Lisa and I have been going through the worst frenchie food experience ever. When we first got Tinky, she was healthy and was fine living off kibble dry dog food. However we wanted to give our little princess an awesome meal mixed with a little wet food. BAD IDEA! She literally sucked all the wet food off the kibbles before spitting them all out individually leaving only kibbles in her bowl.
We figured after a while if she was hungry enough she would start eating hard dog food again, so we tried giving her only dry food for a couple meals. Negative. It seems like she just doesn’t like kibbles anymore. Back to mixing, and back to getting the dry dog food spit out. We even counted how many kibbles we placed in her bowl. She would only eat about 3-4 out of 20 of them. We searched for solutions. We were told by a Pet People store worker that we should feed her a dry dog food more palable, tasty. On the same day we were discovering that Science Diet wasn’t a great choice. We thought maybe we can find a kibble Tink likes and is good for her.
While shopping at PetSmart, we were confronted by a Nutro person. She explained to us by-products and suggested a better quality meal like Nutro. However being a nutro employer, she didn’t explain to us how good the others were also. Ignorant to this situation, we thought Nutro was a life saving food that we could switch Tinky over to. While we were there, we picked up a bag of Avoderm as well, just in case she didn’t like the Nutro and we thought Avoderm would be a good choice based on ingredients and the benefits it offered to a healthy skin and coat.
Even with the new dry food options Tink would still only eat the wet food and a couple kibbles. After 10 days of putting Tinky through 3 food brands, (Science Diet, Nutro Max, Avoderm) she finally started to eat Avoderm wet and 5 out of the 20 Avoderm dry kibbles. She’s soooo spoiled. But at this point, we’re just happy she’s eating and not throwing up from a bad stomach. She’s a tough girl.
For the past 2 days, Tinky has been eating Avoderm wet mixed with very little kibbles. I forgot to mention that the only way we were able to get her to eat the food was for us to put it in the microwave. I don’t know if it is the aroma the microwave gives off or if it just taste better hot. But, one thing I’m sure of is the microwave is not good for the containment of essential nutrients in the dog food. Ever since we started heating her meals, she’s been eating the wet food so fast, a few extra kibbles slip past her here and there.
Here’s the worst part, we learned about the Dog Food Analysis, the possible dangers of Avocado to dogs and the lack of protein in Avoderm. So, we decided to switch her again. We heard it takes about 2 weeks for the dog’s previous dog food to fully leave the system. So we don’t really want to switch the food so fast again. We’re going to wait to at least she only has 1 food in her system.
We feel so bad for Tink because we know the dog’s (let alone, a puppy’s) digestive system is so sensitive. We just really want to find a food that is perfect for her with enough protein and hopefully something she will eat in the kibble form. What makes it harder is we can’t tell if and when she has a tummy ache. So far, the only sign of a tummy ache we can find is diarrhea, but all Tink eats is soft food, so all her stools are soft.
Well, off to more puppy food research.
If you have any tips, please let us know!
One Comment
Hey there,
I have a very similar situation with my Frenchie Loulou, who is almost 6 months now. When we first got her from the breeder they told us to give her Royal Canine. Loulou didn’t seem that interested in it but sort of ate it little by little. We too wanted to pamper our little princess so decided to switch up her food since she didn’t seem to ever devour her Royal Canine. We went to PETCO and walked up and down the aisles and was also approached by a Nutro rep. who told us how good and healthy their brand was, so we decided to give it a try. Loulou didn’t seem to like this food either (after reading the articles you posted, glad she didn’t like it). Lou’s trainer recommended a dog food that is all protein & fruit (like a raw food diet) and FDA approved for humans called Innova Evo. Innova Evo is supposedly the best and most natural food.
So, after the 3rd brand of dog food, which she still doesn’t really care for, she has graduated to full on soft stools/diahrrea, bad gas, and vomiting. I’ve taken her to the vet about once a week for the past 6 weeks and after test after test, they still don’t know what is wrong with her. The vet recommended I give her plain boiled chicken and rice, which we did and it still hasn’t helped her. I also gave her immodium AD which they also recommended but she keeps throwing it up. Her throwing up + soft stools makes me scared to keep trying the Immodium on her since she can’t keep it down.
After the last visit to the vet (yesterday), they recommended I give her steamed sweet potatoes, brown rice, and cottage cheese. Loulou LOVES it and was licking her bowl clean. I still have yet to see if her consistency is hardening up or not. The vet also recommended a little plain yogurt everyday. The good bacteria might be able to help their sensitive digestive system. Oh yeah, and I heard pepcid (regular) does wonders for the acid in their stomach.
Please let me know if you know of anyway of stopping the frenchie diahrrea!!