Bichon Frise Home Cooked Diets
Many Bichon Frise can eat Chicken, however, if a dog has already been having chicken in the diet and is diagnosed with urolithiasis then the chicken will need to be withdrawn.
Can Bichons Eat Eggs
Eggs are often seen as a good solution for dogs who can no longer have chicken in their diet and eggs are something that Bichon Frise can eat. However, if urolithiasis first occurs in a dog with an egg diet it will need to be withdrawn.
Can Bichons Eat Bananas
Bichon Frise can eat bananas that are high in potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and fiber making them an ideal choice as an occasional treat
. However, as bananas are high in sugar feeding bananas and then only the soft inside fruit, never the skin should be kept to a piece as an occasional treat no more than a few times a week. Bananas are best avoided for Bichon Frise who has been treated for urolithiasis and put onto a low magnesium diet.Natural Food Dog Recipes
Then move to Natural Dog Recipes/Food Ideas / Homemade Dog Food
Because Bichon Frise can be subject to urolithiasis consideration regarding diet is recommended. Also, it is worth noting if you have or are considering more than one Bichon Frise in your family that males and females have a tendency to different types of urolithiasis.
Bichons Frequently Get Kidney Stones
Urolithiasis is the formation of stony concretions in the bladder or urinary tract for example bladder stones.
Female:
The female is more susceptible to Struvite uroliths whereby the cause of the urolithiasis is most often due to the purines in the DNA of the protein that they have in their diet. Other causes being urinary tract infection or the infection Staphylococcus. Because organ meat has the highest purine content it is often considered preferable to feed female Bichon Frise an egg or dairy-based diet to meat or fish-based diet.
Male:
On the other hand male Bichon Frise are more susceptible to Urate Urolithiasis and Oxalate Urolithiasis, known as canine calcium oxalate stone than females, although they are less likely to experience Urolithiasis at all, if they do, it is more likely to be at an older age. This does not mean that your male Bichon Frise will not be susceptible, just that fewer males to females have the problem.
Solution:
Natural cheese and egg-based diet is often a good compromise.
Because vegetables, eggs, and dairy proteins have fewer purines a vegetarian diet is also considered for Bichon Frise.
The pet parent needs to weigh up the pros and cons of such a diet and be mindful that dogs are canines, designed to eat meat. Whilst a raw meat diet is seldom adopted for smaller breeds, it is reasonable to expect your Bichon Frise to require a mostly meat diet. Also, if your Bichon Frise contracts urolithiasis, it is often necessary to withdraw foods, in particular proteins that they have been having.
Consider Home Cooked Diet
So, as a caring owner, you may wish to make homemade meals for your Bichon Frise and this is certainly easy to do.
Once you get into the habit it is easy enough to have a dog stew on the go at the same time as the family meal or to batch cook about once a week or once a month and freeze in portion size batches to defrost each day.
There are lots of brilliant ideas to ensure that the Bichon Frise has the nutrients that they need, the harder part is ensuring that they don’t have an overload or anything that they do not need that could actually cause, irritate or exacerbate Urolithiasis.
If going down the home-cooked route, including following any of these ideas here it is well worth having a blood test done every few months to ensure that your Bichon Frise is getting all the nutrition that he or she needs and a multi-supplement powder as recommended by your vet is advised.
Organic Foods
We all know that commercial dog food often utilizes the part of the animal or animals that are not considered good enough for human consumption.
Our dogs are a precious part of our family and it is not unreasonable for us to want them to have the best food. Therefore, if you plan to or are using commercial dog food, that is fine, but choose one that is from a reputable brand that actually states on the pack what is in the food.
To help prevent Struvite uroliths from purines in the DNA of animal organ meat, eggs, or dairy it is sensible to go organic and only feed your Bichon Frise certified organic food that has therefore not been subject to routine antibiotics, growth hormones, or other unnecessary medicines that could have affected the animal.
It is possible to buy certified organic commercial dog food. But it is easy and satisfying to make your own.
Generally, a healthy adult Bichon Frise having moderate exercise weighing 15 pounds will require about 530 calories per day.
Remember this includes treats and is spread over the meals they have. The amount of food any dog has per day needs to be based on their condition and activity level with other factors to consider being healthy and age.
5 Natural Recipes
These recipes, therefore, are based on a middle-aged healthy Bichon Frise of average weight.
- Chicken and Brown Rice with Peas and Rosemary
- Egg and Potato with Cottage Cheese and Oregano
- Beef and Carrot with Greek Yoghurt
- Turkey, Sweet Potato, Egg, Peas, and Beans
- Sardines and white Rice with Parsley
Quantities are given per day and take into account that your Bichon Frise will enjoy some treats or snacks as well within their total calorie intake.
Always allow to cool before feeding and divide the food between 2 meals per day.
1. Chicken and Brown Rice with Peas and Rosemary
For 2 portions, 1 day you will need:
60g Brown Rice
½ tablespoon Olive Oil for frying
A few Rosemary chopped leaves (about 6)
100g Chicken off the bone
½ cup of peas (fresh or frozen)
½ cup chicken stock (no salt)
Your chosen canine supplement
Cook the rice as per pack instructions, for Bichon Frise ensure the rice is fully cooked. Gently fry the Rosemary leaves until soft, add the chicken and gently sauté until cooked. Do not drain, add the peas and stock, warm gently. Drain the rice and mix into the chicken mixture. Allow to cool before serving.
2. Egg and Potato with Cottage Cheese
For 2 portions, 1 day you will need:
2 boiled eggs sliced or chopped
120g potato
30g cottage cheese
1 Teaspoon chopped fresh Oregano or sprinkle of dried Oregano
Your chosen canine supplement
Peal and boil the potatoes until just about soft enough to mash. Keep the potato water. Mash the potato with the cottage cheese and add the sliced boiled eggs. Add a tablespoon of the potato water, the oregano and mix in, serve once cooled.
3. Beef and Carrot with Yoghurt
For 2 portions, 1 day you will need:
100g lean beef stewing steak
20g washed tripe
1 small peeled and chopped carrot
50g potato
1 tablespoon porridge oats
Vegetable stock to cover (can use potato stock from previous recipe).
1 teaspoon sunflower oil
50g Plain full fat yogurt
Your chosen canine supplement
Cut the beef and tripe into bite size pieces and gently stew with the carrots, potato oregano and parsley until tender. This works very well with a pressure cooker. Add the oats with some extra water if necessary for the last 8 minutes. Once cooled to room temperature stir in the yogurt.
Important: If freezing this meal, do not add the yogurt before freezing, defrost and then stir in the yogurt before feeding.
4. Turkey, Sweet Potato, Egg, Peas and Beans
For 2 portions, 1 day you will need:
120g sweet potato
A few peas and chopped French beans
½ Tablespoon Sunflower Oil
120g Turkey chopped or minced
1 Egg, beaten
Your chosen canine supplement
Steam the sweet potato, peas and beans until tender, meanwhile, add the oil to a pan and gently fry the turkey with the egg until cooked. Add the vegetables to the meat and egg mixture, add a sprinkle of parsley.
5. Sardines (Pilchards) and white Rice with Parsley
For 2 portions, 1 day you will need:
50g cooked and cooled white rice
1 120g tin Sardines in oil
The oil from the can
A little chopped parsley
Your chosen canine supplement
Simply mix all ingredients together and serve.
It is recommended that rather than choose a single recipe that a varied diet is fed to Bichon Frise. If your dog is overweight the Turkey, Beef, and Chicken above have the least calories, the Sardine calorie count (434) can be reduced by only adding part of the oil. If your dog is underweight and has a good appetite, increase the quantities of oil, rice, or potato in any of the recipes.
Bichon Friendly Herbs
Rosemary is a very dog friendly herb being high in iron, calcium, and Vitamin B6 and it has cleansing and antioxidant properties.
Parsley is the fresh breath herb and contains lycopene and carotenes as well as some flavonoids, antioxidants, and vitamin C and traces of other vitamins.
Oregano is a brilliant herb for the digestive system and can help prevent diarrhoea and gas.
Avoid adding Peppermint Oil or herb to your Bichon Frise diet as it has been suggested that it can produce uroliths which are one of the things you need to avoid.
Prutitus / Itching
Bichon Frise is also prone to itching (pruritus) and this can be due to a food allergy. It is therefore advisable to avoid foods that may cause an allergy and this can be difficult as a heightened system can be prone to easily upset from foods that would not otherwise cause a problem.
Wheat and Soya, which are known causes of pruritus have therefore been excluded from these recipes, and organic meat that does not contain additives is strongly advised.
Also, if buying hamburger meat for your dog, be mindful of the salt and other additive content as salt is not good for breeds prone to Urolithiasis, and preservatives are not recommended.
A lot of common foods can cause allergens and by avoiding additives there is less chance of your Bichon Frise developing an allergy problem.
According to Susan Wynn, a former president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, The common allergens in all breeds of dogs
Bichon Allergens
- Wheat,
- Soy,
- Beef,
- Dairy,
- Egg,
- Chicken,
- Lamb,
- Pork,
- Rabbit,
- Fish,
- and she advises that most dogs are usually allergic to more than one thing.
Hypersensitivity,
This brings us back to hypersensitivity, which we want to avoid, where the heightened immune system is sensitive to a far greater number of factors due to a perceived attack from an allergen.
Snacks:
When supplementing your Bichon Frise’s diet with snacks, consider the wheat, soya, and additive content of the treat, it is often possible to feed a small quantity of these without ill effect in the healthy Bichon Frise, but withdraw immediately if pruritus of urolithiasis occurs. Really, they are best avoided altogether and there are healthy snack choices you can offer your dog.
Just like commercial food, it is possible to buy ready-made snacks and treats for dogs that are free from likely allergens.
It is also easy to offer alternatives. So, consider the following:
- Apple cut into chunks
- Carrot cut into chunks
- Baked Sweet Potato and Carrot Strips
- Herby Oat Flapjack
In Moderation:
- Pieces of Banana (not the skin)
- Pineapple Chunks
- Peanut Butter (must be additive-free)
- Sausage chunks
Recipes for Healthy Snacks
*Recipes for Baked Sweet Potato and Carrot Strips and Herby Oat Flapjack
Sweet Potato and Carrot Strips
You will need:
- Roasting dish lightly oiled
- Sweet Potato and Carrots washed and cut into strips
- A little oil
- Chopped parsley
Pour the oil into a bowl or tray, mix in the herb and stir in the vegetables to douse them.
Spreads over the tin and oven bake for approximately 30 minutes at an average temperature and allow to cool, store in the refrigerator until required and use within 1 week.
Herby Oat and Flapjack
For 10 treats you will need:
- Oiled tin or baking tray
- 1 cup of porridge oats
- 1 teaspoon oat bran
- 2 teaspoons Oregano, Rosemary or Parsley or a mixture
- 2 dessertspoons sunflower oil
- 1 beaten egg
- A little stock or water if very dry
Add the oats to a bowl with the oatmeal and herbs and mix in. Add the sunflower oil and stir well, add a little more if still dry. Add the egg and mix well. Form into small balls or flatten into a baking tray. If dry add a little stock or water, if too wet add some more oat bran.
Cook for approximately 8-10 minutes at 190C. Allow to cool before feeding.
Store in an airtight tin.
If your Bichon Frise has suffered and been treated for struvite uroliths a special diet may be required and this diet will need to be
lower in protein, phosphorus, and magnesium and therefore it is wise to remove any bananas and yogurt from their diet. It is also sensible to consider a therapeutic diet and additives from your vet to promote acidic urine. Sometimes a vet will put your dog onto a temporary diet to help dissolve the stones and this will only be temporary, so be guided by your vet what to feed in these instances.
It is well worth utilising strategies in the diet of a Bichon Frise to prevent struvite uroliths and as well as natural organic food a low protein diet may be advised after minor symptoms.
Cushing’s Disease
Another health condition to consider is Cushing’s disease which is mostly caused by a small growth of the pituitary gland or occasionally the adrenal gland. This can be caused naturally and perceived as normal and unavoidable. Or it can develop if your dog has been treated with prolonged high level of steroids as a side-effect of corticosteroid medication leads to disruption of their normal metabolism.
Fortunately, Cushing’s disease is easily managed by the vet and when treated does not impact normal, happy life. However, this is another reason for choosing a healthy diet option for your Bichon Frise to lessen the chances of developing any of these problems that they are pre-disposed to.
Conclusion
Whilst following the above advice cannot guarantee successful avoidance of urolithiasis, pruritus or Cushing’s disease that Bichon Frise along with many other breeds are susceptible to, the suggestions offer healthy ideas that helps avoid the possible occurrence of the problems.
It is essential that all dogs have access to freshwater. This is even more important for Bichon Frise and absolutely essential that water is always available if fed on a dry diet. This will help the Dog to keep impurities washed out. and keep acid levels down,
Top 10 Bichon Designer Breeds / Parents /Size / Video
| Designer Mix | Parents | Size | Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maltichon | Bichon / Maltese | Height / 8-11 inches Weight / 8 - 13 lbs | Maltichon |
| Bichpoo | Bichon / Poodle | Height / 9 - 14 inches Weight / 6 - 9 lbs | Bichpoo |
| Shichon | Bichon / Shih Tzu | Height / 9 - 12 inches Weight / 10 - 15lbs | Shichon |
| Yorkie Bichon | Bichon / Yorkie | Height / 9 - 12 inches Weight / 6 - 8 lbs | Bichon Yorkie |
| Chi Chon | Bichon / Chihuahua | Height / 8 - 10 Inches Weight / 6 - 10 Lbs | Chi Chon |
| Kashon | Bichon / Cairn Terrier | Height / 9 - 15 Inches Weight / 10 -18 Lbs | Kashon |
| Goldichon | Bichon / Golden Retriever | Height/15 - 20 inches Weight /20-40 Lbs | Goldichon |
| Chonzer | Bichon / Miniature Schnauzer | Height /10-16 inches Weight / 25-35 lbs | Chonzer |
| Glechon | Bichon / Beagle | Height /15-16 inches Weight / 15-35 lbs | Glechon |
| Corgi | Bichon / Corgi | Height /11-13 inches Weight / 31-37 lbs | Corgi |
Name - Link for Research
Parents - Breeds of Dogs
Size Height / Weight
Video - Video of the Bichon Designer Breed
Chart of Bichon Birthing Accessories
| Breeder Box | Do Not used Wired Dog cage |
| Heater | We use space heater for whole Room |
| scale | To Weigh Puppies make sure they are Gaining Weight |
| Clean towels | Chande during Birthing to clean up |
| Protected Space | Keep Mother away from other Dogs to avoid Distress |
| Draft Protection | Drafts can chill and kill a Puppy |
| Squash protection | Mothers can accidently squash a puppy |
| clean bedding | to replace after birth - will be wet |
| Seclusion | Needs her Privacy - she can get Hyper |
| Rubber Gloves | Keep things Clean and from Blood |
| Scisorrs & Thread | For Cutting Cord |
Puppy Birthing Complications
| Complications | Steps |
|---|---|
| If Unsure | Take to Vet If Time allows |
| Keep Mother Isolated | If Other dogs around she could get defensive and accidently Hurt Puppies |
| Puppy Accidentally Crushed | Make sure Not Giving Birth in Dog cage - puppies can work themselves through mesh and get Damaged |
| Not Breathing | Gently Give it Mouth to mouth |
| Not breathing | Massage Puppy trying to gently force fluid from his lungs |
| Puppy Stuck | Gently Pull |
| Puppy Breech | Help Guide legs out |
| Puppy Cold | Raise Enviorment to 85 degrees |
| Puppy Cold | Change Wet Bedding |
| Puppy Cold | Warm Puppy up put on Your body till body heat warms him |
| Puppy Cold | No drafts - No metal Floor Pan on Cage |
| Puppy not going on Nipple | Help Guide him to nipple till he gets hand of it |
| Puppy not feeding | Try Small baby Bottle let him suck - do not force him - can drown him with milk going in lungs |
| Puppy not feeding | Use puppy Milk Supplement |
| Puppy Not feeding | check for Cleft Palate |
| Puppy Not Feeding | Take to Vet - he can show you Catheter Feeding |
| Puppy Not Growing | Make sure Mother has plenty Food Water |
| Puppy Not Growing | You can check on scale |
| Labor stops or is prolonged over 24 hours | Take to vet - C section can save litter and Mother if needed |
| Mother does not Remove Membrane | You will Need to Manually remove it |
| Mother does not chew through Umbilical Cord | You will need to cut it 1/2 " away from puppies body tier with thread |
And Recommended Steps
Expense Table for Owning Bichons Frise
| Average Cost of AKC Puppy | Puppy Shots | Food | Grooming 4 / per year | Cage / Accessories / Bowls / Brushes / Leash / Collar | AKC - Registration Within 6 Months of Purchase | Micro Chip | Yearly Meds Heart Worm Worming | Dog License | Total Investment | Puppies Possible / Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $ 450 - No Breeding Rights | $ 120 | $ 10 / Wk High Quality Food | $ 45 ea / $180 Yr | Cage - $50 Rest - 50 | $ 35 | $ 45 - One Time Cost By Vet | Heart Worm Meds - $60 / Yr Worming - $ 30 / YR | $ 35 / Yr | $ 1575 / Dog | 1-6 Puppies Average 3 |
| $ 750 - $ 950 Puppy with AKC Papers and No Restrictions | Total Investment | |||||||||
Breeds Descended from Water Dogs
| Name of Breed | Country of Origin |
|---|---|
| American Water Spaniel | United States |
| Barbet | France |
| Cantabrian Water Dog | Spain |
| English Water Spaniel | England |
| Irish water Spaniel | Ireland |
| Lagotto Romagnoio | Italy |
| Poodle | Germany |
| Portuguese Water Dog | Portugal |
| Pudelpointer | Germany |
| Spanish water Dog | Spain |
| Tweed water Spaniel | England |
| Wetterhoun | Netherlands |
Bichon Frise Resource Links
| Bichon Frise Club of America | United States | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Bichon Frise AKC | United States | Link |
| Bichon Frise United Kennel Club | UK | Link |
