Picking up my first frenchie on Friday!

firsttimefrenchiemom · Aug 22, 2018

I am picking up my first frenchie this Friday! I attached a picture of her. The breeder has been calling her Minnie but I am naming her Lila because it means "night" and she is dark.

She is 13 weeks old. I am excited but also nervous because I have a chihuahua but have never raised a frenchie before. Any advice? The breeder has her on Purina Puppy Chow and swears by it and says her 6 year old frenchies have had no health concerns...my budget makes me want to stick with it but I'm also considering healthier options because frenchies already have a short lifespan. I have been feeding my chi Iams. So yeah, any advice would be wonderful

BTW my chi is sweet and has never been aggressive with large or small dogs, cats, children, etc. But I am going to supervise them for a while until I trust them alone.

Cbrugs · Aug 22, 2018

Welcome to you and Lila and welcome to the world of being owned by a French Bullldog! She will for sure steal your heart.

So neither Purina nor Iams are high quality brands of food. A good website to look at is dogfoodadvisor.com which will give you the ratings for all brands. Some of the most popular high quality kibble around here are Fromm, Zignature, Acana, and Orijen just to name a few. A few people on here also feed raw.

Be sure to post more pictures once your baby comes home!

mattcantwin · Aug 22, 2018

Wow, Lila looks so happy, congratulations!

Stuart · Aug 22, 2018

Beautiful dog!

Jcstorlie · Aug 22, 2018

Welcome Lila! She is a gorgeous young lady.

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FroxerMom · Aug 23, 2018

Lila sure is cute. I really like the name.

If your budget can handle it, you may want to research a better, higher quality kibble made without by-products and meal. It may cost more up front, but if your Frenchie is going to be prone to anything (skin issues, ear infections, etc...) you could lessen the chances of having to drag her into the vet repeatedly for different meds. I was bringing mine into the vet WEEKLY for her infected paws and ears but switched food and in a matter of days she healed up and (knock on wood) hasn't had any flare ups since.

Welcome and good luck!

Alice Kable · Aug 23, 2018

Congratulations and welcome to FBN to you and Lila! We feed Nature's Variety Instinct kibble!

2bullymama · Aug 23, 2018

Welcome to FBN! What a sweet baby... congratulations!

We also feed raw, but as someone else stated, feed the best you can afford, as you could end up spending more at the vet than on the food.

Frenchie Fanatic · Aug 26, 2018

Hi and welcome to you and Lila.
She is beautiful. Congrats on selecting a frenchie!! :yes:

Honeys Owners · Aug 26, 2018

Here are the first few ingredients of Purina Puppy Chow:
Whole Grain Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Beef Fat Naturally Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Soybean Meal, Barley, Egg and Chicken Flavour, Ground Rice, Chicken,

Here are the first few ingredients of Fromm Heartland Gold Puppy Grain free:
Beef, Pork Meat Meal, Peas, Lentils, Chickpeas, Potatoes, Dried Whole Egg, Dried Tomato Pomace, Pork Fat, Salmon Oil, Pork Liver, Flaxseed, Pea Flour, Cheese, Lamb, Brewers Dried Yeast, Alfalfa Meal

You can see that Purina Puppy Chow has a lot of grains and not much animal protein. No matter how healthy her dogs are on Puppy Chow they would be even healthier on a quality dog food. As mentioned, what you save in dog food you will pay out in vet bills. eg. interdigital cysts, hot spots, ear infections.