Home-Cooked Food for Dogs in Kerala: What to Feed, What to Keep Off the Plate

A dog's bowl needs more than rice with a little curry gravy. A balanced home-cooked meal is built from five parts, and the exact amounts of each depend on the dog, which is why the recipe should come from a vet or veterinary nutritionist rather than a fixed formula.

• •Protein: plain cooked chicken, fish with every bone removed, cooked egg, or lean meat the family already buys. Cook it without onion, garlic, masala or much salt.
• •Carbohydrate: cooked rice (white or matta), ragi, oats or broken wheat. These provide energy, but they should not crowd out the protein.
• •Vegetables: pumpkin, carrot, beans and other plain cooked vegetables for fibre and variety.
• •Fat: a small, measured amount, because fat carries calories and some essential fatty acids. More is not better.
• •Vitamins and minerals: this is the part a kitchen cannot supply by itself. Meat and rice are low in calcium, and the balance between calcium and phosphorus matters, especially for growing puppies.

The practical rule: cook plain, keep a written recipe, weigh ingredients rather than eyeballing them, and do not swap ingredients or leave one out without asking the person who balanced the recipe.

Most home-cooked diets are not complete, even when they look varied. In a Dog Aging Project study led from Texas A&M and published in November 2025, researchers checked 1,726 homemade diets described by owners. Only about 6% had the potential to be nutritionally complete, and the authors noted the true figure may be lower because exact amounts were not recorded.

The researchers singled out calcium. Many home recipes call for a calcium supplement, and leaving it out, or getting the calcium-phosphorus balance wrong, can cause serious bone and kidney problems over time. Their advice to owners is clear: speak with your own vet first, work with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist if you plan to feed homemade food long term, and follow the recipe exactly. Even swapping one cooking oil for another can change whether a diet is complete.

This matters most for puppies, which are still building bone, for pregnant or nursing dogs, and for dogs with kidney, liver, skin or digestive conditions, who often need a diet designed for that condition. If your dog has a health issue, do not design the diet yourself.

Rice and chicken is a sensible part of a home-cooked meal, and some vets suggest a plain version for a short time after a tummy upset. As an everyday diet on its own, it is not enough. It is short of calcium and several vitamins and minerals, and many households slowly add extras like curry gravy, fish fry pieces or biscuits that make it less balanced, not more.

If rice and chicken is what your dog eats every day:

• •Ask your vet to review the proportions of chicken to rice for your dog's weight and activity.
• •Ask which supplement, if any, is needed to complete it, and how much. Do not guess a dose from the internet.
• •Add plain vegetables and keep fat measured.
• •Re-check your dog's weight and body shape every month (see the portion section below).

Many Kerala owners also mix homemade food with a complete commercial dry food. That can work well, but it still changes the overall balance, so tell your vet exactly what goes into the bowl.

Most poisoning risks in an Indian home are ordinary foods. The list below follows ASPCA Animal Poison Control and ASPCA Pet Insurance guidance, applied to what is actually cooked in Kerala homes.

• •Onion (including spring onion), shallots (chuvannulli) and garlic: these alliums can damage red blood cells and cause anaemia, raw, cooked, fried or powdered. That rules out most curry gravies, sambar, theeyal, masala fry and fried-onion toppings.
• •Grapes and raisins: they can cause kidney damage in dogs. Watch payasam, cakes and festival sweets with raisins.
• •Chocolate, coffee and tea: they contain stimulants that can cause vomiting, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors and seizures; dark chocolate is the most dangerous. Do not share your chaya.
• •Xylitol: this sweetener, found in some sugar-free gum, sweets and other sugar-free products, can cause dangerously low blood sugar and liver damage. Check labels on anything sugar-free.
• •Cooked bones, including fish bones: bones can injure or block the gut and may need surgery. Debone every piece of fish and chicken, and keep curry plates and the waste bin out of reach.
• •Raw yeast dough or batter: rising dough can bloat the stomach and produce alcohol as it ferments. Keep appam and other yeast-raised batters away from dogs.
• •Alcohol, including toddy: even small amounts are dangerous for a dog.
• •Very salty, oily and spicy food: pickles, chips, fried snacks and rich leftovers can cause vomiting and diarrhoea; too much salt can cause salt poisoning, and fatty food is linked to pancreatitis, a painful inflammation of the pancreas.
• •Milk and milk sweets: many dogs cannot digest much lactose, and payasam adds sugar, raisins and ghee on top.
• •Nuts: they are high in fat, and macadamia nuts are specifically toxic to dogs.
• •Raw meat and raw eggs: they can carry Salmonella and E. coli.
• •Spoiled or mouldy food: some moulds produce toxins that cause tremors. In Kerala humidity, leftovers spoil fast.
• •Large hard seeds and fruit stones, such as jackfruit seeds and mango stones: treat them as a choking and blockage risk and keep them away.

If your dog eats any of these, call your vet now, even if your dog seems fine. Tell them what was eaten, roughly how much and when. Do not try home remedies or wait for symptoms; with several of these foods, early treatment makes the difference.

A dog's feeding amount depends on its size, age, activity and whether it is neutered, so the most useful home tool is not a fixed portion chart but a regular check of your dog's body. The World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) uses a 9-point body condition score, where 4 and 5 are ideal.

• •At an ideal score, you can feel the ribs easily without a thick layer of fat over them.
• •Looking down from above, you can see a waist behind the ribs.
• •From the side, the belly tucks up behind the chest.
• •If you have to press hard to find the ribs and the waist has disappeared, your dog is above ideal (6 to 9 on the scale).
• •If the ribs, spine and hip bones are clearly visible, your dog is below ideal.

Weigh your dog every month if you can (many vet clinics will let you use their scale) and write the number down with the score. If the weight is creeping up, cut back on extras first: biscuits, chapati pieces, rice top-ups and coconut. Ask your vet for a daily calorie target if you want precision; WSAVA publishes calorie guidance for healthy adult dogs that vets can use with you.

Kerala's heat and humidity change how you feed, not just what you feed.

• •Fresh, clean water at all times, in a bowl that is washed every day. In summer, check it several times a day; dogs drink more in heat.
• •Cook in small batches. Cooked rice, fish and meat spoil quickly at Kerala room temperatures. Refrigerate what is not eaten within the meal and do not leave food sitting out for hours.
• •Avoid heavy exercise in the hottest part of the day. Walk early morning and evening, and see our heatstroke guide for the warning signs.

If your dog suddenly stops eating, vomits repeatedly, has a swollen tight belly or seems weak or collapses, go to a vet now.

A sudden change of diet is a common cause of vomiting, diarrhoea and refused meals. The American Kennel Club (AKC) recommends changing over 5 to 7 days:

• •Day 1 to 2: about one quarter new food, three quarters old food.
• •Day 3 to 4: half and half.
• •Day 5 to 6: about three quarters new food, one quarter old.
• •Day 7: new food only.

Dogs with sensitive stomachs, allergies or digestive problems may need longer. Watch appetite, energy and stool; if things go wrong, slow down, and if problems continue after a gradual change, speak to your vet.

The same logic applies before a trip. Avoid changing your dog's food in the week before a boarding stay, so that any stomach upset is not confused with the stress of a new place.

At Neolokam, our dogs-only farm near Malayinkil, dogs are served home-cooked meals, and owners may also leave their dog's own dry food. Many owners do both: the dog keeps its familiar food and enjoys the farm meals. Tell the team at the trial visit what your dog eats now, and ask what the day's home-cooked meals include so you can check them against your dog's needs.

A good food handover checklist:

• •The name of your dog's current food, the amount per meal and the meal times, written down.
• •Food for the whole stay, ideally portioned into labelled bags or containers per day, plus a little extra in case your return is delayed.
• •Any allergies, intolerances or foods your vet has told you to avoid, in writing.
• •Whether your dog may eat the farm's home-cooked meals, or should stay on its own food only.
• •Treats that are allowed, and any that are not.
• •Medication in its original labelled packaging, with your vet's written instructions.
• •Habits the team should know: slow or fast eater, food guarding, needs to eat alone, eats grass or tries to scavenge.
• •Your vet's name and number, and an emergency contact if you cannot be reached.

Boarding also needs up-to-date core vaccinations with proof (rabies, distemper, parvovirus and leptospirosis) and tick prevention applied within 3 days before arrival. Call or WhatsApp +91 77363 90719 if you want to talk through your dog's diet before a stay.