Best Frenchie Dog Food?

LondynJolie · Dec 29, 2017

Hi there,

I have a 5 month old french bulldog named Londyn, who we got at the beginning of December.
When we got her the breeder was feeding her the royal canine for bulldogs or french dogs, and they gave us enough so we could gradually switch to the dog food our Siberian Husky eats ( Grain Free Wellness)
Well recently I’ve noticed Londyn hasn’t been eating even close to enough every day. And when she does eat she has hornedous gas for a few hours. Now I’m afraid she’s losing weight.

Is there a better dog food or even raw diet I can switch to? Preferably something my husky would be able to eat as well.

Thanks in advance

Cbrugs · Dec 29, 2017

Welcome! We’d love to see pictures!

RC is not a good quality food. Some of the high quality kibbles are Fromm, Orijen, Acana and Zignature. If you want to try a dehydrated raw, there is The Honest Kitchen or Grandma Lucy’s. Raw is an excellent choice as well. I give Jax Vital Essentials, Tucker’s and Nature’s Variety. They are all frozen raw and already completely balanced.

Dogfoodadvisor.com is a good resource.

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2bullymama · Dec 29, 2017

:welcome3: to FBN

As Citty stated, if you are going kibble these are some of the top brand... grain free, of course.

Zingnature
Fromm
Acana
Orijen
Earthborn Holistic

good luck .... love to see come pictures of your baby

bulldoug · Dec 29, 2017

how come there is not a lot of mention of Taste of The Wild? specifically the grain-free

2bullymama · Dec 29, 2017

bulldoug said:
how come there is not a lot of mention of Taste of The Wild? specifically the grain-free

I just based those on what I see members having good results with... TOTW is a good one too

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Alice Kable · Dec 29, 2017

We feed our boys Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey. Our English Bulldog has food allergies and that's what works for him!

Honeys Owners · Dec 29, 2017

bulldoug said:
how come there is not a lot of mention of Taste of The Wild? specifically the grain-free

Because it's made by Diamond Pet Foods who have had a lot of recalls. They also make Costco dog food.

davidh · Dec 29, 2017

We feed ours FROMM grain free Hasen Duckenpfeffer, and have had good luck with it. Low gas too.

LondynJolie · Dec 30, 2017

Here is my Frenchie sorry about that! Thanks for all the responses.

dermich · Dec 30, 2017

Food should not be the only thing you are looking at...
Dogfoodadvisor.com is a nice start, but need to understand the ingredients.
Especially in Bully breeds, Grains, Carbs and added items like preservatives need to be eliminated.
Also adding things like Pre/Probiotics and a good supplement will really help their gut health.
Since this question is in Dog Food section won't go into other causes like Flea, Tick, Vaccination and Heartworm meds that can cause itching

Frenchie Grrrl · Dec 30, 2017

If cost isn't an issue, is definitely choose raw. In your location you probably have some good choices like Steve's Real Food, Small Batch, Real Raw, etc.

bennynshea · Dec 30, 2017

I've gone through a few different options with my boy, including raw. Raw is far and away the best option. Only downside is that it is expensive and takes work to thaw and portion...and takes lots of freezer space. I had to go back to dry kibble this fall because raw wasn't practical and found that Wellness Core Ocean was the most satisfactory option. He actually eats it and his stools are mostly consistent. However, I find he drinks a lot more water and is gassy. When I got my new girl a couple of months ago, her breeder was feeding her raw but made the transition to the Wellness pretty easily.

All that being said...I plan to go back to raw. In terms of stool and coat and lack of gas, I think it's the best option. I have only tried Reel Raw, which ships from Maine.

Honeys Owners · Dec 31, 2017

bennynshea said:
I've gone through a few different options with my boy, including raw. Raw is far and away the best option. Only downside is that it is expensive and takes work to thaw and portion...and takes lots of freezer space. I had to go back to dry kibble this fall because raw wasn't practical and found that Wellness Core Ocean was the most satisfactory option. He actually eats it and his stools are mostly consistent. However, I find he drinks a lot more water and is gassy. When I got my new girl a couple of months ago, her breeder was feeding her raw but made the transition to the Wellness pretty easily.

All that being said...I plan to go back to raw. In terms of stool and coat and lack of gas, I think it's the best option. I have only tried Reel Raw, which ships from Maine.

Dehydrated raw is quite convenient. You can either make night before and keep in fridge, or 15 minutes before you serve. Good brands include Honest Kitchen, Grandma Lucys etc. Make sure it's grain free and not chicken. I like to add in a teaspoon of coconut oil, some turmeric powder, and Acti-Flex 4000 to it as well. The Acti-Flex 4000 is to help the turmeric get absorbed and to prevent arthritis, but you could also add some fresh ground pepper instead to help with turmeric absorption.

Other supplements I give are a can of sardines packed in spring water once a week,an 1/8 tsp of kelp daily https://www.amazon.com/Starwest-Botanicals-Organic-Powder-Pound/dp/B004XIS14M and kefir as a probiotic a few times a week. You could also give green tripe or unpreserved sauerkraut you buy from refrigerator section of health food store instead of the kefir.

mattcantwin · Dec 31, 2017

I would guess I'm in the minority with this, but used Blue Puppy formula, lamb and oatmeal.

NicoleMD · Dec 31, 2017

When I adopted our baby she was already on a puppy food called Victor. It's made about an hour from where we live, so I'd say its pretty local. So far, our little girl has had ZERO gas and a healthy skin and coat, clear eyes and easy stools. Here's the site if anyone's interested. She's on this one: https://victorpetfood.com/product-items/hi-pro-plus/?portfolioCats=133,134,165,135,153,159,160 You can also order it on Amazon, hooray!

https://victorpetfood.com/

antbkny · Jan 2, 2018

LondynJolie said:
Hi there,

I have a 5 month old french bulldog named Londyn, who we got at the beginning of December.
When we got her the breeder was feeding her the royal canine for bulldogs or french dogs, and they gave us enough so we could gradually switch to the dog food our Siberian Husky eats ( Grain Free Wellness)
Well recently I’ve noticed Londyn hasn’t been eating even close to enough every day. And when she does eat she has hornedous gas for a few hours. Now I’m afraid she’s losing weight.

Is there a better dog food or even raw diet I can switch to? Preferably something my husky would be able to eat as well.

Thanks in advance

Reel raw pre-measured service is easy and convenient
https://reelraw.com/pages/pre-measured-service
and
Darwins natural pet products
https://www.darwinspet.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhNWnpOG52AIVRoGzCh0J9gB7EAAYASAAEgKmVfD_BwE

lalipupper · Jan 2, 2018

Lily has gone through so many foods... Acana, Oriijen, Fromms, GO!, a few others I can't remember... She seems to have multiple allergies (grains and the normal Frenchie stuff plus poutry, potatoes, possibly legumes, possibly beef). We are feeding Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Lamb and Brown Rice (Small Breed Bites) and she is finally feeling better. I was determined to feed a really high quality food like Acana/Orijen but at this point I just don't want her to feel sick anymore. Feeding raw/dehydrated is not currently in the budget, although I wish I could. We also supplement with a soft food (Performatrin Lamb)...again, one of the few that she doesn't react to.

When on foods she reacts to she has constant runny eyes, red eyes and ears, itchy skin, dry smelly coat, constant paw licking, bum scooting and face rubbing, diarrhea, vomiting... just awful.

Honeys Owners · Jan 2, 2018

mattcantwin said:
I would guess I'm in the minority with this, but used Blue Puppy formula, lamb and oatmeal.

This company had to be sued by Purina before they admitted they were using poultry byproducts ( a rendered undesirable product ) .

https://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/5166-blue-buffalo-admits-to-byproduct-meal-purina-responds

Frenchie Grrrl · Jan 2, 2018

I recently switched to Vital Essentials patties. It costs about $3.50 a day, I estimated. There is a local place in my area that I plan to check out, as well (now that I've made some space in my freezer), but I can get Vital Essentials right at my local specialty pet store, and not have to pay for delivery or drive an hour to get to. I've also heard good things about Raw Feeding Miami, which is a delivery service, so to make it worth while paying for the shipping, it's best to place a big order. Just more raw options, if you wanted to consider going in that direction...

Frenchie Fanatic · Jan 2, 2018

As has been mentioned before, I also use Dog Food Advisor as a resource.
My parameters were that I wanted a top rated food and one that was readily available.

I mix the three below, making a gravy with the TOTW kibble by adding hot water to it.
Taste of the Wild dry kibble has been our choice for years, both for puppies and adults.
Easy to find and highly rated at 4.5 stars out of five.
We also supplement with cut green beans and Fresh Pet rolls. (5 stars)
Our guys flourish on this!!
They also get treats during the day and ice cream at night (vanilla)