Diet and Nutrition
At Tato’s Frenchies we feed our dogs mostly a kibble diet and raw beef maybe once or twice a week. I know some people who feed their French Bulldogs only raw and some who only feed kibble. An all kibble diet is ok if it comes from a good quality source but still not optimal.
For Kibble –
We use Farmina Lamb and Blue Berries Ancestral Grains.
https://www.farmina.com/us/dog-food/n&d-ancestral-grain-canine/597-lamb-&-blueberry-adult-medium-&-maxi.html
For raw –
To keep it simple feed: for breakfast 80% beef 20% sweet potatoes then dinner 80% beef, 10% sweet potatoes and 10% vegetables for your dogs raw diet. We also mix 1/2 a cup of kibble and 1/2 a cup of raw uncooked ground beef for a meal for our pregnant females. When time doesn’t permit to run to the store and we miss a week of feeding raw then start up again we immediately notice how much nicer their fur and skin feels.
*WARNING* dogs unlike humans can not disperse the extra vitamin A that enters their systems. It just gets stored inside them and when it reaches a high level it starts becoming toxic to your dog and starts shutting down their organs. Vegetables have a high amount of vitamin A so you need to be very carful not to over do it.
Give them 3% of their daily weight. So if your dog weighs 20lbs you feed them .6lbs or 9.6oz per day, not per meal.
My good friend has written a great article on the topic on nutrition and it includes everything you need to know and more.
http://www.chasteensamericanbulldogs.com/raw-diet-and-nutrition.html
Supplements-
We supplement one meal a day with Zesty Paws pure Alaskan Salmon oil as well. This provides a high quality fat sources that helps support skin, hip and joints, immune system and reproductive organs that you wont find in kibble foods.
Overview
Always make sure the food that is being feed is 100% grain free. Never feed your dog rice. A lot of vets recommend rice and chicken when dogs get upset stomachs, this will only make things worse. Egg products also tend to make dogs uneasy. We don’t recommend giving your dogs any treats, these are always made with poor quality foods and that can give your Frenchie diarrhea. It has happened time and time again, a client will call me saying their new pup is having diarrhea. The first question I always ask is if they are feeding their dogs treats and 99% of the time their answer is yes.
Before our customers stray from the recommended meal plan for their French Bulldog we suggest they contact us first to make sure the food is appropriate. We like to stick to the old saying “if it’s not broke why fix it?”.