What Is the Best Dog Food for English Bulldogs

What Is the Best Dog Food for English Bulldogs

what is the best food for english bulldogs

author: erica wysong Erica Wysong 15+ years Experience Breeding Bulldogs Read Bio

Mitch Wysong Canine Nutritionist, 15+ years Experience Breeding Bulldogs

Phase 1 Nutrition Plan – Puppy Growth Stage

Nutrition Checklist: Have these ordered and ready on Day 1 of pickup. If you would like to move away from one of these recommendations please let me know!

Food > Probiotics > NuVet >

Diamond Naturals All Life Stages – Hits all the correct macro numbers to slow puppy growth

Nuvet Supplements – Adds bioactive nutrition that promotes immune function – something bulldog puppies struggle with

Probios Probiotics – restores gut biome balance. I believe all bulldogs benefit from a probiotic for long term disease prevention and digestive health.

Details of each product for

Phase 1

Why I recommend Diamond Naturals All Life Stages

Slowing Growth: Bulldogs are one of the smallest large breed dogs that struggle with rapid growth from 12 weeks to 8 months. We often see developmental issues when they are on a high energy (protein and fat) diet with too high of calcium. The goal is to promote steady slow growth to ensure proper joint development.

Objective – Slow growth down for proper bone and joint development while fortifying gut biome health and the immune system foundational health

Diamond Naturals Macro Numbers– Diamond naturals hits all the correct macro numbers we are looking for to create steady, slower growth that promotes structure development.

Fat = 16%
Protein = 26%
Calcium/Phosphorus = 1.17:1

**It also avoids some of the ingredients I do not believe bulldogs should ever have. These include: corn, soy, wheat, BHA, BHT, artificial colors, added sugars, and excessive calcium.

Diamond Naturals solves the number one health risk in bulldog puppies – rapid growth development and deformity risk. It is certainly not a trendy dog food but that actually is not the goal during Phase 1 Puppy Growth. We can start to open up the dog food options as puppy develops structural soundness and has a good base.

Marketing Tactics to be aware of – every dog food is half nutrition, half marketing. It is the nature of the business.

Diamond Naturals promotes probiotics – this is a total scam. Diamond naturals has only 80 million CFUs of probiotics on their kibble. Probiotics of this nature are very susceptible to moisture. Most likely zero CFU of probiotic is actually reaching your puppy. To go further, 80 million CFU does nothing for the gut biome. One serving of Probios probiotic (administered via a dry powder) contains 10 billion CFU. That is 125 times more. The probiotics in Diamond are 100% marketing. You still need a probiotic to promote gut health

Diamond Naturals ingredients include chia seed, quinoa, spinach, blueberries – What they don’t tell you is the quantity. This is a modern dog food trend – list very healthy ingredients but actually only include micro dosage amounts per serving that in reality provide very little nutritional value.

Why I recommend Nuvet Supplement

I am a huge believer in natural bioactive nutrition that has not been processed via the high heat extrusion process of dog food. Dog food (both kibble and fresh) reliance on high heat makes it impossible to deliver certain sensitive nutrition that is vital to puppies and dogs. I like Nuvet because it fills that gap and promotes immune function + gut stability. This is a nutrition gap that NO FRESH OR KIBBLE DOG FOOD can ever fill (despite their marketing attempts to make you believe this is true). Essentially the “just feed a complete and balanced dog food” statement that you hear everywhere is a product of billion dollar pet food companies’ ability to control the information narrative from the top down.

Bulldog puppies (really all puppies) have unique digestive and immune system challenges that are often overlooked. They are hit with vaccines, antibiotics and parasite treatments that often challenge their gut health. These stressors can actually cause long term issues that “show up” as dogs age. Supplementing for gut and immune health is for both short term and longer term foundational health benefits.

Nutvet’s most important ingredients/benefits

Blue Green Algae – Antioxidant support that reduces oxidative stress and immune development

Papain and Amylase (digestive enzymes) – Promotes nutrient absorption and digestive aid that is critical in both puppy and adult bulldogs

Evening Primrose Oil – rich in omega 6 fatty acids, supports healthy skin and coat and helps maintain a strong skin barrier

Why I recommend Probios Probiotic

English Bulldog have shorter digestive tracts and occasionally struggle with yeast, allergy, and skin issues. Most people dont understand that these issues stem from gut health imbalances (measured by dysbiosis index). Probios probiotics contain live beneficial bacteria that help support a balanced gut microbiome. I like probios because it contains 10 billion CFU of multiple beneficial bacterial stains. The amount matters and dog food is never able to effectively deliver probiotics effectively on their own due to moisture activating and destroying efficacy.

Probios: Important Probiotic Strains

Enterococcus faecium – Produces lactic acid, which can reduce harmful bacteria. Helps keep beneficial bacteria dominant and support consistent stool quality.

Lactobacillus acidophilus – Supports a favorable environment for gut microbes by lowering ph levels and aids in digestive support.

Lactobacillus plantarum – Known for strong adhesion to the gut lining, helping beneficial microbes stick around.

Read about Phase 2 of our Nutrition Plan here

Bulldog Puppy Feeding Schedule

Don’t leave food out all day. Keep bulldog puppies on a strict schedule. We like to compare this to humans eating on a schedule. Have you ever skipped your normal lunch time because maybe work was too busy, and you developed a headache until you were able to eat? Well, puppies can go through similar “withdrawals” which can cause overeating or eating too fast due to their empty stomach tricking their brain into signally a need to too much food.

The Veterinary Centers for America shares that “A regular feeding schedule helps with house training puppies.” It is much easier to know when your bulldog puppy needs to use the bathroom if you have a schedule and know the last time that they ate.

Once you are home with your new puppy we recommend doing feedings three times a day. Below is the feeding times we use but you can adjust it to fit your work/sleep schedule but keep it to three times daily!

First feeding – 7 am
Second feeding – 11 am
Third feeding – 4 pm

We recommend your puppy’s last meal should be by 4:30 pm at the latest. This will give them lots of opportunities to “clear out their system” before bedtime. It’s important to remember that puppies will relieve themselves after mealtimes. The majority of the time when a puppy is struggling with accidents during the night it is because of eating too close to bedtime. So, we want to avoid eating late as much as possible.

The amount of food you will be feeding will depend on the age and size of your puppy when you take him/her home. This is something we will go over with you at pickup and are always available for a chat as your puppy grows.

-Erica