hii was reading a thread and folic acid came up regarding cleft palates.i have a bracc bread and hopefully my girlis in whelp i am waiting for scan tomorrow for confirmation ,i was told to give wheatgerm capsules prior to breeding until 3 weeks after and B Complex Sublingual Liquid.should i use folic acid or is it too late

The research seems to suggest that you give the folic acid from a couple of months before season is due, up and until 3 weeks after whelping. Therefore, it certainly wouldn't do any harm to give it, but it would be too late re cleft palates.
Don't know where that thread went though!

> Don't know where that thread went though!

It was part of a much longer thread which despite my best efforts clearly identified the breed involved and lead to puppy enquiries being sent by PM to the OP. Unfortunately I can't split off useful content from a thread and just move the rest.

Totally understand :-)

does anyone know how much to give an 8 kg dog please

These are a few links posted on the moved thread (for reference)

http://www.ivis.org/journals/vetfocus/16_2/en/5.pdf

http://clubs.akc.org/astc/health/astchlth/folic/

http://hnecc.org/a-folic_acid.html

http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/breeding/nutrition.htm

im so confused by how much to give .it says 5mg but all the pots ive found are 400iu.trying to do a conversion and all different medicines convert differently.i had my girl scanned and is approx 4 weeks pregnant yea.i have given her half a tablet,can anyone help if i am giving her the right amount i would be so grateful

I have only dealt with human doses and the tablets were yellow and 5mgs.

Just checked and there is no conversion as iu's vary depending on the drug you are trying to convert.

Just found 400iu=400mcg=4mgs

Hope that helps

oh great thank you so i can give her the whole tablet.thanks for replying

I give mine the 5mg tablets from Boots or Tesco,  from first sign of season till pups born.  I have never found any info on the average number of clefts in my breed, but it seems higher in my Brachy breed than in my Spaniel breed.  Looking at my last  4 litters (2 of 6 and 2 of 3) 1 cleft palate out of the total.

i have had 5 litters of the same breed as you 1st litter 5 none,2nd litter of actually 9 1 still born 2 mummified 1 cleft palate
different girl 1st litter of 4 none,2nd litter of 5 none
different girl only 1 litter of 4 1 cleft palate
so i have had a few

I must get some in nearer to time I hope to mate my newest girl, won't do any harm to be prepared  as seasons can creep up on you out of the blue sometimes, not sure which stud to use yet, have the choice of 3, one line bred and 2 out crosses.

I used folic acid with about 4 litters over a period of about 3 years, and had my only cleft palates in 2 of the litters.  Stopped using it and not had any since.  Don't think it is significant, but don't think it prevents it either. 

To be fair, the research that has been done over the years does seem to suggest a definite reduction in the incidence of cleft palates, even if that has not proved to be the case for you personally. It does tie in with the recommendation that women take it for a few months before they plan to try to conceive and for the first twelve weeks of gestation, in order to prevent neural tube defects.