Hi

My bitch is 5 weeks pregnant and has suddlenly found her appitite. Normally she is not a greedy dog and will only eat what she wants but the last couple of days she has been begging off the kids at meal times and constantly asking for food. I have increased her food but Should I feed her as much as she wants. Tonight after her larger than normal tea she is barrel shaped and looked uncomfortable. I have started to give her a extra meal during the day to. She is normally on two meals. She has also had a bit of a upset tum so worried if I over feed her this will make it worse.

Thanks

Wendy

the best way to beat her hunger is to feed her several meals a day so potion out what she should be eating right now into several meals. They do require more food but you dont want to over feed because an over weight dog in whelp is dangerous. Right now her food is being digested quicker and portioned out between her and her pups and in a few more weeks it will be portioned out between her, her pups and the starting of milk production so she need the several meals a day so she doesnt get hungry she has constant nutrition and her blood sugar level does not drop.

Wityh mine I slowly increase the amount to about half as much as normal, but have them on a puppy food omnce I know they are in whelp.  Several small meals a day.

Hi

So rather than give her a bigger meal make it more smaller ones I feed  raw and she will wont touch puppy food. I have got some and tried her but it goes in the bucket.I will try her again as she is so hungry she may just take it. When you say puppy food are you talking about Pedigree chum puppy food. It is the only one I have seen.

Thanks

Wendy

Most brands of dog food do a puppy variety.

Hi

Unfortunalty my local shops seem to think that only pedigree make pet foods. I need to venture further a field for some variety

Wendy

Hi lumphy,

If you have no luck getting a complete DRY puppy food from your local stores, you can always buy from the Internet, there are many, many good sites, just search for dog food. It may be better to order a large bulk package for your bitch and the forthcoming pups.

For your bitch who is not used to this food, I would recommend soaking it in warm (pre-boiled) water until it is soft, then cook some fresh mince, drip all the juice over the complete soaked food and then mix in the mince, your bitch should enjoy eating the complete as it will taste of the meat juice.  Try your hardest to give her the complete food as it has a balanced diet of all the vitamins, minerals and proteins for mum and the pups and will give them a good start. :-)

Although complete dry is all you need, you can still give her some raw too as this is her usual diet, I always sneak a few bits in too.

Hi

thanks

Hadnt even crossed my mind to look for a complete dry food for her. As I feed raw I havent looked at dry food for ages.

I will have a look and see what they have. I could actually leave that down for her to nibble on as the other dog wouldnt touch it, being such a fussy sod  lol.

Even if she gets fed half complete and have raw(at different meals) at least she is getting some of the goodness from the food.

Thanks again

Wendy

I also feed raw & the Dam of my last litter stayed completely raw all the way through ~ she is a dustbin when it comes to food :rolleyes:  I have to say that if your girl is happy with her raw then why risk upsetting her tummy by feeding a complete food that she doesn't need?  It would be better for her & her babies to stick with a good raw diet :)

I don't know if you follow any particular raw food regime, ie, Billinghurst or Lonsdale?  I tend to go by Billinghurst but a lot less veg than he recommends.  If you've got "Grow Your Pups With Bones" then there is some excellent feeding advice for the pre/in-whelp & nursing bitch.

My pups are now 8 weeks old, have been completely reared on raw (save for a token of puppy wholebake) & are the biggest & best puppies I've had so far.  Mum was raw fed from very early on as she can't tolerate complete foods, they make her scratch like mad.

Hope that is of some help, feel free to ask for any more info while it's still fresh in my puppy tired brain

Hi

Personally I would prefer to keep her on a raw diet but I keep having panic attacks that she is not getting everything she needs from the meat. She is looking really well and blooming but I keep getting told to feed puppy food to make sure she is getting all the nutrients ect.

I dont follow any particular diet, have read up a lot on raw feeding though on the net. My other dog a GSD had problems and it was for him mainly I changed there feeding but they are both doing so well on it.

She eats a mixture of, chicken with bones, ,  kidneys, tinned fish, raw eggs, turkey, lamb or beef mince. She also use to get liver but not while pregnant. She also use to eat plain yogart but has gone of it since being preggy to. No veg as neither of them will touch it.

Is this enough for her. She is a very small dog so doesnt really eat that much at a sitting. Normally a small chicken drumstick would fill her up.

Do I need to introduce anything else. This is my first litter since feeding raw. Her last litter she went of her food and I had to hand feed her cooked chicken. The way she is eating at the moment I cant see her doing that this time

Wendy

What breed is she ??

My CKCS had a litter 9 days ago, after 5 weeks pregnant she has 3-4 small meals a day as she couldn't eat large quantities as her tum got very full and fast !!

Hi

she is a Jack Russel. The last time I said what breed she was it was edited out so I havent mentioned it again.

Wendy

Hi Wendy

If your girl is looking so good then she's obviously getting everything she needs :)  Please be assured that I know how it feels to be worried that you might be missing giving something but the dogs are usually a good indicator :)

Normally by 5 weeks mine go onto 3 meals then at 6 weeks onto 4 which is what they usually stay on but I'm not rigid on that!  What you've put down sounds fine to me, she seems to be getting a good mix & a lot of red meats which is good.  The only thing that changed here was amounts given & she didn't get any liver.  I did find that about the week before whelping the dogs turn their noses up at carcasses, wings etc but would eat minced chicken.

Do you supplement at all?  Mine get Fish Body Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Vit E & Keepers Mix (Dorwest Herbs).  I do also give a token handful of Natural Choice Wholebake or a bit of pasta.

Hope that helps a bit :)