I know this has been covered many times on CD, but I've searched and I'm not coming up with the answer to my specific question, so thought I'd ask yet another question re calcium supplementation.

Normally I wouldn't contemplate supplementing with calcium, my girly last year ate all food offered right up to tea time of whelping night :-)

Now Fuss Pot eater is 7 weeks, has been very picky about food since 3 1/2 weeks. Not worried about her condition, she's the picture of health, however, I have an inkling she's going to have a good sized litter and she's quite fine framed, added to that I am struggling to get her to eat any puppy food (despite being blended in with all the nice things), which to my mind would contain everything she needed. She's getting tons of fish, chicken, eggs and steak and she's now having drinks of NutroLac but I'm just slighly concerned about whether I should be giving her some calcium.

I have a bottle of Callo-Cal - directions on bottle and on website differ, so that's not helpful. I only used this last year as my girl was milking very heavily, so didn't actually have need to use it pre-whelping.

I have an idea that if I do start the Callo-Cal prior to whelping that I should only start giving it a couple of days before expected birth of pups. Can anyone who uses it advise? As said, this is only asked bearing in mind that she is not consuming the amount of puppy food I would wish her to have. She will eat raw meat but we're not true raw feeders, so she's not getting bones.

Many people have found that giving calcium supplements during pregnancy actually increases the likelihood of eclampsia post-whelping (it happened to my own bitch before I knew better) so I would never do it.

I've been told and read not to give calcium in pregnancy, it can cause inertia and stop mum producing her own during whelping to keep it all going.  i was also advised to cut out any foods with extra calcium in teo weeks before.

Hope that helps.

I have given it for every litter since 2004 when a healthy Mum who was eating a good quality food plus a roast chicken every day, collapsed with Hypocalcaemia with a 5 weeks old litter of 8 ( smallish litter in our breed) that she had stopped feeding the week previous. I start it 2 days before expected whelping date and give it at 1 ml per kg bodyweight every day after until she is no longer feeding the puppies. This tops up any calcium being depleted from feeding and any excess is excreted in urine. NEVER give it more than 2 days pre whelping as yes it can trick the body into stopping making its own calcium as the body thinks the stores are full.My Mum was 20 mins from death and took weeks to recover. You cant tell which Mum may suffer and with which litter so I always use it.Two bottles suffice for the weeks I use it.

Wirelincs - I think it was an old post of yours I read, which is where I got the 2 days pre whelping from. I wasn't sure of the amount suggested though.

Many thanks for replies :-)

I used it post whelp for 5wks just stopped it.  She only has two to feed so feel ok about stopping and she's doing ok.  Sill monitor her just incase.

I used a product that is calcium ion based and comes highly recommended, you give it 7-10 days prior to due date. I did this with my maiden bitch, who whelped 10 days ago, never having used the product (or any calcium based supplement for that matter) before. She whelped first two pups speedily then contractions completely stopped, she was completely relaxed but I knew there were more pups to come. Tried feathering, walking her about but nothing. Rang vet 3 1/2 hours after last pup born . Took her to the surgery for around 4 am, as arranged by vet, this meant 4 1/2 hours since last pup born, oxytocin given, two contractions and then nothing. Emergency c-section performed resulting in 3 more pups - all well.
I have no clue why her contractions ceased, but it has made me wary of using the supplement again. Does anyone think it might have had this negative effect or was the secondary inertia unlikely to be anything to do with it ?

> Does anyone think it might have had this negative effect or was the secondary inertia unlikely to be anything to do with it ? <IMG class=qButton title="Quote selected text" alt="Quote selected text" src="/images/mi_quote.gif" width=20 height=10>

I think anyone answering that question is bound to be guessing.  So - my guess, for what it's worth.  It doesn't sound as if your girl had problems with the first 2 pups.  I think 5 pups is a good litter for a toy breed, and usually (not always) I would have expected problems with a very small litter, due to them not releasing enough hormones to get them going. 

Your girls cessation of contractions would probably have had me blaming the supplement too.

Thanks Jean, as you say we can never know for sure, but all went so well for the first two pups, they were born quickly and without any effort at all,  it was very strange the way it all just came to a complete standstill. Won't use it again anyway.

I've always been told to give them a calcium tablet a day for up to 5 days after they've given birth.

I use calciboost and vet drops during labour[nothing before then] as have other breeders I know and not had a problem.

There could have been a problem with the second horn not contracting hence everything stopped, if the first pup in the horn is lying awkwardly then that can hold things up, I wouldn't be too quick to blame the calcium supplement.

Thanks. Vet never really said anything about position of the pups that he delivered via c-section. I will try and find out when I take her to have her sutures removed in the morning. I just assumed that if one had been malpresenting he would have made a point of telling me when I collected her, mind you it was around 5 am and I think he just wanted to get back home to bed for a bit and I didn't ask as I just wanted to get Mum and babies home too . I would still opt not to use the calcium ion supplement again no matter what.