How often and how much do I feed my Frenchie puppy?
When you receive your new French Bulldog puppy, he/she will be accustomed to eating PawTree salmon, sweet potato, and pea all-life-stages kibble 3 times a day (approximately at 8am, 2pm, and 8pm). Because we feed more than one puppy at the same time (the rest of their litter mates), we put a large bowl full of their puppy food in their kennel and let them eat until they are satisfied. Once all of them walk away from the bowl we know they are done, and we take it away.
Puppies are changing and growing rapidly, and they need to eat more frequently (at least 3 times a day) to provide all the proper nourishment and nutrition for their rapidly growing bodies. Make sure your Frenchie always has access to fresh water through out the day.
Once your Frenchie is older, he/she can taper down to one or two feedings a day. Your vet can help you determine the frequency and amount you should be feeding your Frenchie based on the needs of your Frenchie, size (over/under weight), activity level, etc. You can either feed him/her on a set schedule (which will help you know when he needs to poop) or you can have food available at all times. Just be sure to only give what he/she needs for that day.
There is a guide on the food bag that tells you how much to feed your puppy at a given weight. This is only a rough guide depending on activity level, etc., and you may need to decrease or increase the quantity based on how quickly your pup is gaining weight and whether he/she finishes all the food at one time. It’s hard to say exactly how much your Frenchie pup will need, but the recommended amounts on the bag will give you an idea of where to start.
We believe PawTree has wonderful products and we recommend that you keep your puppy on one or more of their excellent products for life. These are all-life-stages products so there is no need to start with a puppy chow and then transition over to an adult chow. However, if you would like to use another high-quality chow, the transition should be made gradually so as not to upset your puppies digestive system which could cause loose stool or diarrhea.
For puppy chow, we strongly recommend a high protein (at least 26%), high fat (at least 16%), and high fiber (at least 4%) dry chow that has meat as the first ingredient(s). For an adult chow, you can get by with a percentage or two less on the protein and fat content, but unless you have a weight problem with your dog, generally the higher the protein and fat content the better. Avoid any chows which contains wheat, corn, and soy fillers as they can be harder on your puppy’s digestive system and organs, and they can also make him/her gassy. Generally, chow with brown rice &/or oat groats are fine, as are peas, chickpeas, barley, lentils, and garbanzo beans. However, we love the grain free chows form PawTree which use sweet potato. All of the various meats are good, although if you have a very food sensitive Frenchie, turkey or duck are generally better than chicken, and fish can sometimes cause issues. We’ve also had good luck with lamb for a change of pace, but we use a salmon recipe 75% of the time (we believe fish oil has a lot of healthy properties).
If you are feeding your Frenchie a high quality chow, you can probably get by without special supplements. However, to be sure that your Frenchie is getting all of the nutrients he/she needs to maintain a strong, healthy body and good coat, we recommend giving him/her a NuVet tablet every day (we recommend 1/4 tablet per day for puppies under 3 months, 1/2 tablet per day for puppies up to 6 months, and then a whole tablet per day thereafter). Our Frenchies love them like they are treats. NuVet has made a noticeable improvement in our kennel, especially with our pregnant and whelping females.
We were told about this supplement by a breeder friend of ours who obtained fantastic results in her kennel by using this supplement every day with each of her dogs. She said she solved several problems (from skin rashes to low milk production in mothers, along with several other nagging health issues) when she started giving each dog in her kennel one of these supplements daily. We believe you and your Frenchie will also benefit from these outstanding supplements which you can find detailed under “Great Products”. When you use the number provided you can purchase these supplements at a significantly discounted rate versus the retail cost.
