New to this forum & have sick Frenchies! Please help- all advice appreciated

[MENTION=3191]FroxerMom[/MENTION] aw yay I love hearing that about Daphne's allergies going away and that's she's doing so much better in such a SHORT amount of time! that gives me so much hope :) I agree completely with what you said to your husband- it's so much better for us as parents to take care of them at home & feed them well because what's the alternative?? Have them going to the vet constantly put on different drugs/medications which weakens their immune system and may make other problems worse? no thanks!
I moved back in to my mom's house about 2 years ago and it's been difficult to get her on board with all of this. She actually thinks I'm crazy when I talk to her about it! I'm 24 and transitioned my boys over to Organix Castor & Pollock a week or so ago and they love it. I told her I am going to wean them off kibble to raw and she thinks I'm out of my mind. I can afford to do so if I cut back on other stupid expenses and my dogs mean the world to me so it's worth it!!

As for the kennel cough it's been a nightmare. I really had to baby Fred yesterday- I fed him slowly by hand and gave him tiny amounts of water at a time to prevent him from vomiting everything up. He did well from about 8AM until 3PM when my mom came home and fed him God knows what and he started reverse sneezing/gaging/ then vomiting. This went on for hours until his belly settled and I waited to feed him until around 8:30. He was fine from then until about 2AM when he threw up all over my bed and continued on his vomiting fit until about 3AM. I can't believe this is KC!!! My other two boys were never throwing up like this! It's actually heart wrenching and I feel so powerless watching him suffer.
My moms immediate response is to bring him through the emergency vet but everytime they tell us no this is normal kennel cough (and from what I've been reading they're right!) :(

anyhoo! how was your transition to raw [MENTION=3191]FroxerMom[/MENTION] ? what did you start with and what do you feed now? I have 3 boys to feed all different ages

Jeez, sorry to hear that Fred is continuing to have such a hard time with the KC and still vomiting. Scary stuff. If you feel in your gut that it isn't part of the cough, I'd consider going back to the vet. I didn't listen to my gut several years ago on a medical issue and blew it off and I definitely deeply regret it. Not to scare you at all...just that you know them the best and if you want to take Fred in for another check up, you should, no matter if they are telling you "no." He's been on the antibiotics for a while now, though, so maybe with some luck you will see improvement today or tomorrow.

I just decided to start Daphne on raw and went all in. I did not ease her into it because she'd been having the raw goat's milk since I adopted her in February so I thought it would be okay. I know others have gone more slowly into the transition. I am extremely grateful that she had zero issues. This girl licks and licks and licks the bowl after it is empty. She destroys her food. She sits by my feet the whole time I'm putting it together and doesn't take her eyes off me while I walk the bowl over to her food stand. It is the freakin' cutest. I do half a duck patty with one nugget bar and goats milk, TWICE per day. So, she's eating a full patty a day and two nuggets. The frozen patties I buy, come in a bag of 12. So every 11 days I run out and get a new bag, because I take out that days patty, the night before in order to thaw. I believe the bag of nuggets lasts about the same amount of time. The patties are $36 by me. The nuggets are $27. The goats milk is $5.99 for a pint and that lasts about a week. My Boxer shares the nuggets so if it was just her, the bag would last longer. I have not looked into ordering online to see if it would be less expensive. I use PRIMAL brand for everything. There were only a few brands to choose from where I am from, and I made two trips to the store to talk to the people there before deciding, but ultimately chose it when a handful of people here said it was a good one to try. I recently bought her Vital Essential rabbit formula treats to see if she could tolerate another protein besides duck and I think she's doing ok. Her paws did not flare up and no sneezing or throwing up, so considering it a success.

My vet does NOT agree with this method of feeding and in fact, dropped me as a client because of it (long, boring story), but the results and benefits I've seen are more important to me, so I'm sticking with it and am currently working on finding a new vet.

You clearly love your guys a ton, so I'm sure whatever you choose will be the best for them and you. Good luck!!
 
[MENTION=2]2bullymama[/MENTION] oh that’s awesome! After my babies get over the kennel cough I wanna make the switch to a raw food diet. How much is it for the local guy to ship to your house? I have something similar around me apparently in Pennsylvania and was thinking of looking in to it! I am personally vegan and don’t think I could stomach making them raw meals with different animals but I want them eating raw eventually!

What i get does not look like ‘meat’. It is all finely ground and in 1lb bags. I get 32 bags a month and it runs about $130.00 a month with shipping.

Can you send me the one near you? I’m looking to have a backup, just in case :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
[MENTION=2]2bullymama[/MENTION] oh that’s awesome! After my babies get over the kennel cough I wanna make the switch to a raw food diet. How much is it for the local guy to ship to your house? I have something similar around me apparently in Pennsylvania and was thinking of looking in to it! I am personally vegan and don’t think I could stomach making them raw meals with different animals but I want them eating raw eventually!

Here is what it looks like

5302c5e92f5585161ba3601ec497742a.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I was looking online when I first started feeding raw at a website where you can order frozen raw and I clicked on a page where you could buy duck heads and rabbit feet and all kinds of nasty things and there were pictures! I was mortified and closed out of it so quickly hahahahaha.

I use a few different brands, Vital Essentials, Tucker's, Primal, Nature's Variety. A couple other brands are Steve's and Stella & Chewy's. Answers is another good one. And you wouldn't even know at one point these patties were animals!

Oh, I am not a vet. But a lot of vets do not study nutrition and don't understand. Thankfully my vet doesn't care that I feed raw.

I had no problems when I transitioned my guys. Jax went cold turkey, from kibble one day to raw the next and never had any issues. Louie, my bulldog, still gets kibble the am but raw in the pm but it's more a cost issue with him cause he eats so much. At some point I would like to switch him to 100% raw.

hahahah oh my gosh! duck heads & rabbit feet I would've cried :(
okay I'll look into those other brands. I have about 2 days worth of Tylee's human grade chicken frozen food left for my 3 guys. I have to find something quick from chewy so it can get here in time!
I understand that- it definitely can get expensive. I feed my 3 guys currently 1/2 raw 1/2 kibble and I feed my mom's frenchie kibble. We're working our way to 100% and they have been great so far! On the tail end of their kennel cough thank God :)
 
I'm a member of a raw feeding FB group and there are a surprising amount of vegan and vegetarians that feed raw to their dogs and cats. I just think that shows true love and I'm kind of amazed by it. I'm sure it will take some getting used to, and you may never get to the DIY point, but if money isn't too much of an issue, that's ok. Something that's frozen into little nibs or chunks might be easiest to start with because it doesn't look so much like raw meat.

If you are open to homeopathy to treat kennel cough, you might want to see if you can get a hold of some homeopathic nosodes for kennel cough. I read this study one time and it seemed really effective in significantly shortening the length and severity of the virus. Many do phone consults. Just a thought.

ugh I deleted my Facebook almost 5 years ago (only on instagram now) sometimes I wish I still had it so I could be apart of different groups and keep in touch with people who have frenchies and reach out in regards to health issues- but then I found you guys :)
I am TOTALLY into homeopathy! My mom thinks I'm insane (me and my 3 boys had to move back in with her) but I treated a lot of the kennel cough holistically and it helped so much!
 
hahaha it is so funny you said that about Daphne licking the bowl clean and waiting as you prepare it.
I am at 1/2 raw 1/2 kibble with my boys right now- Fred & Henry jump as high as they can to try and get some scraps off the counter as I prepare it too! They don't miss a beat. They also lick their bowls clean like never before. On kibble they sometimes would finish the whole bowl but most of the time they didn't. I wish our frenchies could be friends </3 haha
I am going to be ordering some new food tonight since I put enough food for the 3 of them in the fridge for tomorrow to thaw. I'm feeding them twice a day as well and it seems to be going very well. No issues or anything and their kennel cough seems to have gone away- THANK GOD!
I totally agree about listening to your gut. I feel like here in the U.S. we are so programmed in to seeking medical advice for almost everything and forget sometimes that all we need is to listen to our own "motherly" instincts when it comes to our fur babies and follow our gut! Your vet sounds extremely close minded and uneducated. I'm happy he/she dropped you as a client because I wouldn't want Daphne going there anyway ;)
 
Here is what it looks like

5302c5e92f5585161ba3601ec497742a.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yes I would love to know where you got this!! A local breeder in Lancaster, PA told me she would send me the info of some man who delivers raw dog food (high quality non gmo) and comes highly rated from all local PA/DE/MD people. I have to reach out to her again because she has yet to send it to me
I'll probably hear from her tomorrow and I'll definitely give you all the info [MENTION=2]2bullymama[/MENTION]
[MENTION=3191]FroxerMom[/MENTION] I'd like to know as well :) it seems cheaper to find people who make it then deliver rather than ordering frozen raw bags of foo that don't last super long.
apparently this guy Lisa told me about delivers all over- he's from Maryland but I'll send you the info too once I get it!
 
yes I would love to know where you got this!! A local breeder in Lancaster, PA told me she would send me the info of some man who delivers raw dog food (high quality non gmo) and comes highly rated from all local PA/DE/MD people. I have to reach out to her again because she has yet to send it to me
I'll probably hear from her tomorrow and I'll definitely give you all the info [MENTION=2]2bullymama[/MENTION]
[MENTION=3191]FroxerMom[/MENTION] I'd like to know as well :) it seems cheaper to find people who make it then deliver rather than ordering frozen raw bags of foo that don't last super long.
apparently this guy Lisa told me about delivers all over- he's from Maryland but I'll send you the info too once I get it!

Just make sure the local raw places have bones in the grinds, some do not. If they don't you are going to need to add some edible bones to their meals to get enough calcium.

So glad your babies are feeling better!!! :)
 
Back
Top