Hello,

Daisy has been very fussy throughout her pregnancy and for the last few weeks has been refusing her usual dog meat and mixer and eating cat food. I have managed to mix some puppy complete in with it and up until today she has been eating this with gusto.  This morning however she decided not to touch it.  I left it down for a while and then took it away, i have offered it to her all through today and she is refusing to touch it.  I dont know what else i can try and am getting worried as for how long she can go without eating.

She is 52 days today and is otherwise fine.

Any advice appreciated, this is her first litter.

Hi Daisys,
My girl was exactly the same and in the end I just had to feed her raw minced beef and tinned tuna,these were the only things she would eat.
It is worth a try.
I also bought lactol and made a pint up everyday for her which she loved.I did this to ensure she still got enough nourishment.I dont know if it was the right thing to do but she went on to have a lovely healthy litter of 8 :D without withering away in the process (which she probably would have done as there was no way she was eating her usual food) :O

Phoebe went off her food in the last week, however she's made up for it now :-).  I wouldn't try to worry too much, I agree with waffy and suggest you try some mince - I haven't met a dog yet to turn their nose up at it :-)
I thought Lactol or Whelpi or other milk substitutes could cause diarrhoea when the bitch isn't used to drinking it - that was the advise given to my by my vet.....

Good luck anyway Daisy, I'm still not sleeping because of my 7 little darlings - but I wouldn't change it for the world :-)  I'd suggest you get some sleep in before they arrive :-o

I've just had to edit this post 3 times because of the spelling mistakes - sleep deprivation.....

my dog does this to what i do is by a noname tin of tuna in natural juices wet down her puppy biscuits until they are soggy and then relly mix it togeather that way she cannot pick out the biscuits works a charm

my bitch went off her food during the last week/ten days of her pregnancy
i tried tuna and mince too, it worked a treat. dont worry too much there's
probably not much room left inside her, when she's had her pups and got over the
shock and then feeding lots of pups, she will get her appetite back. good luck with the whelping
and catch up with your sleep, you have a hectic two months ahead of you.

Donna

Thankyou all for your advice, i will try the tuna and mince tommorow and hopefully she will eat that.
Its such a worrying time, i didnt realise i would fuss so much (im worrying more over her than i did over myself when i was pregnant lol).

Thanks again, ill keep you all posted.

Do you all use cooked or raw mince?

i use raw mince occasionally and i never cook my dogs meet because dogs arnt meant to eat cooked meat if all dogs where still in the wild and not domesticated they wouldnt be cooking what they kill they also prefer raw because of the blood

I gave Daisy a bowl of raw mince this morning and she wolfed it down. Later i will try her with some tuna and puppy biscuit. Im so relieved thats shes eating!

Thanks again to everyone for the info.

Clair x

I always gave my girl more or less whatever she fancied - she ate raw everything throughout both her pregnancies! I personally believe the bitch knows what her body needs.