How long does homemade dog food digest? Will it upset his stomach?

There is not a hard and fast rule for how long a pet should be without food. Some vets say as long as 24 hours. I generally recommend 6 to 12 hours. It may help also if you feed him a bland diet for the next 24 hours. Boiled white meat chicken and plain boiled white rice. If he continues to be sick, have him examined by the veterinarian.

A pet this size should be eating approximately 2-2.5 cups of food a day. That can translate to cooked and chopped chicken as well. Howver the meal needs to be balanced with vegetables. Here is a website link with recipes to help guide you on your proportions of food that is going to help you formulate a well balanced diet. Balance-it.com There are likely other websites that also offer free recipes. Just do a quick google search and you should be able to find more references. Best wishes and take care.

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 would give it a bit more time to see if he goes back to eating normally. In the meantime you may want to try giving him a probiotic just in case his stomach/intestines are bit uneasy. I recommend Fortiflora - it is by far the best probiotic. I would give him this for two weeks minimum even if he goes back to eating all his food in a day or two. https://www.chewy.com/purina-pro-plan-veterinary-diets/dp/50029 If no improvement in about a week I would say to take him to the vet. As a side note, I have no issue with people making home-cooked food but it is not balanced for a dog (ie: minerals and nutrients that a dog needs). You really need to get that sorted out. I recommend you contact this website: https://secure.balanceit.com/ They will help you formulate a good home-cooked diet and you will need to get their supplements (which are very good) to balance the diet. This website is made by a veterinary nutritionist. Vitamin and mineral deficiency can cause GI issues as well as many other problems. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Gradually over 4-5 days. Mix the old food with the chicken and rice adding more and more percentage of old food (first day 25% old food + 75% chicken and rice; second day 50% old food + 50% chicken and rice and so on).

Sorry Aubie is having this issue. It is not recommended that you feed a homemade diet to a dog unless you have it balanced nutritionally by a veterinary nutritionist. You will be causing vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Low magnesium can be the cause of the GI tract slowing down. Here is a website you can refer to if you want to make a homemade diet: https://secure.balanceit.com/ If you want to stick with feeding a softer food and do not want to continue the homemade diet then I suggest you buy canned dog food instead as it is nutritionally balanced for dogs. If hard food seems to hurt her to chew she may have an issue with her teeth or mouth that needs to be addressed by your vet. A 6 year old dog should not have problems chewing hard dog food. To resolve the current constipation issue I would recommend you feed her some canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin, not pie filling) ~1/4 cup twice a day. Feed it right out of the can. Do not mix it with her regular food. And you should also get a probiotic like Fortiflora and feed that to her for at least 2 weeks: https://www.chewy.com/purina-pro-plan-veterinary-diets/dp/50029 All of that being said, I strongly recommend you have her spayed if she is mix breed and you are not breeding her. Problems with her uterus can cause issues with the colon - if it is enlarged or has a tumor in it, that can push up on the colon making it hard to defecate. Also hormones can contribute to this issue. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

If you can, go back to the other dog food. Dogs with very sensitive stomachs should be transitioned to new foods (even new flavors of the same food!) over 4 weeks. If the upset stomach continues for longer than 24-48 hours, Captain Hook should get checked out by the vet for medications to help with his symptoms.