Older Frenchies Need These 3 Products

Happy Birthday, Lani!  Just a few days ago, we celebrated our beloved Frenchie's 6th birthday. She’s no longer a young pup, but also far from old age. 42 in human years, Lani still has the pep, enthusiasm, and playful personality from years ago. With gray hairs shining through her brindle coat, we still see flashes of her excited puppy 'pounce' and an unrelenting chase and chew of her favorite toys. Minutes later, she's laid out flat like a chicken—exhausted from playtime. Typical frenchie!

Our time together has been the best in our lives, and we hope to extend her comfortably as long as we can. As we pay for (quite expensive) insurance, we also know preventative care is going to be key for her long life. Here are 3 simple, effective products we use to prevent common issues and ailments for older french bulldogs.

1.  Raised Dog Bowl

• By raising the feeding position up roughly 3-4 inches, our Frenchie no longer has to droop her head down to floor level when eating or drinking. [Hey Frenchie parent: Has the back of your neck started to get a bump or bulge, from staring down at your phone or computer screen too much? Same idea here!] 
• It’s a simple change, but two feeds a day, and multiple sips of water add up over time. Drooping too low is an uncomfortable, repetitive motion for the french bulldog head and neck. We try to keep our frenchie’s spine aligned nice and straight at all times (which also helps prevent IVDD!)
• There are multiple options you can find on Amazon, and we prefer one that you can remove the bowls for easy cleaning. Something with a non-slip bottom helps too.

• Pretty sure every French Bulldog owner we’ve met is aware of how important harnesses are. They wrap and hold our dogs many times better than a collar by distributing pulling pressure around the entire body, vs just the neck.
• Harnesses reduce likelihood of your frenchie choking or straining, especially during walks. Does your dog often pull forward against their leash? Or perhaps you’re still training your little pup. Use a harness to prevent any spine, neck and back injuries as their bodies are still developing.
• Don’t get us wrong: we’re not ditching our collars either: They’re great for around the house and to hold name tags/identification. 

• Frenchies jump off of couches and beds, compressing and stressing their spines when they land. You’ll surely want to eliminate this behavior for older pups.  (Training younger Frenchies to avoid this is smart as well.) Using a smooth, gradual step up ramp is much less taxing on older joints and spines, so in our home we use multiple ramps in different rooms. Turned off by the look, or simply don’t like the clutter? It literally takes a couple seconds to fold them out of the way.
• Have you heard of IVDD? Intervertebral Disc Disease is the thinning and potential loss of cushioning between spinal vertebrae—an extremely common disease that affects many dogs—particularly Frenchies, due to their compact size, fragile bodies and extremely playful nature. We hope to slow, prevent, and hopefully completely eliminate this disease.

We’re sure that these three simple products are helping extend our Frenchie’s life—if not just making them much more comfortable for our aging frenchie. Young or old, we recommend them all. Cheers to long life and forever frenchies!

Melissa