We advise our families to keep their babies on the food we give them. Change the food if there is a problem or when they are ready for an adult kibble. If it’s not broke don’t fix it. We choose a particular puppy food we found does the best with this breed. Some puppy formulas are too rich and can cause soft stool, is hard on their tummie. We’ve used a lot of different puppy kibble formulas over the past 14 years. The one your pup is on we found to be the best.

Do not switch food if you feel like they are being picky eaters, believe us they will eat! Try soaking the kibble for 20 minutes this does the trick for us.  Switching up their food can teach them to go on a food strike whenever they want different food which they are notorious for. You will struggle with it for their entire lives if you change their food up when they are being picky. The food changes can cause diarrhea. If you do need to change their food, please do it gradually. We advise to keep their diets simple and avoid giving them high fat table scraps. Dogs do not process fat like we do so giving them high fat foods can cause pancreatitis (remember this at Thanksgiving and X mas)

We suggest separating their eating and drinking by a few hours.  When frenchies eat and drink close together in time the water can further expand the kibble in their stomachs and can cause them to vomit and distend their belly. 

If they are eating really fast use a slow feeder this will help slow them down. Fast eating can cause gas, stomach ache and vomiting. We highly recommend monitoring them throughout every feeding. They are notorious for inhaling their food, if they choke on a piece of kibble you want to be there to help.

Frenchies are NOTORIOUS for over doing it when it comes to drinking water and eating. Keep an eye on them and cut them off if you notice they are overdoing it(bellies are big). If you let them they will not stop.

Allergies

We recommend an adult food without chicken. Chicken isn’t bad for pups but when they become adults you could start to see allergic reactions to chicken protein and fillers.  Some kibble brands have protein and fillers that will make your frenchie produce more yeast. We have found a few brands and formulas that are helpful so if you have a pup from us feel free to reach out and ask us for kibble recommendations. A daily probiotic is very helpful with food allergies.  A tablespoon of full fat, plain Keifer is a great probiotic and can be found at most grocery stores.

Always try to treat the cause of the allergy before trying an allergy medication like Apoquil or cytopoint.  Most allergies can be treated with a diet change.  If a different kibble formula isn’t working I would recommend cooking for your dog. Use any protein besides chicken (chicken seems to cause allergies in frenchies) I would start very simple by doing a white rice, ground turkey and sweet potato mix.  Give it about 1.5 weeks and if the allergies don’t get better, try switching the protein to fish.  If that doesn’t help I would try a grain free cooked recipe. If you find one of those mixes works well then you can start slowly adding in other ingredients to see which ones they do well with.  (Spinach, blueberry, oats, carrots, peas, ect)  I would add in new ingredients slowly (one at a time) so if one does cause allergies you know what ingredient to exclude from the next mix. *You may need to give them a vitamin supplement while you are feeding them the simple cooked diet until you can add in more ingredients. Www.balance.it This is a great website to help you build the perfect recipe for your dog (once you figure out what ingredients need to be eliminated). If you aren’t getting good results with any of the cooked meals. Feeding raw seems to work well for the dogs that have tried every diet and still have allergies. You can buy premade raw dog food or research the how to make your own with different cuts of meat and organs ect. Www.Vivarawpets.com has some premade raw formulas.

Always make sure if you do decide to put your baby on an allergy medication that they are older (1.5 years or older). If you start them on allergy meds too young it could actually make their allergies worse and make them dependent on meds as an adult. They need to build immunity when they are growing. These meds are not great long term so try to eliminate the allergy with a diet change first.

Frenchies can produce more yeast than other breeds, yeast is brownish in color. Usually shows up in their ears, between their toes and in their armpits. You can use chlorhexidine wipes on the places that have yeast build up. Using this daily on those places will get rid of the yeast and help get rid of the itching. 

TREATS - We like single ingredient treats like freeze dried minnows, lamb lung and beef tripe, any protein really.  Vital essential has some good quality freeze dried dog treats.  Keep it nutritious, plain and simple!