Brown Rice

Cats do not need grains, so a teaspoon of cooked brown rice is at most a novel treat adding a little carbohydrate and fibre.

One teaspoon of cooked brown rice per serving without reducing main-diet intake, within about 10% of daily energy intake, with complete cat food as the main diet.

Rinse it and cook it until completely soft with no salt, oil, milk or seasoning; raw and partly cooked rice are hard to digest, so never feed them.

**Cats are obligate carnivores, so grains cannot replace the protein and nutrients from animal tissue**; keep brown rice a rare tiny amount and **contact a vet** for continuing vomiting, diarrhoea or poor appetite.

Brown rice supplies carbohydrate with a little fibre and B vitamins, and it cooks soft and palatable, so it is often used as the carbohydrate part of a bland diet during gut upset; **plan that diet with your vet rather than mixing it yourself**.

1-2 tablespoons of cooked brown rice (about a teaspoon for a small dog) stirred into the usual food, within about 10% of daily energy intake, with complete dog food as the main diet.

Rinse it and boil it in plenty of plain water until **completely soft**, adding no salt, oil, butter or seasoning; **raw and partly cooked rice are hard to digest, so never feed them**.

Rice is only a carbohydrate source and **never replaces a complete diet**; a rice-and-meat bland diet needs a vet's ratios or it throws calcium and phosphorus out of balance, so start small and **contact a vet** if vomiting or diarrhoea continues.