Bulldog Food Recommendation: California Natural's Lamb and Rice

Ruki started on Eukanuba Puppy from the breeder. Shortly after we got her, we switched her to Innova Puppy, and when she was about 9 months we switched her to Innova Adult. Then at about 14 months, she started developing allergies (and a whole host of other problems). We calmed down the allergies (with a rice and water bland diet), and then switched her to California Natural's Lamb and Rice formula.

With the Innova, one of the problems might have been exacerbated by the fact that she was wolfing down her food, with no chewing. She'd swallow the food, and then spend some time snorting and snuffling food that might have gotten caught in her trachea or nose. So it might have had something to do with the small pellet size. I looked around for larger pellet sizes, and eventually gave up. (I didn't want to switch to Royal Canin Bulldog formula--even though it has a specially shaped pellet (curved like an "s"), I wanted to stick with the Natura brand and its reputation and quality.) 

But Ruki chews her California Natural's. So it may be that the pellet size is just big enough to encourage her to do that. Or it's so tasty that she has to chew and relish the flavor. :)

And no allergies! The Innova Adult was mostly chicken and turkey. The prevailing theory seems to be that baby animals don't have a well-developed immune system, and therefore can develop allergies in the confusion of fighting off disagreeable foods. So if you expose baby animals to a wide variety of foods when they're young, they might develop allergies when they're little--as opposed to encountering these foods when they're older and can fight off any disagreeability and not develop allergies.

That's why after dogs develop allergies, you look to "novel protein" diets--meats that they might not have encountered when younger, like lamb, duck, ostrich, and buffalo. 

So the takehome: Stick with one or two proteins when they're puppies so they don't develop allergies, and consider switching to California Natural's to encourage them to chew their food.

(I have to note that Ruki's 16 months, 40 lbs, and her head's not totally grown in yet. So YMMV if you have a bigger bulldog.)