I have a bitch who is just over 6 weeks pregnant and wont eat, we have tried lots of different things including pro plan puppy,burns, various puppy meats and adult meats, she has always been a fussy eater but now we are having to hand feed her food just to try and get her to eat as shEs not interested at all, we are managing to get her to eat boiled chicken, and tripe and eggs,but that's about it and are giving her smaller meals but more often, she has been to the vets and been checked out and everything is fine with her they said it's probably her hormones, I was wandering if there was any other suggestions of food we cud try to help build her up ready for the arrival of pups as am worried her just eating tripe and chicken isn't enough?

I think we have all had this worry at some time or another.  I had one bitch that went so long without eating that I was amazed how fat her pups were when she whelped.  So it isn't uncommon.  They do it as punishment to us, for getting them pregnant!  :-)

Hand feeding sounds normal to me, so you are doing as much as you can.  It may help to try very smelly stuff.  Have you tried pilchards in tomato sauce?  I also buy the basics range of white fish, which most supermarkets stock.  You may get odd sizes in a pack, but your girl won't care.  I poach mine in half milk, half water.

Thanks  for the reply, I haven't tried pilchards so will go and buy some, I tried white fish and tuna which she usually loves but wasn't so interested in that! The vet said she still has some fat reserved in her body, so I think if we keep doing what were doing.

many bitches go through that stage .

Scrambled egg with strong cheddar cheese never fails to go down when they are being picky, bland stuff doesn't take their fancy at all. Hopefully as the pups start growing rapidly in size her appetite will improve to keep up.

Pups and human babies are like parasites, they take all the nourishment they need at the expence of Mum. The day before I had my son I was 2st. lighter than I had been at the start of the pregnancy[I vomited for 90% of the time], he weighed 9lbs and I lost another 1.25st.

My bitch hasn't been eating properly since about four weeks in, only now is she actually eating out of her bowl again. I put our other dog away in his crate and leave her to it, she wanders about a bit and then eats about half. I usually take the rest and feed it by hand; it's not so bad and I feel happy to know she's getting something! She's been on puppy food since about week five as she was eating so little. This is a bitch who never missed a meal before now!

Our bitch was the same at about 4 weeks in she went off her food, then we thought wed cracked it as we gave her tripe and puppy food she ate the whole lot straightaway for about a week then has gone off that now so were back to chicken and tripe, we are goin to try pilchards tonight to see if we have any luck with that!! I hope
Her appetite picks up soon!!

When my bitch was pregnant and she was going through this stage, which seemed to last forever, I would make her dinner up on an old 'human dinner plate' sit down beside her in the whelping box or wherever. Pretend to eat some of the food myself, make some daft encouraging noises about how tasty it was and then offer some to her. The trick was to let her believe it was my dinner she was eating from my plate. Normally forbidden. Nine times out of ten she would join in with the feast! Where as if i'd served it in her own dog bowl shed just walk off!

Sounds like my picky princess Zebedee (who is too young to even consider being pregnant, and unlikely to be of good enough quality), but she often eats food from our plates that she has ignored in her own bowl! :-p

Im not a breeder but when my dogs go through a fussy phase boiled white boneless fish always does the trick,i mix it still warm through their usual kibble and they love it!