A Bulldog Puppy’s Sixth Week, Through the Eyes of a Breeder

The puppies, as of now, are six weeks old! This week’s blog, although titled the sixth week, is really the events of five week old puppies. It has been a bit of a doozy this week. We have had tons of snuggles and lots of playtime, but raising puppy dogs isn’t always easy, and this week is a perfect example of that. I try to always be as transparent as possible in both my blog posts and with my puppy families, so here are the honest happenings of my past week.

I often say that I raise best friends and that is absolutely true. That is my whole goal in raising these babies. A part of that goal is to make sure that they are healthy and remain healthy for a very long time. Part of health is achieved through a good diet.

To give you a back story to help explain better, I stopped feeding our dogs kibble that included peas and lentils a few months ago after lots of research. It has been shown that dogs’ diets that include those ingredients prevent the absorption of taurine which is an organic compound that is required for proper heart function. Without it a dogs’ heart won’t function properly and can eventually lead to heart failure. I have always fed grain free based on the idea that bulldogs often have grain allergies and I‘d rather not even take the chance of stirring up allergies unnecessarily. After the pea and lentil studies were released and after a lot of research I decided that I really wanted to find a good kibble that did not contain those ingredients, which are often found in grain free kibble. I studied and studied different kibble brands. I weighed my options, sought out reviews, and sought out personal experiences with different brands. I spoke to our vet to get a licensed opinion on the topic. Everything led me to a particular brand.

Well, it has been a disaster!

They reacted horribly to the food. It caused terribly runny stools. I was not impressed with the food at all! I took them in for a check up to make sure it was the food causing the digestive issues and not something else and after taking fecal samples the vet concluded that it was in fact the food.

I started again at square one. The hard part now was that these sweet puppies were already here. I had done all of the previous studying long before they ever arrived.

Luckily, I had already been feeding my dogs a great new kibble that I had found after lots of research which I planned to incorporate into their crockpot meals. They had reacted to it wonderfully and the ingredient list was amazing. I hadn’t found this particular kibble until after the puppies had arrived which is why I hadn‘t start them on it as well.

So that’s where my week ends. On a journey attempting to fix the mess that was started from a terrible kibble. I am currently weaning them very, very slowly off of the bad kibble and slowly, slowly introducing the new kibble.

I wish that I had a happier week to share. The digestive issues caused by this kibble has overshadowed what would normally be a terrific time period of a puppies’ young life with their breeder family. It has been a mystery that I have sought to solve and correct because I refuse to send my babies to their new families with yucky stool and a diet that isn’t the absolute best that it can be.

On a happier note, not much has changed with the puppies development besides their size. They continue to get bigger despite their yucky stool.

They have absolutely fallen in love with my sofa table and love to climb on the base of it and then jump off. I wish I would have gotten a video of them doing that. It was so funny! They tired themselves out and fell asleep and I was able to snap a picture of that though.

They were able to finally meet Charlotte and Diana up close! I think Charlotte and Diana were more excited about that then the puppies were. The puppies were a little let down that the big dogs weren’t there to offer some free milk.

They still have had a blast all week with playtime and are no longer afraid of squeaky toys.

And as always, they have been enjoying lots of cuddles, sweet talk, and love.

I am looking forward to a terrific weekly update next week after this yucky kibble is completely out of their system! Until then, I’ll see you next time!