Advice: Home Cooking for 4 month old Bully

[Clivey]

Hi! I'm very new to this

We have a 4 month old bully, Clive. He's such a good boy and like most, has a great appetite!

When we brought him home, we continued him on the kibble the breeder was feeding him until the bag ran out. We weren't keen on this brand of kibble so we then decided to put him on Royal Canin Junior (for bulldogs) after reading such good reviews. The first week he was fine, the second week however, we noticed he started to itch his ears and chew his paws. He also has very small hive-like bumps under his furr on his back and in his groin. He then started to have very runny stools, a runny nose and was being lethargic. We put him on a bland diet of rice and chicken which seems to have done the trick, just after a day, he was back to normal. I then slowly introduced the kibble back into his diet (to test) and the same symptoms occurred; this has confirmed to me that he doesn't agree with the kibble.

After extensive research, I've decided to batch cook at home for him (not raw, although I will after 1 year). I have two questions for experienced owners out there:

1. Any tips on home cooking? I want to use coconut oil as a supplement but interested to see what others use for fat/nutrients/calcium?

2. Has anyone experienced the above symptoms from Kibble/Royal Canin?

Thanks very much and I look forward to your responses!!

J

 

[Hankster]

Your doing such a good job and ............ a few of us home cooked for a good while and have now gone to raw as well Some did the whole home cooking thing, and some of us used things like the 'honest kitchen' as the base and went from there. I'll let others with LOTS of experience help you out though. But in the meantime Welcome

 

[Cbrugs]

I’ve never done home cooking but feed raw. All I know with home cooking is you probably have to add supplements and stuff to make sure it’s nutritionally balances. I know egg shells are good for calcium.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Clivey]

Your doing such a good job and ............ a few of us home cooked for a good while and have now gone to raw as well Some did the whole home cooking thing, and some of us used things like the 'honest kitchen' as the base and went from there. I'll let others with LOTS of experience help you out though. But in the meantime Welcome

That's great to know! I've seen a lot of people talk about 'honest kitchen' but don't think it's available in the UK. I've been reading other threads with lots of helpful info. He's on day two of home food and licks the bowl clean which I suppose is a good start!
Thanks for the help

 

[Clivey]

I’ve never done home cooking but feed raw. All I know with home cooking is you probably have to add supplements and stuff to make sure it’s nutritionally balances. I know egg shells are good for calcium.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the help! Ideally I would like to give him raw but have been reading to start with cooked food first. How's your Bully on raw? Most seem to thrive from it.
Yes re the calcium, I've got some eggshells ready to grind!

 

[Cbrugs]

Thanks for the help! Ideally I would like to give him raw but have been reading to start with cooked food first. How's your Bully on raw? Most seem to thrive from it.
Yes re the calcium, I've got some eggshells ready to grind!

Both my guys do great on raw. I never home cooked and went straight from kibble to raw with no issues. But I know a lot of people that start with home cooking and then switch to raw.

 

[Dollys Owner]

Home cooking is too time consuming

You could start with Pure pet food dehydrated raw https://purepetfood.co.uk/dogs/dehydrated-recipes

Frozen raw dog food is even less allergenic but less convenient eg. from Bella and Duke https://www.bellaandduke.com/new-signup/

 

[2BullyMama]

Welcome to EBN!!


I also feed raw and my boys are doing awesome with it. Never home cooked, but have used dehydrated raw for awhile and the boys did really good with it. best of luck to you

 

[Clivey]

Thanks so much
Clive is now on raw and already it has made such a huge difference. I tried the home cooking but way too time consuming, plus raw is better!

 

[Dollys Owner]

Which raw food did you put Clive on ? I always like to hear about UK brands, since I mostly know about North American ones.

 

[helsonwheels]

Thanks so much
Clive is now on raw and already it has made such a huge difference. I tried the home cooking but way too time consuming, plus raw is better!

You guys in UK have great corner Butchers. I give it frozen to my dogs. I feel better knowingly frozen will kill most bacteria. Great job on switching!

Welcome!!

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[Clivey]

Sorry for only just replying!
We actually started putting it together ourselves, luckily we have a good selection of muscle and organ meat in our local supermarket and butchers. It did however, take up an awful lot of time. We've started him on a couple of brands: Natures Menu and Paleo Ridge (which is excellent). Which ones do you use?

 

[Dollys Owner]

Sorry for only just replying!
We actually started putting it together ourselves, luckily we have a good selection of muscle and organ meat in our local supermarket and butchers. It did however, take up an awful lot of time. We've started him on a couple of brands: Natures Menu and Paleo Ridge (which is excellent). Which ones do you use?

I'm from Toronto, Ontario,Canada so I have different brands here than you. My French Bulldog, Honey, is 8 years old and weighs about 30 pounds. I try to rotate different proteins, except I stay away from chicken or chicken blends and venison. I have tried rabbit,beef,lamb,turkey,duck,pork,game bird,fish dinner, and blends of those. Sometimes I buy it in complete meals which include the coconut oil and sea kelp and fish oil. Other times I buy the pure formulas which just have the mix of muscle meat and organs, and add my own sea kelp, about 1/8-1/4 tsp with each meal https://www.amazon.co.uk/Starwest-Botanicals-Organic-Kelp-Powder/dp/B004XIS14M/ref=sr_1_1_s_it?s=drugstore&ie=UTF8&qid=1535800296&sr=1-1&keywords=starwest+botanical+kelp and about a teaspoon of coconut oil and the contents of a 300mg DHA/EPA fish oil capsule with each meal ( except if on a fish diet ) and the contents of a natural source Vitamin E 400IU capsule once a week.I sometimes add the contents of a 1g flax seed oil capsule as well . Since my dog is 8 years old I also add about a half teaspoon of ground turmeric spice and 1/4 tsp of Acti-Flex 4000 supplement with each meal.

 

[Dollys Owner]

The advantage of buying the pure formulas which are based on prey model is that they don't include the vegetables and fruit, so if your dog has a really bad yeast problem you are avoiding any sources of sugar from the fruit that can promote yeast.