My girl is 51 days pregnant today and very large with puppies.
she gave up eating around a week ago and i have tempted her and managed to get her to eat by adding scrambled egg, grated cheese or gravy to her food.
She is now really off her food and today vomited up a little milk i give her with her daily wormer and has very loose stools, diarreah but only been twice.
Because she has never had additions to her royal canin dry i think it is the eggs, cheese, chicken add ons that are causing the runny poo but if i dont add them she doesnt even go near her food. She is turning down all her usual treats like pigs ears and biscuits and just walking around with them.
It is more important she eats even if the additions upset her tummy or is it ok to starve her a day if that is what she wants?
I would happily take her to the vets but from what i read this can be normal in the late stages. Dont want to not react if this could become a danerous situation. How long can she not eat for???

Hi peppapug

I'm by no means the most experienced on the forum re breeding issues but as nobody has yet replied here's my advice from experience in going through this twice so far :)

They do go off their food as their waistline expands - the pups are pressing on their insides and so the bitches feel the need to eat smaller portions and emplty their bladders more often, just like with human pregnancies.

Re giving milk and 'daily wormer' - I've never heard of 'daily wormer'   do you mean one dose of a wormer given for, say, 3 consecutive days?  I don't worm in whelp bitches personally on the advice of my breeder and mentor friends but I know many folks do.  IMO a daily wormer and the addition of dairy products (milk & cheese) could well be the cause of her loose stools.

I'd not fast her as such - maybe max of 12 hours to allow her system to settle.  Skip dairy products entirely.

My girl was onto puppy food at this stage for the higher Kcals etc needed so that she kept condition as the latter stages of pregnancy takes a lot out of them.  My girl was faddy too and had numerous tiny meals each day rather than two or three larger ones.

Perhaps try the puppy version of your usual dry complete and add a little warmed water to it to increase the aroma and hopefully her appetite.  You could also add something like Nature Diet Puppy - a moist complete food - this helped my girl when she felt nauseus and kept her eating, albeit with persuasion.

Obvious signs of them feeling sick apart from disinterest in what's put down are frequently licking their lips or 'air licking' a lot.  I gave small charcoal biscuits at these times to settle her tummy and found this helped to prevent bouts of nausea.

If concerned about her condition at all see your vet in case she is dehydrated or has another problem which is not obvious to you on appearance alone.

HTH, regards Teri

One regime that is used for worming during a bitches preganacy is a small dose, dependant on weight, of Panacur daily from 40 days till after whelping Teri.

hi I've had exactly the same situation as yourself and found out that it was some of the add ons. Lean boiled chicken (ie chicken breast), scrambled egg without any added milk are fine but most types of cheese are high in fat which could be the cause. If you could get hold of a good probiotic ie. protexin professional or something similar, that could be helpful and would also benefit the puppies. Is she ok in herself? Any slight doubt best to get her checked by you're vet. Hope shes ok

Because she has never had additions to her royal canin dry

hope shes on the high protein puppy food? mine had a small amount of that and rest cooked mince beef for the high protein which she also ate after the birth for several weeks. dry food alone isnt enough

Thanks for the info satincollie - I hadn't heard of that :)

I often have to put bitches on Naturediet, Natures Menu, Caesar (or supermarket similar), cooked fish, etc during the last couple of weeks.  They are all high protein and very palatable and easily digested.  I find they seem to prefer moist, soft food at these times.

Thank you all for your advice. She has moved onto royal canin junior and will be starting on Royal canin starter tomorrow which will take her through birth to when she is lactating.
I will take her off the dairy, i hadnt thought that might be the problem. It is only a little milk with the wormer but it ties in with when her tummy started to go runny. Considering i had a pet shop and did numerous courses on nutrition i hadnt thought of nature diet but that is one of the few wet foods i would let her have and maybe i shall cook her up some chicken breast too.
I have had food down since lunch but she hasnt eaten it and i gave her a gravy bone (she loves them) and it is causing her to get really upset. She wanders around and keeps dropping it on my lap, she wont eat it.
I will let her starve herself till breakfast which will be 12 hours and i will make sure she has something for breakfast. Someone mentioned Mince. cooked or raw and is mince gentler than chicken or nutradiet???
She really is feeling sorry for herself but all the gurgling noises suggest she really is feeling green :(
Just eaten some tuna and i have mince cooked for tomorrow. So, its a home cooked diet for her now!!!

> Thanks for the info satincollie - I hadn't heard of that :)

I have used this regime for 6 generations of my bitches now, never seen a worm, and the adults are only done twice  a year and after any pups leave.  Puppies are done monthly until 6 months.

What type of milk have you been giving her?  Cows milk does upset tums and certainly causes dogs to have the runs.

If you give her milk you need to give her pasteruised goats milk to have either on it's own or mixed in scrambled egg etc,

Some dogs do have an intolerance to both, but goats milk generally is fine with most dogs. :-)

i also have a bitch that does this, shes a royal pain in the ****. my bitches always go on canine extra from burns from 4 weeks pregnant and in the past have used puppy food, this i do till the puppies are completly weaned off mum. yes my bitch is fussy too so i so feed the dry food with warm water over it so it releases the aroma and also feed boiled chicken, rice, tuna, pilchards, sardines (fish are favourites for my bitches in whelp) i also give mine goats milk and they seem to love it . smaller feeds more reg i find better than 2 large one as well,  good luck!!