Ask the French Bulldog Experts

admin August 8th, 2008

Hi, I know youve heard this question before, but I have been thinking about giving my dog raw food. She has some really bad allergies and now she has had an attack of pancreatitis. It was VERY frightening! She bled so much we thought she would die. She was in the vet hospital for three days and they said it was ‘touch and go’ for a while. We have had her on I/D ever since, but I have been reading about raw, and how it has helped so many dogs with pancreatitis and allergies.

So, we talked to our vet and he said “Oh no you can’t do that, raw food kills dogs, they get salmonella and die”. And now we aren’t sure. I know raw meat has salmonella. We want to do what is right for our dog and feed her the best food. Her stomach is still upset and her stools soft on the I/D. We don;t like giving it to her. BUt we don’t want to kill her if thats what raw will do!

So I want to know - is it safe?

Carol writes –

Oh dear. Yes, there are lots and lots of people out there who will tell you all the TERRIBLE things OMG! that will happen if you feed raw, and don’t get me wrong - there are risks. These risks, however, can be managed with some pretty basic rules about food storage, preparation and management.

First of all, freeze ALL meat for at least three weeks before feeding it. This will kill almost all of the common parasites which can infest raw meat.

The second step? Simple. Follow the same rules for preparing raw pet food as you would when handling raw meat for yourself and your family.

Don’t cut on wooden surfaces. Don’t allow to get to room temperature. Clean all surfaces, utensils and feeding dishes. Wash your hands.

Really, that’s about it. Think about it — if handling raw meat was so OMG TERRIBLE!!!, how come we can manage it for ourselves, each and every day, without all OMG DYING!! when we do so? Do the parasites and germies magically know that this is dog food, not people food?

Here’s a good compromise - feed her the pre made, frozen raw diets now available on the market. I’ve tried the following products:

Nature’s Variety Raw Patties
Paw Naturaw Organic Bison
Home Made 4 Life (Canada only)
As for pancreatitis and raw, I say go for it - I also have a dog who’s had scary pancreatitis attacks (is there anything worse?), and her condition never cleared up fully until I put her on raw.

Tags: Dog Food, French Bulldog, pancreatitis, raw dog food

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bullmarketfrogs July 19th, 2008

I have a GSD.  He is 1 yr 3 months.  When I got him at 3 months he was on Purina.  I switched him over to what I thought was a better quality dog food:  Solid Gold.  He then started having diaherria.  I then tried Wellness.  Still no success he still had the runs.  When I took him to the vet they put him on the Eukanuba Low Residue.  He is not liking it much is not eating very well.

I am considering moving to Aunt Jeni’s raw (I fed to my other GSD)… Is that a bad idea based upon the fact he is on the ‘perscription’ diet?

Thanks you in advance…

Thank you… They didn’t give me an ‘diagnosis’ other than alot of GSD have digestive issues so they put him on it and the result was positive.

I will do just that slowly transition his food and see if there are any issues.

Again, thank you.   I trully wish there were ‘vets’ that supported the raw diet.  It just makes so much sense.  In reading about the raw diet it said that vets  while in training are not taught about nutrition.  The same is true for large animal vet.

I will definitely keep you apprised.

Tags: BARF diet, benefits of raw diet, Eukanuba, prescription dog food, raw dog food

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bullmarketfrogs July 10th, 2008

My question is related to feeding Toby. He is about 131/2 weeks and weighs in at about 8 stock lbs.

I have been doing lots of research related to raw feeding and commercial dog food. I talked to me vet who suggested staying away from raw, but also staying away from commercial. I had him on Eagle Pak, but have now decided to make all of his meals at home.

I want to know everything he eats is natural and healthy. I have a variety of what seem to be good doggie recipes, and he loves them. He eats tuna patties with cottage cheese and veggies, also I make him a boiled chicken stew with whole grain rice and veggies ( no onion or garlic). Also I do give him the occasional  raw meaty marrow bone which he looooves.

My question in how much should he be eating. I give him two large meals a day , and he gets some kibble treats during a few obedience training sessions throughout the day. I have been portioning out his meals to about a heaping cups worth of food during each feeding.

Is this an appropriate amount of food?  I think he is going to be on the larger size as he was the only male and the largest of his litter. The little guy has lots of wrinkles to grow in to.

Any suggestions about diet content and size would be great help.

Carol writes -

I have two dogs, both of them roughly the same age.

Tula, my cream, is a slim, lithe little girl. She eats roughly two cups per day of high calorie, puppy formulated food.

Penelope, my brindle, is a chunky little thing, and prone to chubbiness. She eats one scant cup per day of adult formulated food.

This is by way of saying that, in Frenchies, one size does not equal all, and neither does one set volume of food. You have to adjust your feeding amounts - and your food - to your dog, and not the other way around.

A cup per day is good rule of thumb, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. On a single cup, some dogs will look thin, while others, like Penelope, will look like little round bowling balls. Trust your own judgement - if your dog looks thin, up their volume. If they look like sausages with legs, drop it back a bit, and make up the difference with some green beans (and cut out the snacks).

It’s easier to adjust a home made diet than it is to adjust kibble. We up the fat and protein content (ie; meat and fish and eggs and yoghurt) for slim dogs, and up the vegetable content for the Jenny Craig poster dogs.

There are lots of good books out there on home cooked diets - I personally think that home cooking is easiest done if you base it around a mix that has all the bone meal and extras added in already, like the ones from Sojos or Essex Cottage Farms. With either of these, you can cook, or feed raw.

Your ability to know your own dog is so much better than mine - or even your vet’s - could ever be. Trust yourself, and if you get worried, remember that there are still some good commercial foods on the market.

Carol

Tags: Dog Food, feeding, French Bulldog, Frenchie, home cooked, home made dog food, raw diet, raw dog food

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admin July 4th, 2008

My question is regarding the proper food for a French Bulldog. I have been recommended Taste of the wild kibble, Evo, also a raw diet and home made meals. I am not comfortable with the raw however I am willing to make the homemade meals but do not know what would be a good recipe.

I would not want to make a regular meal that is lacking the vitamins and nutrition necessary for my dogs. It seems there are all kinds of sources of what is best…but what really is?

I was just hoping for some helpful insight.

Carol writes -

When I was personally still cooking for my dogs, I used the mix available from Essex Cottage Farms. It looks basically like a sack of flour, and contains all the assorted bone meal and minerals needed to balance out the food. To it, I added meat (ground beef, chicken, turkey, or fish), ground vegetables, greens (mostly alfalfa) and some oil. I’d then bake it, either in individual serving muffin tins, or as a ‘meat loaf’. The dogs seemed to love it! In fact, when Tessa was pregnant with her litter of ten (!!) Frenchie puppies, Essex Cottage Farms food was the only thing I could get her to eat.

Since what you want seems to be more a completely ‘home made’ recipe, I asked for advice from some of the members of the French Bulldog mailing lists:

Monica of HotSchott French Bulldogs writes -

Carol, there is a GREAT book out there for home cookers. I used to before I fed raw and I used to use the recipes all the time. My husband always thought I was cooking for him. LOLOLOL The book is called Barker’s Grub and can be purchased from Amazon.com.

Linda writes -

my vet gave me a copy that is actually from science diet that has many different recipes on the page. And he worked with me on each dogs weight to devise the amount of vitamins and bone meal to add to the recipes. And it has everything from calorie reduced to protein reduced to many types. You could go to science diet ( not that I would recommend you feed their food ) but down load the recopies. I often used eggs for the protein as you can measure it exactly. And yams or sweet potatoes . Children’’s’ vitamins dissolve much better and natural health food section of your store has them. For 5o lb dogs I used 1/2 or 1 teas per day. But work with your vet .and yes I used canned salmon too.

Another suggestion was to join a mailing list for people who home cook for their pets -

You might try this group. Some do raw, some cook, some feed kibble, and some combine. Always great info and discussions,

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Kitchen

I also found these recipes books, which seem to have favorable reviews from people who’ve used them:

The Good Food Cookbook for Dogs - 50 Homemade Recipes

Real Food for Dogs - 50 Vet Approved Recipes

The Natural Pet Food Cook Book

Bone Appetit

Three Dog Bakery Cookbook

Better Food for Dogs

Here’s a great website for home cooking resources - http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/dogfoodrecipes.htm

Enjoy, and bone appetit!

Carol

Tags: diet, dog food recipes, dog treat recipes, Essex Cottage Farms, French Bull Dog, French Bulldog, Frenchie, home cooked dog food, homemade dog food, raw dog food

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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

Tags: baked, Dog Food, extruded, Honest Kitchen, kibble, Nature's Variety, Orijen, raw dog food, raw feeding, raw food

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