FEEDING YOUR FRENCHIE:
First days at home mixing food for your puppy: You have got some food from me, first 3 days give only this food, next day mix 2/3 of this food with 1/3 of the new food you will be using, on a next day mix 1/2 and 1/2, and finally on the 3 day of mixing use 1/3 of my food and 2/3 of your new food, by the next day you can use 100% of your food. This will protect your puppy from digestive stress and diarrhea from changing diet. Your 10 weeks old puppy should be eating three meals per day for the first week or two, than you can switch to twice a day.
Feed puppy good quality premium dry food 28-32% Protein and 16-21% Fat balanced for all life stages. We recommend minimum, or no supplementation during first 6 months.
Feed twice a day and provide plenty of fresh water.
Feed your Frenchie puppy and adult 20% less then it is recommended by manufacturer on the bag of food (food companies exaggerate amount of food to be fed). Changing food every 3-6 months may diminish food deficiencies that are found in every brand and formula of dog food. It is very difficult for me to recommend particular dry food (in my opinion none are perfect) Maybe you can find online good food that you and your dog will be happy with. We’ve fed before those foods and they seemed to be O.K. for French Bulldogs:
Natural Planet Organics, Whole Earth Farms, Nutro High Energy, Premium Edge.
Very important is the amount of Calcium and Phosphorus and their ratio. Beware some cheaper foods have too much Calcium in ash form. Calcium to Phosphorus ratio should be about 1:1 – 1.2:1 (the worst problems occurred in many studies when the Ca/Phos. balance was greater than 1.5:1). Amount of Calcium in dry food should be 0.7-1.2% to decrease incidence of developmental orthopedic disease (hip and elbow dysplasia).
Puppy goes through increased growth phase between 2 and 6 months of age – feed during this time increased amount of food to accommodate for the growth. After that 1 1/2 cups (8 OUNCE CUPS) max for an adult FRENCH BULLDOG per day. Bulldogs has very fast growth it only takes 7-8 months to reach mature size but not weight.
Avoid – raw hide bones and treats that can be unraveled to few feet of length by chewing and suffocate the dog when he will try to swallow it–if you like raw hide, use ground up and molded to a bone shape treats, also beef bones are nice.
Here are some snacks good for Frenchies
Raw ground beef, lamb, venison, cooked chicken or pork, raw eggs (free range small farm) or soft boiled from the store, yogurt, cottage cheese, small cubes of cheese (you can freeze them for summer treats), watermelon with rind, bananas, apples with core, carrots, and any fruit or veggie they are willing to eat. Keep in mind when you use these foods as snacks not as a part of a raw diet, use fruits and vegetables in small amounts - no more then 1/4 of an apple in size a day and a meat portion, about size of a small meatball once a day.
Remember “They are what they eat, so choose wisely”