Raw Diet for French Bulldogs and English Bulldogs

Raw Diets are among a new class of  “Boutique Exotic” niche food diets catered to bulldog and French bulldog owners

COMMON BOUTIQUE PET FOOD:

• GRAIN-FREE DIETS
• VEGAN DIETS
• HUMAN GRADED DIETS
• ALL NATURAL DIET
• HOMEMADE DIETS
• GOURMET DIETS
• ETC,

Owners of French Bulldogs and English Bulldogs are dedicated owners who seek to provide their dogs with the best diet and preventive care possible.  They strive to align their bulldogs’ health and wellness with their own, advocating for healthy, balanced, high-quality, and safe food.

Raw Food for Bulldogs MYTH versa FACTS

1. “Bulldog raw food diet is superior to traditional cooked ones”.
2. “Bulldog raw food diet is as safe or safer than the traditional cooked diet”
3. “Dogs are descended from wolves, thus raw food is what is best for them”

RAW FOOD FOR BULLDOGS AND FRENCH BULLDOGS

Below is a short list of a few important factual information

1. RAW versa COOKED PET FOOD FACT

• EXCESS: Excesses of nutrients such as fats are often associated with a raw food diet.
• DEFICIENCY: Deficiency of essential nutrients, and minerals such as phosphorus & calcium is often associated with raw food diet.

RAW PET FOOD CONTAMINATION & PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS

RAW PET FOOD AND HEART DISEASE RISKS:

DCM: In recent years, we have seen an alarming rise in bulldog dilatative cardiomyopathy (DCM) along with the increase in popularity of raw food diets, grain-free food diets, and other niche boutique food diets,  The latest data has shown a direct link between heart disease and those diets.

Raw Diet for Bulldogs and Fr. Bulldogs MANFUCTREING

• SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: Peer-reviewed scientific research published in credible veterinary journals.
• MANUFACTURING CERTIFICATION: Certified manufacturing facility
• FORMULATION: having a boarded certified veterinary nutritionist who oversees production, quality, and diet formulation
• AAFCO: Tested by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)
• QUALITY CONTROL & SAFTY: Strict quality control, adherence to safety with proper certification
  • Testing for pathogens, contaminants, and toxins
  • Testing ingredients & nutritional quality
  • Regular auditing

Dr. Kraemer’s V4B Raw Diet for Bulldogs  DO & DONT

Below is a short list of raw food dos and don’ts courtesy of Dr. Kraemer

PET RAW FOOD MUST DO

1. INFORMATION: Seek information, any reputable manufacturer should be willing to provide you with all the above requests.
2. REPUTATION & LONGEVITY: Seek food manufacturers with a long history and solid reputation.
3. AAFCO ASSOCIATION: Seek bulldog food manufacturers associated with the American Feed Control.
4. RESEARCH: Seek manufacturers who invest in research, ideally through independent veterinary institutions.
5. FACTUAL: Seek manufacturers who publish factual data (rather than “sexy” fashionable claims and negative campaigns).

BULLDOG RAW FOOD MUST NOT DO

1. INGREDIENTS: Do not base your bulldog food selection on the ingredients, for all intents and purposes they have very little value.
2. LABEL: try to ignore catchy phrases such as
   • “human graded”
   • “grain-free”
   • “no byproducts”
   • “whole”
   • “natural”
   • “Fresh”
   • “Gourmet”

It’s in your bulldog’s and your best interest to seek food companies that fund nutrition research and invest in quality and safety.

Investments in graphics and marketing offer little value to your pet.

Raw Diets for French Bulldogs TIPS & WARNINGS

Below is a short list of raw food tips and warnings courtesy of Dr. Kraemer

1. BULLDOG SUPPLEMENTS & CONSULT TIP

2. BULLDOG NUTRIENT, not INGREDIENTS TIP

3. BULLDOG HUMAN GRADE DIET TIP:

Start by asking yourself if you would feed your kids any human-grade raw pet diets on the market. This marketing phrase adds little to no value to your pet.
What is good for humans might not be best for your bulldog.  “human grade” has no legal meaning in the pet food industry

1. FREEZING RAW PET FOOD WARNING

To eliminate harmful bacteria, the food should be pasteurized (cooked).

Freezing raw food is not sufficient.

2. RAW PET FOOD BONES & TEETH WARNING

Avoid a raw diet with solid bones, those can fracture your bully teeth, damage the esophageal and intestinal, and end as a GI forging body emergency.

Best Raw Diet for Bulldogs and French Bulldogs FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m often asked, “What is the best bulldog diet?” or I’m asked to recommend one. 🐾

My answer is always the same: “There is no one best bulldog diet.” Like us, each bulldog is different, with unique requirements, sizes, ages, and lifestyles.👨‍⚕️

I would replace “What are the best French bulldogs and English bulldogs raw diet” with “WHAT IS BEST FOR MY BULLDOG”.

RAW BULLDOG DIET & HEART DISEASE

The cause of the higher occurrence of DCM among dogs fed raw, grain-free, homemade, and other “boutique exotic” niche diets is still unknown. In the past, the thought was that it was due to a lack of a critical amino acid named Taurine but those are the minority, most recent cases tested normal for taurine levels.

BULLDOG DILATATIVE CARDIOMYOPATHY (DCM)

BULLDOG RAW DIETS FINANCIAL MOTIVES

It is my suspension that DCM and other bulldog medical problems associated with raw diet have less to do with the raw factor and more to do with the manufacturer’s funding priorities.

 RESEARCH INSTEAD OF MARKETING:

Many of those exotic diet manufacturers are relatively new to the market, they are vying for a market share in a competitive niche, and thus they allocate large sums of their budget to marketing.

On the other hand, the well-established, large, well-financed “boring traditional manufacturers companies” allocate a much larger sum to:

• QUALITY CONTROL
• SAFETY
• SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
• TESTING
• CERTIFIED NUTRITIONIST OVERSIGHT

It could be that those associated medical problems are less about diets and more about resources and funding allocation.

Raw Diets for Bulldogs FINAL ADVICE:

As French bulldog and English bulldog owners, we want only the best for our bullies. It can be challenging to navigate the overwhelming amount of information to ensure we’re doing the right thing. Here are a few simple raw diet rules of thumb for your English and French bulldogs:

1.  BULLY SIMPLE: Keep it simple.
2. BULLY BETTER: More is NOT always BETTER.
3. BULLY SAFER: New & popular does NOT necessarily mean SAFER.
4. BULLY BUZZ: Buzz words are intended for you, NOT your BULLY.
5. BULLY FANCY: Fancy packing is intended for you, NOT your BULLY.
6. BULLY DOLLAR: A high $$$ price tag does NOT always equate with QUALITY & VALUE.

I would like to add my appreciation and thanks to my Tufts Veterinary School classmate Dr. Lisa M. Freeman, who provided me with the most current update on those dietary topics. Dr. Freeman DVM, Ph.D., DACVN, is a veterinary nutritionist and a professor at the Cummings School. She published hundreds of articles in prestigious journals and received awards for her scientific achievements.

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