Hello first post despite using the forum for many years. I have had multiple litters over the years with previous dogs but never had this issue before.

My girl is a little over 5 weeks pregnant on her first litter, she was left with the stud dog prior to lockdown before I get any comments about that... I also have homes for at least 6 puppies (family) which was the reason for having this litter in the first place( both parents fully health tested and low hips ). She has been scanned to confirm pregnancy, vet said he could only see 3(I'm aware of the inaccuracy).

Since about 2 weeks after mating her appetite has increased. She has not lost any weight and i have for the last week been offering her a 1/4 cup extra which she is wolfing down. My concern is she is hungry all the time at the minute... anyone had any experience of this? She is not normally a beggy dog nor one to bark at her food cupboard several times a day, but if she finds anything she can eat, she will. I don't usually offer extra food until mid week 5, early week six depending on how the bitch is acting.

Do I trust her insitics that she needs more food, or just put it down to  genetics of them being greedy?

Any advice would be appreciated because in  my 8/9 years of breeding [breed removed] I have never had one demand food constantly.

Thanks

I have always advised not to increase food BEFORE WHELPING.   Just like us, it's not a good idea for a pregnant bitch to gain weight pre-whelping.   Look at dogs in the wild - they stay lean and trim, for good reason.  Once you know how many puppies she has to cater for, then and only then up her food intake.  Most bitches don't have room for a big meal once they start carrying big puppies in any case and at that point, we cut back on the bulk, and concentrated on protein.   Unborn puppies will always take all they need.

I would definitely increase food in the last 'trimester'/last 3 weeks.  This is the period of rapid growth, when the pups' organs have developed and the main thing going on, is everything is getting bigger - so your girl needs food to build those bodies.

However, you need to balance the increase in food with not letting the pups grow TOO big inside, since large pups can cause problems at whelping.  I would definitely be giving her at least one extra meal a day by this point, the same size as the other meals.

I’ve always gone by the rule of thumb that it’s 10/15% increase at around 5/6 weeks then 6-9 work your way up to 30-50% an extra full meal be double the amount she’s normally eating... surely too soon for that?

> I would definitely increase food in the last 'trimester'/last 3 weeks.

I'm sorry to disagree but during the final 3 weeks, our dams never had enough ROOM inside for a drastic increase of food as suggested here!!  In fact we had to cut back on the bulk, concentrating on protein but again, and I can't emphasise this enough, it's not necessary for a bitch, (or us) to risk putting on weight just before giving birth.   Provided the bitch has been on a top quality diet from mating and right through pregnancy (and before mating for that matter) the puppies will take all they need from mum.  Again by all means up her intake once the puppies are born (mainly into the second week).   Our puppies were always around 16 - 18 oz at birth, which for my breed, was quite large enough when it came to a trouble-free whelping.

Each to their own I suppose - what works for each particular breed, and individual.

Sorry MamaBas, I disagree.  The only time I followed that advice, my bitch ended up severely underweight at whelping and then had to feed her puppies whilst also being almost skeletal herself.  We then had an absolute battle to get weight on her, whilst she was producing milk - which was almost impossible.  You can't tell the true condition of a pregnant bitch very easily until the pups come out and her body will give everything to the pups.

Almost every text book available on breeding or whelping pups advises an increase in food over the last 3 weeks - at the very very least.  Many suggest increasing food earlier than that.  (Ie Avidog recommendations are that food is increased from the second trimester and then increased again for the third trimester.)

I have to say I know what you mean with that, I had a bitch that I didn’t know was pregnant until week 7 wasn’t showing at all just noticed the discharge (must have had a silent heat), I free fed her due to having no additional food(literally a full bowl constantly out) she went on to have ten healthy pups but my god she was skin and bone, no matter how much she ate for the first 5 weeks she didn’t put any weight on and started loosing fur... took her about 6 month to a year to get back to normal.

You will find lots of opposing advice.  We all do what we think is right.


I always trust a dogs instincts, and let them tell me how much is needed. At whatever stage of pregnancy.

My bitch needed her food upping as her ribs and spine were becoming visible, I was cautious and it wasn’t an exact amount as I kept checking her build but if I hadn’t upped her food she would of been skin and bones, she’s very athletic normally so doesn’t carry any spare weight.