Dog Food - Choosing the Best for Your French Bulldog

admin April 16th, 2008

Dog Food - Choosing the Best for Your French Bulldog

I am in the process of researching food for a new Frenchie puppy we are working on getting. MY HEAD IS SWIMMING!! The breeder feeds a raw diet to her dogs. I really dont think that is for us. I do however want a premium food with no fillers and no wheat, corn or soy. I know Frenchies as a breed can have some allergies. I have looked up Orijen, Natures Variety (instinct and praire), EVO (our breeder said her dogs seemed to drink why to much on EVO) and The Honest Kitchen. I am really leaning towards the Orijen. Could you please give me you opinion?

Carol writes - 

Yup, dog food can be confusing. Personally, I feed raw, but I don’t think that it is the be all and end all of feeding. I happen to believe there are some really good commercial foods on the market.

The key things I personally look for are –

  • Meat comes first. I do NOT want to see sugar beet pulp, or any kind of grain, coming before the meat protein ingredients. In fact, I ideally want to see no grains (corn, wheat, barley, rice, etc) at all. See below for more details.
  • I want to see meat solids, and not grains or meals or by products. This means chicken should be chicken and not ‘chicken meal’.
  • I want to see a food that’s grain free (grains are cheap filler, and of no particular benefit to the dog. Also, more dogs are allergic to grains than they are to meat proteins.). An acceptable carb source substitute for grain is potato, sweet potato or squash.
  • I also want to see human grade, and preferably organic, ingredients.
  • I want to try to make sure that the meats and other ingredients are sourced domestically, and not from China
  • Finally, I think baking rather than extruding is a better process for the manufacture of kibble. There are numerous reasons why baking is preferable, most importantly the preservation of valuable nutrients. As well, most extruded foods are sprayed with additional fat after extrusion - hence the greasy look inside most bags of dog food, and the slightly rancid smell. This is done to increase ‘palatability’, since extruded food otherwise has the smell and mouth ‘feel’ of small hunks of straw.

Of the foods you mentioned, I personally like Orijen, and Honest Kitchen. Honest Kitchen is a nice ‘raw’ food for people who prefer not to go through the mess and fuss of home prepared raw. I’ve also heard really good things about Nature’s Variety. At this stage, with the research you’ve already done, I think its mostly a case of choosing the food that suits your lifestyle, and your dog’s taste buds, the best.

Good luck,

Carol

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Ask the Veterinarian - When to Spay My French Bulldog?

lorihuntdvm March 26th, 2008

When to Spay My French Bulldog?

I’m getting conflicting information on when to spay my pup. I’ve heard in French Bulldogs it’s better to wait until after her first or even second heat so as not to stunt her growth allowing her bones and spine to fully develop.

But the information on spaying before her first heat for cancer prevention is so compelling! Sharing your thoughts would be very helpful while I ponder what I should do!

Thank you for your time.

Dr. Lori writes -

There is some recent evidence suggesting that waiting until after puberty (one heat) allows a bit more development of the urinary tract and actually allows the bones to grow at a normal rate. In addition, some research has been presented in large breed dogs that early spay/neuter (3 months) can actually increase the length of the long bones, and make the dog taller than genetically it should have been.

But we are not talking about a large breed (ha! Just try and tell a frenchie it isn’t a BIG dog!)… And you are right in your research findings about cancer.

If a female is spayed before her first season, she has less than 0.5% chance of getting mammary cancer in her lifetime. After 1 season it increases to 8% and after 2 or more it increases to 25%. Also, in my experience as a veterinarian, I feel that puppies recover almost uneventfully from a spay, whereas older girls experience more pain and a longer recovery.

If she were mine and I had no plans of breeding her, I would opt for spaying her somewhere between 6 and 8 months.

Good Luck to you and your baby girl!

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Ask the Veterinarian - Mange and Immune Systems

lorihuntdvm March 23rd, 2008

Mange and Immune Systems

I am considering adopting a French Bulldog from a rescue situation. He was dumped off by a breeder who didn’t know how to or didn’t want to treat him. He is a 1 ½ year old and neutered. His foster mom told me that when he came into rescue he was cover in demodectic mange.

Since then he has been treated and doing very well. It basically all gone, hair has grown back, except she said he has to continue to getting scraped to make sure all the mites are dead.

Sound right to you?

I have researched a bit and learned that in puppies its unusually nothing to worry about but in adults it can be a red flag that there is an underlying health issue.

If it’s a weak immune system can that be treated? Is this something that could be big problems down the road?

Dr. Lori Writes - 

Demodectic mange is not unusual in young puppies, and is usually just localized (less than 3 spots) and clears up on it’s own. However, when it becomes generalized, in several spots and requires a course of treatment to clear it up, it can signify a less than ideal immune system or an inherited predisposition to demodex.

The fact that he has recovered from it, shows that his system is not totally defunct. You may want to consider a reduced vaccination protocol or even titers until you are sure he is totally recovered. On occasion, during times of stress or illness they can experience a flare up. It will be something you may need to watch, but generally speaking, when I see dogs who have recovered from generalized demodex they lead quiet normal lives.

Lori Hunt, DVM 

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Ask the Web Geek - Protecting my photos?

bullmarketfrogs March 19th, 2008

Protecting my photos?

Hi! I have web site and twice now people have stolen my photographs and put them on to puppy for sale sites. Puppy Find in particular! 

Is there an easy way to make sure this can’t happen? Is there a way to keep people from taking photographs off of my page?  I hate seeing my dogs listed as ‘for sale’, and then having to send all those emails asking sites to take them down!

Carol writes -

It certainly does suck, doesn’t it? I’ve been there, and I know how frustrating it can be to watch as some creep uses your dog’s photos to try to scam people. Feeling powerless is the most frustrating feeling in the world.

There are a few things you can do that will make it more difficult for people to steal your images - one involves the website on which your photos appear, and the other involves your photos themselves.

Web based protection

Inserting a small script called a ‘no right click’ script prevents people from being able to easily right click/save your photos. Dynamic Drive has several of them, which are inserted into the head tags on your web pages. You’ll need to insert them on every page where photos appear.

Link - http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex9/noright3.htm 

Unfortunately, this doesn’t work on most newer browsers - well, it does stop people from right clicking, but there are numerous other ways to steal photos, the most simple of which is a screen capture. Sorry, but there’s really no way around this at all.

That leaves us with image based protection.

Image based protection is also known as ‘watermarking’.  Watermarking is the process by which we add a text overlay to a photograph.

Here’s a sample -

Watermarked Photograph Samples

The image on the left has the watermark across the main content of the photo - not pretty, but usually effective.

The second image  has the watermark at the bottom of the photo, which is less conspicuous, but easily removed by cropping the photo.

The choice will depend on just how much security you require for your photos.

There are numerous pages detailing how to make a watermark, and the details depend on which photo editing software you use. Use this link to find generalized search results on watermarking, or add in the name of the software you use to edit your photographs.

Carol 

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Ask the Trainer - Color Linked Food Fighting Frenchies?

gollygear March 18th, 2008

Color Linked Food Fighting?

 

I have a litter of frenchies, 2 boys, 2 girls, one of the males, is aggressive when he gets bored.  He is especially when around food, or older females.

 

He is brindle and a beautiful male, but I have also talked to other people and the ones that have a problem seem to almost have it in brindle or red fawn.  Is this a trait for the dark colors?

 

Also the pup (sherman), is only 4 months old and I would like to lick this in the bud if I can.  Sherm gets along well with his sister and half sister, sometimes is aggressive with mom.

 

 

Hope writes:

You’re absolutely right - taking care of a potential problem now, while Sherman is only four months old, is much better, and hopefully easier, than waiting for the behavior to become habit.

I can’t answer your question about color-related traits, but I’m sure that one of our breeder/experts will help with this.

Regardless of origin of the problem, the issue now is to train Sherman to accept other dogs around when food is in the picture and to channel his boredom into something positive.

You’ll need a couple of helpers for each training opportunity - one human and one dog. Start by feeding Sherman by hand. Have the other person hold the other dog (on leash and collar) a safe distance away - far enough so Sherman knows they’re there, but is comfortable with the distance. As long as he’s relaxed, keep feeding him. Have the other person move the other dog in gradually - only as far as Sherman is still relaxed and happy.

If Sherman does well with this, gradually introduce the food bowl, putting a few pieces of food in at a time. Keep the other dog in the vicinity, but only as close as Sherman stays calm. When the other dog moves closer, have an especially wonderful treat to occupy Sherman (hot dogs work well) so that he begins to associate other dogs with delicious treats and good things happening.

This process won’t happen overnight. Take it gradually and at Sherman’s pace. If he begins to get upset, back the other dog away and start again from the “safe” zone. Sherman needs to learn that having other dogs nearby while he’s eating is a good thing - it means he gets more yummy treats!

If Sherman is being aggressive when he’s bored - channel his energy into a positive activity. If he’s looking for attention, initiate a two-minute training session. Try teaching him “leave it” - a useful command for every dog. Hand him the treats one at a time, saying “take it” with each one. After a few, say “leave it” and hide it in your hand. He’ll try to get it, sniffing and perhaps pawing at your hand. When he eventually looks away, say “good leave it!” and give him a treat, saying “take it.”

“Leave it” can apply to any object, person, or dog once your puppy knows what it means. The most useful I ever found it was when my dog found a skunk in the backyard and actually paid attention when I said “Leave it.” We were both spared a miserable afternoon.

When Sherman starts “acting up” with another dog, you’ll be able to tell him “Leave it!” and he should come to you - happily expecting a reward for obeying.

Good luck with the pups!

Hope

 

Editor’s Note: I’ve had just about every color of French Bulldog there is, and have never noticed a link between color and aggression. That  said, certain lines are more cantankerous than others, and certain colors run more strongly in some lines, so draw from that your own conclusions. I’ve never noticed my brindles to be particularly cranky, but I do think that nature has as strong a role in temperament as nurture does.

 

Hope’s advice to nip this in the bud as early as possible is well worth following, as sibling aggression can turn truly ugly as puberty approaches. Also, don’t be surprised if your Frenchie girls gang up and lay a beating on Sherman soon - rare is the French Bulldog bitch who will tolerate this sort of behaviour from an upstart boy. You’ll need to start thinking about making arrangements to keep them safely separated, if and when that happens, as well as if you want to ward off ‘oops’ pregnancies.

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