Homemade French[ie] Food -- What We Feed Our French Bulldogs & Why
French Bulldogs are notorious for having sensitive tummies and there are tons of different rules of thought out there for what you should feed your loving pups — grain-free, raw, homecooked, etc. Like humans, I think every dog is different, and therefore don’t think there is one “right” food to feed your Frenchies. Dogs can have different allergens or process foods differently, so it is important to check in with your veterinarian to come up with the best diet based on your dog’s individual needs. Through some research and vet consultation, I found a homemade food recipe that has kept Hugo healthy, in great shape, and, not only does he toot way less, but they barely smell! I have had a lot of people ask me about the food we make, so I wanted to share our story and recipe for those of you who are interested.
When we were living in Minnesota, our Frenchie, Hugo, was eating Nutrisource’s Grain-Free, Chicken and Pea dry food. It’s what our breeder used with the pups, so we continued on with it and Hugo was fine and healthy. Then, when we moved to Ireland, we went through a bit of a rough patch. We weren’t able to bring any of the Nutrisource with us over here and when we visited the local pet store, Nutrisource was no where in sight, so not only did Hugo have to switch to a new food, but he had to do it cold turkey, which as you know, is not good on a dog’s stomach. We picked up what we considered a similar recipe — Canagan’s Grain-Free, Free-Range Chicken dry food. Right away, the food was not processing through Hugo’s body well, but we wanted to give it a chance to figure out if it was the harsh switch in foods, or if it just wasn’t the right food for him. After two weeks and the worst potty clean-ups ever, enough was enough and it was time to figure out a new diet for Hugo. I follow several, okay, a lot, of Frenchie accounts on Instagram, and noticed that some of them got homemade meals and I was intrigued by that. I’m a full-time, stay-at-home dog mom at this point in my life, so I figured I had the time to be my dog’s personal chef.
I did a lot of online researching and came across this article, Best Food for French Bulldogs from allaboutfrenchies.com. The whole article is great to read, but if you scroll to the bottom, you will see the recipe that I use, which we have gotten approved by our vet. What I love the most about this recipe is that you can make big batches and then freeze the food. This makes cooking the food way less of a daunting task. We get about 4 weeks of meals every batch we make, and I would honestly make more, but our freezer space is pretty limited.
So how is Hugo on this food? He’s great! He has been on this recipe for almost a year and a half now and he is as healthy as ever. He is three years old and still in great shape. His stools are always solid and I’m not even kidding, he has probably tooted twice in the last year, and neither of them stunk. The biggest change we saw when we switched him over is that he drinks way less water. This is because the food is packed with moisture, so it’s not a concern of ours.
Overall, we are very happy with the switch to making homemade food. So long as Hugo remains healthy on it, we plan to continue to feed him this way. Victor, our latest addition, is less than a year old right now, so the vet advised us that he should be on puppy food until he is about 9 months old. He digests the Canagan’s dry food just fine, except his toots are rank. Because of this, I am looking forward to the day when we can get him switched over to our homecooked meals! Here is a breakdown of how we make our food! Also — don’t be shy to change it up every once in awhile to give your dog some variety.
Recipe:
2,770 grams / 6 lbs of Irish steak mince
2,400 grams / 5.3 lbs of Irish pork mince OR turkey mince <— this is one I change up for variety
3 kilograms / 6.5 lbs of frozen farmhouse vegetables [3 frozen bags at 1 kg each]
broccoli
carrots
cauliflower
peas
900 grams / 2 lbs of frozen leaf spinach [1 frozen bag]
1,200 grams / 2.5 lbs of cubed sweet potatoes [2 bags of pre-cubed chunks at 600 g each]
Cooking oil [we use olive]
4 spoonfuls of coconut oil
Instant mashed potatoes
Freezer bags
STEP 1 - BROWN MEAT
Brown all of the meat on the stove top in your cooking oil. We are usually running three pans at once to speed up the process. Make sure to drain any excess grease before dumping the meat into a large pot. We use a big stock pot and a big mixing bowl to dump everything into.
When all the meat is cooked and warm, add 4 spoonfuls of coconut oil to it mix in until dissolved.
STEP 2 - FOOD PROCESS THE VEGETABLES
The morning of, take out the frozen veggies and let them thaw in your sink. When the vegetables are thawed out, add them to your food processor to cut them down into smaller bits. I usually do one bag at a time. Add the chopped up veggies to your pot(s) of cooked meat.
STEP 3 - ADD SWEET POTATOES
Add the sweet potatoes to the meat and veggies.
STEP 4 - MIX TOGETHER, BAG, & FREEZE
Once all your ingredients have been added to the pot(s), stir and mix it until everything seems evenly distributed. Depending on your serving size, bag the food accordingly. We feed Hugo one cup of food in the morning and one in the evening, so we put two cups worth of food in each freezer bag. When you’re bagging the food, make sure to flatten the mixture in the bag before sealing it, so you can get the most out of your freezer space.
Important to note: we keep one day’s worth, or one bag of food, in the refrigerator to feed Hugo that day, and replace at the end of the day, so the next bag is thawed and ready by the morning.
STEP 5 - SERVE OVER MASHED POTATOES
Every couple of days, we make a packet of instant mashed potatoes and keep the leftovers in the refrigerator. When we serve Hugo’s food, we put a couple spoonfuls of potatoes at the bottom of his dish and then add half of our freezer bag [1 cup] of the meat & veggie mixture on top. We usually microwave his dish of food for about a minute, stir it up, and let it cool if necessary, before letting him chow down.
Well there you have it! It doesn’t seem so hard, right? Even if you are working a full-time job, it’s something you can make on the weekends. This process takes us about an hour and a half, and we jam to music and enjoy getting to hang out in the kitchen. We have been happy with this recipe, but more importantly, Hugo is healthy and loves the food himself.
Until next time…
Bon appétit! xo,
