Bulldogs World

What other food has he had? What happened?

Like your baby, Meatball sheds so much has dry skin and nose. Also he is itchy. Vet says their isn't anything wrong with him but I need to get him off generic kibble.

I actually went out at lunch and bought a small bag of Acana lamb and apple food. It's made here in Alberta. Anyone ever hear of it?

Thanks!
Kristi

Royal Canin is a decent food. I fed Sophie it for a couple of years before I found Natural Balance. I fed her NB for a couple more years after the RC, but she started having issues on it. I believe it may have been form the limited protein and carb source. I switched her to a different food, but am now starting a new bag of a trial Natural Balance feed. I think it will work. I really, really liked Sophie's coat on NB, but when she reacted to the single sources of protein and carbs, I thought she might need a different food all together. Wrong! I made the mistake of trying a different protein but the same carb a couple of times, and it was the carb causing her problem. I am now on one of their trial feeds that has a different protein and carb source:-) I would try Royal Canin, it might be fine for you. If it doesn't do what you want, then try Natural Balance or a high end food...

Hi Kristi and Meatball,

I have had Bulldogs for the past 18 years, and the only food I have ever used or would recommend is FROMM Four-Star food. Particularly, Chicken a-la-veg. I kid you not when I say I have never had a skin problem, no allergic reactions, no stool problems that I can recall. You can try a local search, or I find the best price and depending on when you get it, also free shipping, is petfooddirect.com. They do have 5 lb. bags just to try if you wish.

best of luck,

Mike and Benson

And while Matilda did comparatively better on it than anything else I tried at the time, it does contain a few things commonly found to be allergens as well as a few ingredients that are supposedly fillers like beet pulp and cellulose fiber. Many dogs do fine on it; hence the "food debate"...different things work for different people. I think you just have to experiment a little. I originally found it when my Mom told me she'd seen "special bulldog food". It was fine. It actually rates rather highly, all things considered. I figured "well, it is special bulldog food. They must not put anything in it that a bulldog shouldn't have, right?" I was approaching it the wrong way. My dog is allergic to many things; I'd have done well to research limited ingredient diets (had I know about them) when I first adopted her. 

I'm feeding my dog a commercial raw diet right now which, while expensive, is so far the best thing I've found to feed her. And she loves it. 

That said, I've recently discovered that there are people out there who say not to feed commercial raw because it is processed, only feed "real raw". I really wish I felt comfortable experimenting with this, but I don't. Not right now, until I've read everything I can about how to do it and make sure she's eating what she *should* be eating. I wish I could make this stuff at home, but you will forgive me if I'm still figuring out how to get ahold of quail eggs. :)

Whatever you decide, it is all about what makes the dog healthiest and most comfortable. I would try a couple of different products (many of the high-end makers offer samples) - that's what we did...