Hi,
I was advised to put my bitch on puppy food when pregnant/nursing. Now the pups are 4 weeks old, should I start weaning her onto normal adult food?

I don't know what others do but I start putting mine back onto normal food once the puppies have been weaned but if she has had a large litter might hold on for a couple of days longer.

I think I would probably swap back once I was wanting her milk to dry up as the puppies will still need the full benefit of her milk until then

Seems we all differ on this one!  I keep my bitches on it until pups leave home at 8 weeks.

I feed my girls puppy food until they grow their coats back.

I think a lot of people new to breeding get a real shock when the bitches loose every stitch of coat, very noticeable even in some short coated breeds, but coated ones look like something from Belsen even if carrying plenty of body.

With my first litter the bitch was well covered after weaning so I put her on maintenance rations, only to find when she dropped her coat, she also dropped condition and both took a fair while to come back.

I find I usually have a bitch in decent nick, if not in full coat by 4 months after pups if I keep them on a  higher nutrient level until the coats are back.

Last time I didn't feed puppy food at all. She dropped her coat (her tail looked hilarious!) but it came back beautiful after a couple of months.

All bitches will loose their coat, I just find my bitches keep better condition while regrowing coat (which takes a lot of nutrition), if kept on a higher nutrient dense diet, but then my breeds maintenance amounts are rather less than is recommended for their size, so maybe that has a bearing.

My adult girls only get about 6 ounces of complete food and are between 18 - 20kg adult bodyweight.  My friends Border Collies similar weight and size need at least half as much food again for normal maintenance, often twice as much.

Of course as I want to continue showing my girls I want to keep/regain optimum condition.  Breedign a litter will take a bitch out of circulation for around 8 months (season, pregnancy, rearing and then at least 4 months from whelping, but more like 6 before they are remotely showable) anyway.

I don't show my dogs but I'd still like to do the best for them. I'll keep her on the puppy food a bit longer. Thanks :)

My girl stays on puppy food until 4 weeks after the pups have gone. I buy 5kg bags for each of my pups new owners to take with them, so my girl generally has the left overs of the 15kg bag to finish off, along with all the fresh meat and chicken top ups it generally does lasts that long, which I think is a good thing for any bitch, as already said by Brainless it helps bring the coat back and our bitches need those extra vitamins etc to help get them back to tip top condition again. :-)

How about puppy milk? I have been giving her this too. At what stage should I stop? Last time I didn't stop until she wasn't feeding them at all any more.

Puppy milk, or goats milk as I give, I stop once the pups have gone and she is no longer needing to produce milk herself. :-)

Like Brainless, I have kept feeding puppy food for about a month or so after puppies have gone.   

My experience with Loki was that she looked absolutely wonderful for the first two months after having the puppies - no loss of coat, no "hat rack" look ...to the extent that we did enter her for Crufts ....her puppies were born at the beginning of November.

The minute the cheque was cashed by the KC - she dropped weight and didn't only take her coat off - she took off her underpinnings as well - she would have done well in smooth coated collie class instead of Aussie :D :D

I keep mine on puppy food until they look 'normal' again LOL!

My bitches look like I havnt fed them for ages when they have pups and also loose their coat. I like them to have that bit extra nutrition until they are back in condition which is usually 3-4 months.

Our pups are almost 7 weeks and the mother is still on puppy food, omg she is losing coat fast now, she will be bald next week, she has looked amazing all through, weight is good on her though, be a while before she is back in the ring i guess.