Raw Diet For Senior Frenchie

chloethefrenchpotato · Sep 30, 2018

Hello! I have a 10 year old frenchie and she's always been on "top of the line" grain free kibble but I'm trying to find her better food, not only is she a little more picky these days but I just have more money to spend on her food (I want the best for her but sometimes you just can't afford it).

She was on The Honest Kitchen Grain Free Turkey for a few months but it's really hard for her to eat it, we tried every consistency from watery to really dry but since it's so hard for her to eat, I think she gave up and didn't want to finish it and sometimes refused to eat it. So I finally decided to go to frozen raw but she didn't do so well on it, BUT she loves it.. I got Stella and Chewy's frozen raw surf and turf, she did fine on her first 2 weeks, so I bought more.. then on her 2nd bag (3rd week) she started throwing up yellow foam at night. I read that a lot of dogs had that problem and it was fixed by leaving the food out a little longer so it's not as cold when served (it was fully defrosted for 24 hours in the fridge) and that seamed to help with the vomit. Then maybe on her 4th week of raw she started heavy panting about 1-2 hours after eating as if she's uncomfortable, not because she was excessively playing or hot, she was just laying down and all of a sudden she would start panting for maybe 30min. I've read that maybe because she's on surf and turf which is mostly beef, it could be too "warm" for her and she might need a more "cooling" protein... but instead of getting Stella and Chewy's poultry, the worker at the store told me about Tucker's frozen raw and because it has pumpkin in their formulas that it might be better with her digestion. So I got her Tucker's frozen raw turkey and pumpkin formula and I'm hoping that will help but we'll see...

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had any panting issues with a raw diet or any advice since she's a senior frenchie. I feel like a younger puppy/adult would be a better candidate for switching to raw but maybe because she's a senior that has been on grain free kibble her entire life that maybe her body is used to kibble?

mattcantwin · Oct 1, 2018

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I don't think you should change her diet at 10 years old if she is doing well on her current food.

Honeys Owners · Oct 1, 2018

I switched my dog at age 7 to frozen raw, and it's been great for her allergies. She has had problems with regurgitation, but never any panting. The more easily digestible formulas include the smaller game like turkey, duck and rabbit. She's been on all of them including the harder to digest ones like beef, pork and lamb.By the way, my dog didn't like taste of Honest Kitchen either, but loved Only Natural EasyRaw turkey and beef dehydrated raw from Petsmart.

chloethefrenchpotato · Oct 1, 2018

She was doing ok on grain free kibble but she was very picky. She was on PureVita for a few years but I would have to add things to it to make it more appealing to her and then she got tired of what I added, so we switched to Stella and Chewy's raw coated kibble but she went thru half the bag and then decided she didn't want to eat it anymore.. So that's when we switched to THK and again, she refused to eat it because it's hard for her to eat..

Carlsmom · Oct 1, 2018

chloethefrenchpotato said:
She was doing ok on grain free kibble but she was very picky. She was on PureVita for a few years but I would have to add things to it to make it more appealing to her and then she got tired of what I added, so we switched to Stella and Chewy's raw coated kibble but she went thru half the bag and then decided she didn't want to eat it anymore.. So that's when we switched to THK and again, she refused to eat it because it's hard for her to eat..

Could you try continuing with her kibble and add a dehydrated patty on top? I crumble a patty on top of my guys' kibble and they love it! Definitely helps with the picky eaters. I use the Stella and Chewy dehydrated Duck formula. Good luck!

FroxerMom · Oct 1, 2018

My Frenchie eats Primal frozen raw products in the duck formula. She does not pant, but does occasionally throw up a tiny bit of yellow bile but I learned on here that it was "the hunger pukes" so I just make sure she has some treats in her system during the day. While she is not yet 2 years old, my other dog is 7 1/2 and I started giving him raw too, mainly because of the stink eye he would give me as I set down the raw bowl for his sister and he'd look at his kibble like, "Really?"

He is doing fine (duck also), no regurgitation or panting. Is Chloe in otherwise good health? Are the other foods difficult for her to eat because of a teeth issue?

chloethefrenchpotato · Oct 1, 2018

Carlsmom said:
Could you try continuing with her kibble and add a dehydrated patty on top? I crumble a patty on top of my guys' kibble and they love it! Definitely helps with the picky eaters. I use the Stella and Chewy dehydrated Duck formula. Good luck!

I've tried that but it's kind of like Stella and Chewy's raw blend kibble, the one she stopped eating halfway thru the bag. BUT she will eat freeze dried raw crumbled over the frozen raw. Maybe I just need to try a different protein

chloethefrenchpotato · Oct 1, 2018

FroxerMom said:
My Frenchie eats Primal frozen raw products in the duck formula. She does not pant, but does occasionally throw up a tiny bit of yellow bile but I learned on here that it was "the hunger pukes" so I just make sure she has some treats in her system during the day. While she is not yet 2 years old, my other dog is 7 1/2 and I started giving him raw too, mainly because of the stink eye he would give me as I set down the raw bowl for his sister and he'd look at his kibble like, "Really?"

He is doing fine (duck also), no regurgitation or panting. Is Chloe in otherwise good health? Are the other foods difficult for her to eat because of a teeth issue?

Chloe is in good health for the most part, she has dry eyes and sometimes gets an ear infection/skin infection here and there. She used to get the hunger pukes too but hasn't done it in awhile until I started raw. She seems like she's always hungry now..

She had a hard time eating The Honest Kitchen because of the consistency/texture. When she would try to lick the food up, it would just kind of compress down instead. We tried making it extra dry and making little bites for her but she was fed up and was hesitant to eat it. I've checked her mouth and she has tiny little teeth but nothing bad going on besides a little tartar but it's improved since she started raw and I also brush her teeth.