the night to let her out!

Also, you should see your vet to ensure that your dog does not have bad bacteria in her, or any other bowl issues.

There are treatments for IBS that vets can provide.

The following recipe helps, in fact its helps a huge amount, and it’s not too much work.

If you were going to feed your dog this alternative often you need to discuss it with your vet as it may not cover all your dog's nutrient requirements.

This recipe is intended as a fix, not a long term diet.

1. Make a huge batch and freeze it in freezer bags, make sure its fully defrosted and not too cold before feeding it to your dog, I usually pour a little warm water over the top and that increases her water intake also.

2. When your dog is not showing any negative symptoms of IBS, feed your dog its usual dog food, but do question that food and get advice about its ingredients.

3. When ever changing dog foods, transition your dog gradually over a few weeks gradually increasing the new food.

4. Consider buying a “limited ingredient” food. This reduces the chances that the food includes a trigger that causes your dog to be upset. This is also good advice if your dog appears to suffer with allergies.

5. Find out what preservatives are in your dogs main food, look them up, some are very natural others are not.

6. NEVER EVER feed a dog either onions or chocolates. Onions actually damage their blood cells.

7. Do not feed a dog which has stomach issues any kind of pork - it’s the hardest meat to digest.

8. Reduce treats that are made of raw hide, remove treats that are made of pigs ears or pig skin.

Recipe
5 parts beef / meat
2 parts cooked brown rice
1 part veggies – such as diced carrots, peas (mush them up first – trust me).

For the beef – I usually buy what ever is on offer, but I check the best before date first, to make sure that it’s fresh.

1. Chop the beef if required – quite small to assist digestion

2. Cover the beef with water and simmer it until it’s cooked, allow it to cool and put it in the fridge – do not pour the water away

3. Cook the rice and the veggies together

4. Once the beef has been chilled the fat will rise to the top of the water, pick this fat off – it’s very high in cholesterol and calories

5. Mix everything together and freeze excess in portions that are reflective of how much you intend to feed your dog each day

Option is to swap beef for chicken, turkey or fish.

Another option, for 1 pan cooking is basically cook it all in one pot – you have to allow for the fact that the rice with double to treble in volume during cooking

If you have the carcass from a turkey or a chicken, boil it in water – low heat for an hour and extract all the goodness, then put it through a sieve. This is VERY VERY important as the smallest chicken bone can seriously hurt your dog. Keep the stock in the fridge where it will turn into a jelly and feed it to your dog as required, its quite low in calories and will help keep your dog hydrated

Not only is our dog a lot happier, we no longer have to get up at 3am, her coat is absolutely shining and she absolutely just loves here dinners these days

This does not work out to be that expensive, rice is very cheap, veggies I add are what is in the fridge or our own leftovers, and I always buy what is on sale at the supermarket for meat

Left over turkey came in very handy this year!