the mother of our litter is getting fussy with her food, although she is just getting over a bout of mild mastitis (only one boob infected) she has been getting fussy for a few days. we are feeding her on JWB puppy which at first she loved but then turned her nose up untill we put some wet food(pedigree chum) in with it (typical) I am now finding myself putting more and more wet and less dry to get her to eat. She obviously is preferring the wetter food but which is the best to suit her needs and how much? she is a small to medium breed.

Give her whatever you can get her to eat and however much you can get into her!

I let mine free feed when pregnant or nursing and I let them eat whatever they want. If she wants wet food I would look into getting her some puppy complete wet rather than dry. Because it is complete she will still get all the nutrients that she needs but she may eat it better if she is off the dry food.

It may be that her mouth is sore from cleaning pups and dry food aggravates it.

fish,scamble eggs,nature diet

I agree that her mouth may well be sore, and she needs softer food just now.  Mine are fed wet puppy feed as well as poached fish and chicken.  Anything really, to encourage them to eat. 

I truly feed ad lib at this stage, and don't leave a lactating bitch without food.  I also hand feed, I will hold a dish up and feed while they're in the whelping box.  Anything to help them get through all the extra demands on their bodies.

I would give her whatever she wants to eat. My girl has just had a litter two weeks ago and she went off her food whilst pregnant so I started giving her mince, tripe and chickens wings and she is eating them like they are going out of fashion, LOL. She looks really great and has just started eating her nutro puppy complete food again too.

My girl had puppies two weeks ago and is eating loads although she is very fussy. Ive kept her on pretty much the same as during her pregancy which is fresh chicken and rice but i always mix a big handfull of a good quality complete puppy food with it, if its not chicken then its mince and sometimes tripe. If i left just the dry food out she wont touch it even if she is hungry! Mind you she still looks skinny even with 3-5 meals a day.

I learnt that Arden Grange Prestige was the only food that I could get my really fussy boy to eat. Its a high calorie food and soaks down nicely too so maybe worth a try?

If feeding dry food it is important at this time to soak it well, in order to maximise water intake, to help with possible sore mouth, and to help get enough into them.

Thanks all, I was putting water in but obviously not enough, I have made up a container of puppy dry and soaked it in boiling water till mushy, I then mix half a tin of wet in with it and she wolfs it down :) am going to get some of the pks of frozen chicken, fish ect tomorrow and vary what i mix with the mush :)

Rowena said - soaked it in boiling water till mushy,

Boiling water could destroy some of the goodness in the dry kibble. Personally I would use warm to soak it instead :-)

Thanks Boysee, was not aware of that :)

Haven't read the other post but try her on BARF. She will need a higher nutritional intake and this maybe the key. Give it a go
xx

> try her on BARF.

Unless I was experienced with canine nutrition and how to provide a properly balanced canine diet this crucial time would not be my choice to start.  Of course by all means supplement her normal diet with nutritious extras.

I sold a puppy to a lady who was into holistic and natural therapies and nutrition etc.  At 6 months I was rather concerned to see the pup had very poor bone (both parents have good bone).  On questioning it became apparent she was being fed far to little meat and bone and far too much cereal, even though it was home prepared food.  On upping the quantity of animal protein she has come on, but I suspect will never make the Bone she should have had.

Did this woman do any research into the diet or did she just give it a bash herself?

I dont give my dogs any cereal

> Did this woman do any research into the diet or did she just give it a bash herself?
>

Basically she is vegetarian/fruterian so was very up on the veggie side of things but not on the meat side.

She is very much of the opinion that dogs like us are omnivores rather than carnivorous omnivores where we are primarily cereal eating omnivores.

Oh dear, wouldnt catch a wolf with an alpen bar

We have success:) :) I soaked the JWB puppy to a mush (amount needed for today and the morning) got some pks of frozen minced chicken , cooked it and added it to the mush, she has wolfed it down :) :). Thank you all for your advice XXX .
My cast iron casserole dish has come in handy again too :)

No need to cook the mince though

Hi, I agree that they seem to go off the dry food when feeding pups, my bitch actually had sores along her top lip, it must have hurt!

For some reason, they love to eat raw at this time. I would buy blocks of frozen green tripe, fish and chicken, defrost and add a generous amount (one meat at a time:)) with every meal. I always gave it raw, and my bitch loved it! I would also give her raw beef mince as I was giving it to the pups anyway when they were being weaned. I always gave raw, never cooked it first.

I would also buy packets of cubed white fish (£1) at the supermarket and microwave in goats milk, then add to the pre-soaked complete food before giving... yum!!

She had a big litter (9) to feed, and by 6 weeks, no amount of food was enough to keep the weight on, but as soon as they were completley weaned, she quickly gained condition which was a relief!

packets of cubed white fish (£1) at the supermarket

Do you get these in the freezer section or fresh??

I have an Asda nearby. It was in the freezer section... cheap but fine!! I'm sure other supermarkets will have similar. Depending on how big your dog is, you can microwave as many cubes of frozen fish in milk as you like. We have Golden Retrievers so the pack would do about 2 meals. Give with her normal complete food though.

Tanya

wasnt there somewhere put on here that by the time the kettle had finished boiling and the boiled water added to the Kibble, it will not destroy the neutriants in the kibble??? And the way to kill the nutriants was only to boil the kibble in water?????
I might be wrong and hopefully someonme will be along to either agree or disagree.
Lea :) :)

As far as I know the only vitamin that's destroyed by heating is Vitamin C, which (most) dogs, along with almost all other species, excepting primates and guinea pigs, have no need for in their food because they synthesise it themselves.