Healthier/DIY Treat Ideas?

[AmberXo]

I have been reading on here and saw ideas about yogurt/peanut butter/green beans for treats. Does anyone have any other ideas? Should I just give Brynn a bowl a yogurt? Or banana slices? I have never made my own treats, so I am all new to this. I just don't want to make her sick. :/

 

[ddnene]

I have been reading on here and saw ideas about yogurt/peanut butter/green beans for treats. Does anyone have any other ideas? Should I just give Brynn a bowl a yogurt? Or banana slices? I have never made my own treats, so I am all new to this. I just don't want to make her sick. :/

I add a spoonful of yogurt to the morning kibble, and usually PB I put in their Kong's. Green beans you can give them as treats, we use the frozen ones. I give them a fruit salad at night w/chunks of some of the following... watermelon, apples (NO seeds) bananas, blueberries, cantaloupe & strawberries. Lots of people on here give veggies too as treats! I wouldn't give her too much, gotta see if she has any reactions. I don't overload my dogs anyway they are BIG babies!!! Lol


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[mbd963]

All of these are good options, just make sure you introduce them one at a time so if there is a reaction you will know what is causing it. For example, I found that bananas make Ramsay vomit! Not so nice for his tummy. We stick to yogurt, peanut butter, beans and watermelon!

 

[AmberXo]

Great idea! Thanks for sharing! She just went out for her last potty break of the night so instead of giving her a milkbone I gave her a 3 slices of banana instead. She inhaled them all - so far so good! I will keep trying things one by one and see how she does. Other than this she gets no human food what so ever.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Hi you got excellent advice from Tracey, we also give our guys fruits and vegetables, cut up apples, bananas, strawberries, and watermelon so far, and green beans, peppers, broccoli, carrots, plus they get 1 Tbsp of plain unsweetened yogurt on their kibble every morning, and apple cider vinegar in their drinking water everyday. We give them a cheese string and a hard boiled egg once or twice a week.

 

[AmberXo]

Hi you got excellent advice from Tracey, we also give our guys fruits and vegetables, cut up apples, bananas, strawberries, and watermelon so far, and green beans, peppers, broccoli, carrots, plus they get 1 Tbsp of plain unsweetened yogurt on their kibble every morning, and apple cider vinegar in their drinking water everyday. We give them a cheese string and a hard boiled egg once or twice a week.

Wow! Never knew they could eat all of this ! Unfortunately I think I also need to change Brynn's food so will wait on the yogurt on the kibble, but I will keep slowly introducing these and see how she likes and takes to them! I also saw a Banana Oatmeal cookie recipe I wanted to give a try, but I couldn't find any flax seeds at the store tonight so I will have to keep looking. But, all of these sound so much healthier for them! My girl is 65lbs and really should avoid gaining anymore weight. She isn't fat, but she will be with the milkbones and crap that I got with her.

 

[RiiSi]

If you're switching her food to grain free, may I suggest that don't make cookies from oats, if not for yourself...Dogs don't really need that much carbs, so where does the unused carb go....fat. I boil and dry in the owen gizzards, pigs tongue, chicken hearts etc. cut them to small pieces and use as treats. If she eats veggies or fruit that's fine too, but they also are sweet and sugary.

 

[AmberXo]

If you're switching her food to grain free, may I suggest that don't make cookies from oats, if not for yourself...Dogs don't really need that much carbs, so where does the unused carb go....fat. I boil and dry in the owen gizzards, pigs tongue, chicken hearts etc. cut them to small pieces and use as treats. If she eats veggies or fruit that's fine too, but they also are sweet and sugary.

I'm not real sure on what to switch her food too. I was given ideas, but the food she is currently on she is going #2 about 3 times a day. They are very soft also. So - thinking theres a whole nother problem going on than just treats now that I come to think of it. I may hold back on treats just yet because now I think I need to introduce new food.

 

[RiiSi]

That's a good idea. Check these links...

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/content.php?219-Dog-Food-Ratings

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/c...g-Dog-Food-Labels-and-Finding-Bad-Ingredients

 

[AmberXo]

That's a good idea. Check these links...

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/content.php?219-Dog-Food-Ratings

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/c...g-Dog-Food-Labels-and-Finding-Bad-Ingredients

Great minds think alike! I have been up reading these for awhile now thanks for the help!!

 

[bulldogs4me]

[MENTION=9689]AmberXo[/MENTION] - I have a food dehydrator to make homemade treats for my dogs ... I even make jerky for us from turkey, chicken and beef they love it! my 3 love banana chips and pretty much anything I make for them they seem to love! it's so fun to see how excited they get when the dehydrator is brought out, they know something special is in the works

 

[Vikinggirl]

You already got excellent advice from other members, and you are in the midst of wanting to change Brynns food so the only thing I can add is your idea of waiting to give her new or extra treats is a good idea, I would concentrate on finding a good food for her, and then transitioning her slowly from the old food to the new food. Which brand of food are you feeding her now, and how much? A lot of Bulldogs are sensitive or allergic to chicken, which could be causing the soft stools, or sometimes feeding too much, can also cause softy or loose stools and frequent stools as well. We feed our guys Fromms Beef Frittata, and we give them 1 cup twice a day, once in the am and once in the pm. Once she is on the new food, you may not see a difference for up to a month, as it can take that long for the old food to,leave her system. Once she is on the new food and you see that she is tolerating it, you can start to add the extra treats, and when I started these, I introduced one treat at a time, that way you can tell which one she tolerates, and which one gives her a reaction, or changes her stools. Good luck Hun in finding a good food, it's just trial and error, and a whole lot of patience, but when you finally find the right food it's great. I made the mistake of trying a new flavour after they had been on the Beef for 10 months, I thought they would like a change in flavour, but Blossom is allergic to chicken and salmon, so when I tried the Fromms Duck and Turkey, she had a bad reaction. She was very pink, warm red ears, and as licking her paws, I gave her a Benadryl, and switched back to the Fromms Beef, and now they're doing great again. I won't be trying any other flavours as they both do well on the Beef, and Blossom tolerates it well.

 

[AmberXo]

You already got excellent advice from other members, and you are in the midst of wanting to change Brynns food so the only thing I can add is your idea of waiting to give her new or extra treats is a good idea, I would concentrate on finding a good food for her, and then transitioning her slowly from the old food to the new food. Which brand of food are you feeding her now, and how much? A lot of Bulldogs are sensitive or allergic to chicken, which could be causing the soft stools, or sometimes feeding too much, can also cause softy or loose stools and frequent stools as well. We feed our guys Fromms Beef Frittata, and we give them 1 cup twice a day, once in the am and once in the pm. Once she is on the new food, you may not see a difference for up to a month, as it can take that long for the old food to,leave her system. Once she is on the new food and you see that she is tolerating it, you can start to add the extra treats, and when I started these, I introduced one treat at a time, that way you can tell which one she tolerates, and which one gives her a reaction, or changes her stools. Good luck Hun in finding a good food, it's just trial and error, and a whole lot of patience, but when you finally find the right food it's great. I made the mistake of trying a new flavour after they had been on the Beef for 10 months, I thought they would like a change in flavour, but Blossom is allergic to chicken and salmon, so when I tried the Fromms Duck and Turkey, she had a bad reaction. She was very pink, warm red ears, and as licking her paws, I gave her a Benadryl, and switched back to the Fromms Beef, and now they're doing great again. I won't be trying any other flavours as they both do well on the Beef, and Blossom tolerates it well.

I have decided to hold off on treats for the time being. I know for people, like myself, a whole bunch of new things at the same time would make me sick and for bullies being sensitive to that - we are introducing new food first. Then after that settles down we will begin with the treats. I don't want to shock her and change everything. But currently she is eating Purina One Smartblend: Healthy Weight Management. Let me just add: this food smells absolutely GROSS and her previous owners had said they added water to it - just enough to cover all kibble once but not make it soupy. I question the water as she has no problems swallowing anything else, and thought to myself that if I were her - I wouldn't eat it. After seeing how lethargic she is, and her stools I did some investigating around here and many people stated food means everything. Then I read the articles about food to realize I am feeding her a 1 star food - basically CRAP. So today off I went to a local pet food warehouse where they actually tried to get me to buy Royal Canin: Bulldog. I was completely against that as just because it states it's 'specifically made for bulldogs - doesn't mean it's any better than the crap she is eating now.' So I bought a small bag of Fromms Beef Frittata. Brynn eats 1 1/2 cups of her Purina once in the AM once in the PM. She has a glucosamine tablet every AM with breakfast as well. This is what her previous owners did, so I just assumed keep doing it. Tonight I introduced her Fromms' - which might I add even smells better than the Purina - and did 75% old 25% new and will continue this for the next 2 1/2 - 3 days then do 50 - 50% and so forth until we work up to only Fromm's. I did not add water to the food tonight - she did perfectly fine with it, and actually after supper decided to knock her basket of toys over and grab a stuffed lion and do laps around the house while shaking her head with it in her mouth - which I have never seen her do either, but sure is funny to see those little legs move so quick! She acted like she liked the new food so far and we had no puking or redness, itching, diarrhea or anything yet so hopefully this does work for her. I read though that with Fromms you don't need to feed as much so I may only need to do 1 cup. Then introduce new treats as we progress with the diet changes.

Isn't it funny how hard it is to change our diets, but so easy to change theirs for them? Lol.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Everything your currently doing sounds great. We feed our guys the Fromms Beef Frittata, and they get 1 cup in the am, and 1 cup in the pm. They were getting 1 cup three times a day when they were puppies, but we reduced the feedings to 1 cup twice a day when they were 7 months old. They currently weigh 45 lbs each at 18 months old. Stools are great, firm but soft, and they go 2 to 3 times a day. I do add warm water to their kibble, because I did it when they were puppies, and I continue to do it because they don't seem to drink a lot of water during the day, they will drink water when we are outside, and I give them on our walks, or when we come back from a walk, they go right for their water dish, but when in the house they don't drink too much water, so I add it to the kibble, just to ensure they are getting enough water and hydration, plus my male Bulldozer has a severe underbite and his upper and lower teeth don't meet together, so he eats a little slower than his sister, who is a Hoover and inhales her food. Lol. The water makes his food a little easier for him to eat, and they both seem to like the water, they lick their bowls clean every time.
To determine if you should reduce Brynn's food to 1 cup twice a day from the current 1 and 1/2 cups, just watch her stools, and the frequency of them as well. The stools should be firm, but not hard, and soft but not mushy, and she should be going about twice a day or three. If she's going more than that, and the stools are like soft serve or mushy, then reduce her food. Also keep an eye on her weight, to see if she's gaining too quickly, or maintaining her weight.