When formulating a diet for your English bulldog puppy, you'll want to choose foods that will assist in the all-important growth of your puppy's bones and muscles without causing your puppy to gain too much weight. Succeeding in finding the right mix of nutrition and calories will go a long way in helping your bulldog pup develop into a healthy adult dog.
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Choosing a Natural-Based Diet
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Many dog owners debate whether to feed their puppies processed store-bought puppy chow or raise them on a diet of fresh food. As with most young dogs, the first year-and-a-half of life for your English bulldog pup is critical to the development of a healthy immune system, strong hips, and a shiny coat. A healthy, natural diet can promote the development of your dog's natural growth while reducing the amount of chemicals, toxins, and free radicals ingested by your dog and decreasing the canine's chances of developing cancer. According to the National Canine Cancer Foundation, cancer is said to be a leading cause of death in nearly one out of every three dogs, and you'll want to give your bulldog the best chance to avoid the killer disease.
Natural Diet Basics
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When planning your puppy's diet, limiting the amount of processed protein is of most importance. If fed too much protein, a bulldog could develop kidney and joint problems. According to champbulldogs.com, a low protein diet with about 25 percent protein is desirable. Bulldog pups should be fed twice daily, once in the morning and once at night. Monitor their weight closely and adjust how much you feed your dog accordingly. If you are planning on a natural diet that you can prepare at home, you'll want to start with a mixture of either ground chicken, turkey, beef, bison, venison, or fish. Ground beef is the cheapest alternative of the store-bought meats. If you are a hunter, you can grind up the parts of the deer you are not using for yourself and feed that to your bulldog. You'll want to mix your meat with either brown rice or oatmeal. Hard-boiled eggs can also be introduced to your puppy with a limit of one or two daily. However, stay away from soybeans and soy oil as those products are hard for the bulldog to digest.
The portions of your homemade meal depend entirely on your puppy's growth and you'll need to adjust portion size depending on your dog's weight, but remember to limit your puppy's protein intake by keeping the percent of protein calories in the meals to about 25 percent of the total calories.
Natural Supplements
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For optimum health, you'll want to consider adding supplements to your bulldog's homemade meal. Yogurt and cottage cheese make an excellent supplement aiding in bone growth and overall health of the digestive system. Limit the servings to one teaspoon to one tablespoon per serving. You can also add 1 to 2 teaspoons a day of corn oil or canola oil to your puppy's meal to enhance the coat and skin. Consider too adding vitamin C to your dog's diet. This will help with the immune system to keep your dog healthy. You can either use 120 percent or higher vitamin C orange juice, fresh oranges, or 500 milligrams of Ester-C.
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