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My Boxer puppy is thin. Is his homemade beef and rice diet balanced?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Boxer | Male | unneutered | 7 months and 19 days old | 40 lbs

Hi ,I’ve been feeding my dog about 1kg(slightly above) of minced beef and rice daily,2 times a day And he still seems to look pretty thin and like his ribs are pretty visible and I wanted to Know if I should feed him more in his meals or provide some other source of nutrition for him or if this is normal for his age (about 7 months) and breed (boxer)

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on June 20th, 2018

This is not a balanced diet at all for a puppy. Puppies need more calcium, protein, and calories than adult dogs, as well as many vitamins and nutrients. Mince and rice will not provide this for Caster, and this may be why he's so skinny. He needs a puppy formulated food. Brands I recommend include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, or Iams. If you really want to feed him a homemade diet, then I will put links below to websites that give recipes for homemade diets that are nutritionally balanced. Best of luck, I hope this helps. https://secure.balanceit.com https://www.petdiets.com

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    Answered By Dr. Andrea

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Well, to me your boxer actually looks a good weight- most people think that their dog is too thin when in reality if they are muscular that is a good weight for them. But, I would say that beef and rice is not a balanced diet and you should feed your dog some sort of dog food to stay healthy- there is a lot of nutrients missing with this diet. If you find you want a base of meat, that is ok find a raw food pre-mix to give the vitamins, calcium, taurine and other nutrients that your dog needs. Also, making sure they have a good deworming protocol to help process their food can help too.

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