hi,
ive heard lots of things that i should be feeding my 5 weeks pregnant bitch? like cottage cheese sardines puppy food?
im just unsure on the correct amount or how often ? id like her to be in best health as poss!
sorry if this doesn't make an awful lot of sense worked the nite shift last nite so feeling a little tired? lol

any advise would be really appreciated thanks everyone posted this b4 so dont know if its gonna end up in the right section ! thanks kelly x

Any vet will tell you that all you need to give your bitch is a good quality dry puppy food, it has everything in it your bitch needs, and I mean everything! :-) You really do not need to be fussing around with cottage cheese, sardines or anything else particularly trying to put extra calcium foods and liquids into her it can actual be dangerous to overload her with calcium and lead to eclampysia. A good quality puppy food has just the right amount of calcium, proteins, vitamins etc for your pregnant bitch.

If your bitch goes off her food dry or soaked then of course you can subsitute with other foods and there is no harm in giving her chicken, minced meat, white fish all with rice as a portion of her daily food also.

Just get a good quality puppy food she will be absolutely fine and blooming. :-)

I kept our bitch on her normal food. :)  Worked for her just upped the amount as needed.

I don't give my bitch anything else other than dry food.

Most people use puppy food - I do for my medium breed dog however I don't think its suitable for large breeds so I use a food for working dogs for my large breed bitches (super high in energy and protein). I always let my bitches free feed and if yours isn't too greedy I would suggest you do the same.

Don't supplement with anything high in calcium until AFTER whelping as this can cause problems with labour.

Feed her basically what ever she will eat, my girls always go off their food by 5 weeks, so it's a case of whatever......one day they'll eat Tripe, the next chicken, the next beef......you stock up on it, then they go off that....lol.

Before mating and for the weeks after, that they will eat, I feed Royal Canin HT42D, once whelped they are put on Royal Canin Starter, the same as the pups will be weaned onto.

Hi
Just feed your girl extra of her normal (assuming it is a good quality well balance dog food) if you give puppy food too early, it gives too much calcium and leads to difficult births as the unborn pups skeletons get too hard in the womb, hence possibly causing difficult births. as your bitch has less and less room, feed at will. Feed puppy food on the last week mixed with normal food, so a change over to puppy food after the birth goes smoothly. I hope this makes sense :)

hi there,
  i currently feed the dogs james wellbeloved? i hope this is a good food as they both seem, 2 thrive on it!
also they eat lots of left overs including roast dinners lol thanks for all your help.

she seems to be looking pregnant now, well should i say her nipples are getting so much bigger !
i hope everything goes well x

> if you give puppy food too early, it gives too much calcium and leads to difficult births as the unborn pups skeletons get too hard in the womb

Not heard of this before - is that from your personal experience or did you read /hear it somewhere? Just interested.

I would feed royal canin 42d up to 6 weeks and then move onto either babydog or royal canin starter.We would also supplement with chicken or fish to encourage appetite as they often go of their food at 5 weeks or so.

> I always let my bitches free feed

me too.

if you give puppy food too early, it gives too much calcium and leads to difficult births as the unborn pups skeletons get too hard in the womb, hence possibly causing difficult births.

I knew that calcium before whelping can cause problems but didn't know this could happen with puppy food?? I thought it was more over supplementing with calcium supplements, goats milk, cheese, eggs etc???

I always start the puppy food on 2nd to last week of pregnancy but have never given extra calcium until after whelping on the advice of my vet, they've never mentioned anything about puppy food though??

>skeletons get too hard in the womb, hence possibly causing difficult births

I've never heard that before - where did you hear it? I know that supplementing with calcium before whelping is linked with eclampsia soon after birth, but puppy food isn't specially high in calcium, but protein, which is what is needed in the later stages of pregnancy.

Also, I thought it was something to do with extra calcium causing problems with the onset of labour rather than making skeletons too hard?