Best Dog Food For French Bulldogs? Welcome To Bulldog Food School
Using A.I heuristics and some manual labor we've built a big list of Deluxabull approved food brands. This information is suitable for all types of bulldogs and is geared towards educating new owners.
French Bulldog Puppy Feeding Explained
We emailed and phoned every brand you can think of and asked them about their food, the consensus among all the brands is that dogs should be fed based upon age and weight. They all follow a very similar (almost identical) formula which is:
If (Age) = Y and (Dog Weight) = Z then feed = X amount (calories)
Genetics and activity also play a role, so it's up to you as an owner to monitor your dogs weight and appearance and make responsible alterations.
Your First Job
Your first job is to figure out how many calories your puppy needs. Then find out how many calories are in 1 cup of your chosen puppy food. 1 cup = 128g
We can assume all puppies are active, so we now just need to know the pups weight.
Kibble makers will give you feeding guidelines based on one of these 3 key factors:
- Age
- Current weight
- Future weight
Why Is This So Hard To Understand?
Puppies have an unusual growth spurt meaning the directions are not linear, their calorie demands spike up and then drop down. It's confusing to look at and not explained very well to first time owners.
Even on some of the biggest brands websites their feeding charts are blurred and hard to read. We suspect this probably helps them sell more bags because it's near impossible for a buyer to work out what's good value.
How To Find Out If My Kibble Is Good Value?
You can look at the bag and see how many calories are in a cup, again it's 128g and then divide this into the weight of the bag to see how many calories are in the entire bag. You can then see who is giving you the most calories per kilo or pound.
This doesn't take into account nutritional quality, but it works as a good gauge, some brands stuff their kibble with cheap filler foods making you use up more kibble to hit your calorie goals.
We Messaged 19 Manufactures To See What They Had To Say
We asked them questions around bulldog feeding (responses below) you'll notice they all produce dog food for a wide range of breeds to enjoy, none of them stock a bulldog specific food, even though I've personally been targeted many times by online advertisements for foods claiming to be the best for bulldogs. Is this because bulldog owners tend to have the biggest pockets? Or Is it because they thought they could fill the niche with a great product, I will let you the reader decide. Here is just 3 of their responses we got, they pretty much tell the same story
"None, of our recipes will be geared towards specific breeds. All of our recipes will be suitable for all breeds and mainly all stages. The feeding amounts mainly depends on your bulldogs ideal weight, age and activity level.
Personally, I have a French Bulldog, and he is slightly on the bigger side about 32lbs. However, his lifestyle isn't very active other than walking and chasing a ball here and there. So, ideally for a 30-35lb dog feeding is 1 cup per day, but with him being not so active I give him closer to 3/4 cup per day to maintain a healthy body composition."
Angie
"Most dogs are considered adult around one year. This can vary for dogs of different breeds and sizes. Please consult your veterinarian for the best time to transition your puppy to adult food. If you are feeding one of our Canidae All Life Stages recipes, there is no need to switch. These foods are vet formulated for puppy, adult, and senior dogs of all ages, breeds, and sizes.
For feeding guidelines, we always suggest going based off weight and age, rather than breed."
Torie
"Please know that all of our formulas have feeding guidelines on the bag or can and each formula is going to be a little different so there are no uniform guidelines. We also don't have breed specific guidelines, they are meant as guidelines for normal healthy dogs and can be adjusted accordingly for breed, age, activity level, etc..."
Lisa
Buying Bulldog Food, When You're On A Budget!
The "Raw Food" Craze Is Killing Dogs, Here's Why
You may have seen someone on Facebook tell you they "feed raw" and proclaim it's better than anything else. Perhaps spout mumbo jumbo about gut bacteria or the story about how the wolf is the dogs cousins and they eat a strict meat only diet.
You might also hear "Trust me I'm a holistic breeder" who uses natural approaches to breeding, which is really just a nice way of saying to the world they'll do what they want, inside the law and you can't stop them. Don't buy a puppy from anyone not willing to pay for kibble or vaccines unless you really enjoy suing people.
So is raw food ok for bulldogs? The answer is a blunt no. But don't take our word for it, just browse Google news yourself right now, you'll see weekly stories of animal cruelty, dog deaths and more. Use a VPN and get geo-specific stories of neglect by region, the volume of stories is alarming. WSAVA is the organization your vet gets advise from, see what they think below.
Why is it dangerous? Because a wolf is a long way off from a french bulldog, a normal dog needs a complete diet. They also can't stomach the e.Coli, many dogs die from it and also Salmonella, but don't take our word for it, Google news it yourself.
Why do people feed it then? Because it's far cheaper than dog kibble, and that's the one and only reason a person would feed raw meat to a dog. The argument for feeding raw food to bulldogs is similar to flat earth theory, anti-vax, climate change denial and so on...
We've personally heard breeders say that trusting a big dog food corporation is stupid, because vets, food companies and insurance companies are all in bed together, al apart of one conspiracy to profit. And when it's spun to you like that, from someone with a serious face it's scary and you start to doubt yourself.
Quick Facts From WSAVA.org
- Raw meat contains harmful bacteria and pathogens. (see list shown in yellow)
- Freezing or dehydrating the meat will not kill all the harmful bacteria
- Some of these bacteria cannot be cured by antibiotics, they're resistant.
- Dogs fed raw are likely to shed pathogenic bacteria to other dogs and farm animals.
- You and your children can catch these bacteria, elderly and pregnant people are high risk.
- Toxoplasmosis can affect the fetus of a pregnant person.
- The bones are not helpful to dogs teeth, they are instead more likely to break their teeth.
- Individuals cooking meals are generally ignorant to the nutrient profile a dog requires. (kibble is more efficient)
What An Autopsy Could Show Up
- E. coli
- Salmonella spp
- Yersinia
- Campylobacter spp
- Listeria monocytogenes
- Mycobacterium bovis
So What Would The Kardashians Feed Their Bulldogs?
I would be lying if I said I've been asked what the Kardashians would feed their bulldog, but lets imagine you're really rich and you just want to feed your dog the absolute best... what are your options?
Grain-Free Food Suitable For Bulldog Breeds
All these manufacturers make foods suitable for french bulldogs, english bulldogs, bullies... you get the picture.
How was the data collect?
We web scraped the internet using an A.I heuristics strategy. To make it more optimal we double checked Google for vouches from humans on Reddit etc in an attempt to root out false positives that we scraped. In short we used bots to compile this list.
Which ones are the cheapest bulldog foods?
Due to transport costs kibble prices differ by region and RRP changes quite a lot. Then when you narrow down a brand that is deemed "cheap" you discover they stock a bag that's more premium. So for transparency we decided to not say who is the cheapest yet, we'd need to calculate by calories per $ to find who is the cheapest. Until we do that math we won't make any assumptions. Lots of bloggers make wild claims about food in an attempt to earn commissions, it's morally wrong and they should prioritize dog welfare before money.
Big List Of Bulldog Suitable Food Brands
In no particular order. Click to view which part of their range you should consider. We have not been paid by anyone and what we have collected has been done in good faith. We expect you to consult your vet before using any information we provide.
Artemis
Maximal Dog, Fresh Mix Adult, Small Breed adult, & Weight Management
Blue Buffalo
Wilderness
Earthborn Holistics
Primative Natural
Fromm Four Star Foods
All Dry Kibble Formulas
Grandma Lucy's
Freeze Dried Raw
Go!
Carnivore
The Honest Kitchen
Grain-Free Selections
Horizon
Legacy Adult Canine
Merrick
Grain Free Duck, Pork, Chicken, Buffalo
Nature's Logic
Natural All Dry Kibble Formulas
Orijen & also Acana
Adult, Puppy, Regional Red, Six Fish & Senior
Stella And Chewy's
Freeze Dried Raw
Wellness Core
Grain free dry dog food
AvoDerm
Natural Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Adult Dog or Puppy
ByNature
Bright Life Canine Food
Canidae
All Life Stages or Beef & Fish
Castor n Pollux
Ultramix grain free or grain & poultry free
Nature's Variety
Beef Meal & Barley
Timberwolf Organics
Black Forest Ham or Dakota Bison Canid formula
Wellness
Just For Puppy
Annamaet
Option or Ultra
Arden Grange
Adult Lamb & Rice, Puppy/Junior Large Breed or Weaning/Puppy
Barking Heads
Bad Hair Day, Fusspot or Tender Loving Care
Bench & Field
Holistic Natural Canine
Burns
High Energy Lamb
Chicken Soup For The dog Lover's Soul
Chicken turkey and brown rice
Proseries
Hollistic range
Dog Lover's Gold
In Balance range, Organic, The Original
Eagle Pack
Holistic Select Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meal or Chicken Meal & Rice,
Evanger's
Super Premium Chicken & Brown Rice & pheasant and brown rice
Lotus
Chicken, Lamb or Puppy Recipe
Natural Balance
AMP Ultra Active, Organice Formula, Potato & Duck
Now Grain Free
Puppy, Adult or Senior
Nulo
lifestyles & Naturals
Nutra Source
Pure Vita Bison, Pure, Vita Turkey, Pure, Vita Salmon
Nutro
Ultra Holistic Adult, Puppy, & Small Breed Adult
Performatrin
Ultra Chicken & Brown Rice/Lamb & Rice/Salmon & Olive Oil
Solid Gold
Barking at the Moon
Taste of the Wild
High Prairie & Sierra Mountain Canine Formula
Royal canin
Bulldog adult
Purina
Grain-free pro plan