I have only started feeding Raw in the last 6 months so am still very unsure of everything.  Dogs are healthy and happy and my dog(which I had bother keeping weight on) is now filling out perfectly.  My question is, I recently mated one of my girls and I am at a loss as to what to do.  Has anyone on here got experience of raw diet and pregnancy? Or did you put your girl onto complete puppy food(which I would normally do)?  If you kept her on raw, did you need to alter the diet any to support the bitch and pups?
I would just move her onto complete for the time being but when I did this last night she wouldn't eat at all and sat pawing through the gate at the others' bowls!  I gave in in the end and gave her a big bowl of meat and it was gone in seconds!lol.  I know what she prefers!
Help please :)

My girls are raw fed and when they are in pup I just up the amounts the same as I would if they were on complete. The only thing I do extra if you like is to pick out the chicken carcasses that have the most meat on them, I may also give a little more in the way of treats like a raw egg or some tinned fish just to keep the appetite up. I make sure there is a good ratio of bone and fat in the diet. The staple tripe/minced completes like oily fish/tripe or veg/offle I just increase the amounts in the last couple of weeks. I only give the pups a little complete as they get older (Raw to start then I add a little meal of Orijen/fish 4 dogs/chappy complete) to let them have a variety in case my new owners are not sure about raw. (Though I much preferr them to continue with raw :-) ) The Mum has her raw all the way through pregnacy and latation but gets unlimited food at her most milk productive time.
Aileen

Merlot, your a star I couldn't have said better myself I agree with you this is exactly what I do, I hope  a few more people follow your recomendation it  produces good healthy puppies and their mum will look well too.

One of my girls recently had a litter (all have homes) this was the first time I had fed raw, she ate well all the way through pregnancy, which she didn't do last time when on a dry complete, her milk has been in great supply, her pups gaining 90+ grams in 24 hours, which is quite a bit in my breed.  The pups are good solid, healthy pups and mum is looking amazingly well too, will definitely use it again in the future.

My concerns were the bags I get from the butcher is a lot of beef.  Some good cuts, fatty bits and singuey bits.  I add bone to the diet by giving chicken drumsticks but apart from that (and house leftovers), she doesn't get a whole lot of variety.  She won't eat fruit and veg, even cooked, as I've tried cooking a bit extra at tea time and adding some to her bowl but still she won't eat it.  She has only started to eat the drumstick!
She is eating really well and I feed her as much as she wants because she's never been a great eater but since moving onto raw, she loves her dinner now.  But she is eating better since getting mated too.  Plenty of fat on the bones now!lol.
What about calcium? Should I be giving her goats milk or anything?

If she is eating drumsticks then she will be getting her calcium...I feed chicken necks and carcasses for the bone content. The beef is fine but you could get some tripe from the pet shops and add it. My lot love thier veg and I just buy bags of frozen (The cheepest) and thaw it out and feed it mixed with thier food but no reason why you should not give any left over cooked veg if you like but she does not need it. I do not pulp raw veg. I do however get some complete mixed minced  veg/offle/beef/tripe mix from Albion and this does have some pulped veg in it.
The chicken carcasses I find are great as they often have some of the organ meat still in them so thats a bonus. Have you asked your butcher to save them for you? I get all mine from Albion as butchers often these days do little real "Butchering" and a lot of thier meat comes in ready to sell. Raw fed dogs do need organ meat such as liver, kidneys, and the like. Heart is good but not classed as organ meat.
Maybe now you have had 6 months to get her started it's time to add little bits of the things she has not tried yet, just tiny bits.
My lot love raw sprats, again they are whole and have the organ meat still inside them. I find they are not so keen on bigger fish unless I cut the heads off and take any larger bones out, but sprats they eat with relish.
Aileen

Oh, I like the sprats idea, Aileen.  She won't eat the carcasses :(  My butcher is very old school and butchers all his own stuff so I am able to get whatever I want.  I got some carcasses but ended up having to throw some out as it was only my fat, greedy girl that would eat them!  Also, with the offal.  Runs straight through all of mine.  This is why I'm so concerned.  I've started to add egg to the pregnant(Hopefully)ones dinner at night and she eats this fine.  I might try frying a little liver/kidney and see if she will eat it better that way?
Argh!! Sometimes I feel like giving up but when I'm making their tea, I've got tiggers all over the kitchen!lol. Only thing that keeps me at it.

Try cutting the carcasses into smaller pieces, My big girlies crunch the whole lot up but some dogs need to work up to a whole one so I have in the past got  some large secatures and  cut the carcasses into three.
She does need organ meat, not much but it is needed. Try flash frying it in small bits just enough to seal the outside.
Eggs are a good food, but not too many, though mine would eat them every day given the choice ! Chicken wings too are good if she chews them up (I do not feed then to my big mouthed dogs they swallow them whole )
Whole hearts are good both beef and lamb.
Beef and lamb tongue (Raw of course) is a favourite in our house too.
Good luck
Aileen
Feed offle in very very small amounts untill they are used to it, they don't need a lot ! Too much will give them the runny tummies !

Aahh, I'm maybe feeding too much then.  Runny tummies is a very nice way of putting what I find in the morning if I feed it.  I was just giving the girls whole livers/kidneys when the butcher gave them to me.  Bit much!lol.  I will buy the offal in tescos.  If I say anything to my butcher than I need, he goes completely over-board.  I asked for some bone once(he gives me knuckles but no smaller bones) and he gave me 2 carrier bags full and said I could get that much 3 times per week!!Eek!  It was the same with the offal.  So now I stick to the off-cuts and muscley bits and buy the rest(chicken wings/drummers).  My kids are moaning though that I spend more time thinking about the dogs diet than I do theirslol.  But I figure it's the least I can do since I chose not to feed them complete which is nutritionally balanced.
Thanks for all the good advice, Aileen.
PS  So I don't need to add calcium? Milk or yoghurt?

I never have though once they are feeding hungry pups at max capacity I often put a drop of milk in the water to encourage fluid intake.
Aileen
PS My girlies love to share a pot of live yoghurt once a week so if she likes it no reason not to give a little every so often.