Hi guys

I have a pregnant girl who is almost 3 and is currently at day 50.
She's been displaying nesting behavior and digs on the floor.
Her vulva never got smaller since her heat. She's been quite mucousy the entire 7th week.
All signs of pregnancy.

She didn't go through a dramatic morning sickness on her 3rd and 4th week which is great.
At week 5, I started to increase her food by 25%, which she ate.
She has been gaining weight steadily.

BUT by end of week 6, her appetite plummeted and she doesn't want to eat!
Week 6 I was desperate for her to eat something so I switched to just rice, wet food, and gravy, which she does eat bit by bit. She eats peanut butter as well. But as of a few days ago she only eats at noon, and the other 2 meals I have to force feed her. And force feeding her is messy.

I feel bad enough to switch her to this junky diet from a 5 star dog food.
After feeding, her belly gets extra hard, which I think is exactly the reason of her lack of appetite. It's hard for her to keep food down. But she'll be perfectly fine to just skip all her meals if I didn't doctor it up. The expected increase in appetite never happened beyond week 6.

Her belly isn't big right now though. It's just sort of harder and rounder especially when she sits, you can feel this hard ball dropping to her lower belly and pooching. When she's on all fours though, her belly sort of spreads evenly so there is no dramatic pooching.

With regards to pregnancy confirmation, she never allowed the vet to palpate her. She'd play with the vet but when his hand goes to her belly, she'd go away. With ultrasound and X-Ray, it just stressed her SO much because she associates needles with the vet.

So I'm asking if this is normal, if you guys think she's really pregnant, and what I can do to make her want to eat more.

I've consulted with my vet and he advises me to check her temp which is in the normal range. And he said to get her to eat. Mash dog food in a blender if I have to.

For your feedback. Thanks.

Hi
I have a girl who goes off her food like this , although I would NEVER force feed her! Just try and tempt her with all sorts .
I tried so much , she would eat the occasional sprat , and cooked meats ( only the best from the deli counter ) which I would not normally feed , and wotsits , now I know that sounds bad but when you can't get them to eat you will give them almost anything . She would just sniff and walk away at most things.
I would just try and temp with different things .

I have a bitch that did this in her last pregnancy, she stopped eating at five weeks after slowing down her food intake, it was a nightmare. However I didn't force feed her, I did lay on the sofa and hand feed her pieces of kibble though. One thing I WON'T be doing which I did to last time was try and feed her really tempting foods that were too rich; I gave her smoked salmon scrambled eggs and it bought on a bout of pancreatitis at 8 weeks pregnant that was really stressful. So I would just stick to foods you know she does handle well. xx

I have never fed a bitch more food at any time when pregnant.  I have swapped their food to the puppy version from 6 weeks so extra calories and more fat and protein and calcium.     I did offer the ration in smaller meals more often as when the pups get bigger there's less room for food.   I would never force feed, it means ignoring what the bitch is telling you.

Our pups have always been very large for the breed and the litter sizes average for the breed at 4 pups.  If I'd given more food I dread to think how big they'd have been, they were ouch sized as it was!

So I guess I'm saying don't worry too much, just offer whatever she will eat, if you're offering it frequently it may be that she's getting more nourishment than you realise :-)

I too start puppy kibble at 6 weeks, 4 small meals and leave some with her over night too, as they don't need the quantity to still get the calorie value.

Did you start daily worming at 6 weeks too, she may have a worm load that is making her feel bloated

My girl went off her food at just over 4 weeks and never picked up until a good few days after the puppies were born!!  I was at my wits end, spent a fortune buying everything I could to try and most things were a no go.  She would eat oven baked chicken breast, baked liver and baked fish.  Most times I had to cut it up into treat size and take it out on a walk with me.  She never finished it and would start spitting it out but at least she was getting something.  She also ate tripe sticks and Jumbones but nothing  else at all, not even other dog treats.  The vet did give me AD to try and I bought a few crates. It was really expensive at £35 for 24 cans the size of a small tin of tuna.  I syringed it into the side of her mouth and she ate it.  Its very high in calories and is soft and moose like, you can also add water to it.  My girl is a giant breed so should have been on way more than she was taking.  In the end the pups were all good weights and have done well.  The vet did scare me saying she was at higher risk of developing eclampsia because of her poor pregnancy diet.

Force feeding ?

Glad you have come here to get advice.

Is this the first time you have had experience of breeding ?

> Force feeding ?
>
> Glad you have come here to get advice.
>
> Is this the first time you have had experience of breeding ?

Hi

This is her 1st.
Force-feeding I meant using a syringe without the tip and blending her kibble with canned food, sometimes an egg.

Yup I get all of you. But without this, she'll only eat one of her 4 meals, which would just be about 500 Calories.
That's alarming to just eat 500 when you're spending almost 2,000. She'll lose a pound in less than 3 days if that's the case.

Have you tried Fish4dogs salmon mousse, I find my dogs who are unwell,under the weather will eat that when nothing else interests them.

Vet/nutrodrops are high in calories but low in quantity and also useful as a standby supplement and easy to give.

I wonder why some pregnant dogs behave like this, is it like some humans who have a more extreme form of morning sickness but the dogs are not physically sick just nauseous.

You didn't comment re the daily worming?

I have never fed a bitch more food at any time when pregnant.  I have swapped their food to the puppy version from 6 weeks so extra calories and more fat and protein and calcium.

Doesn't work for all as it can be far too rich. I had one bitch get such serious diarrhoea from puppy food that I feared she'd die as she lost about 50 % of her body weight once the pups were born, it was very scary indeed. Since that day I will never, ever again change the food for a bitch that is either pregnant or has pups, I just increase the amounts and give plenty of smaller meals -up to six a day.

Have you considered maybe trying her with a bit of raw tripe,extremely stinky stuff but most dogs seem to love it.

Doesn't work for all as it can be far too rich. I had one bitch get such serious diarrhoea from puppy food that I feared she'd die as she lost about 50 % of her body weight once the pups were born, it was very scary indeed

This is why I mentioned litter size, in a breed which has larger litters extra feeding may be needed.  Bedlingtons don't seem to need much food compared to other dogs the same size and mine will only eat as much as they want, it's very difficult to get them to eat extra and any more than they're used to just comes out the other end as fast as it went in ;-).    Since the litters aren't usually large (although there can be exceptions) the bitch doesn't need to put on large amounts of weight.

It really does depend on the bitch, some may need extra of her usual food, some may need to have the same quantities of a puppy version of the food - both in smaller more frequent meals, but then some bitches don't need, or don't want any extra.  

Hi guys

She's finally picking up.
As of yesterday, her belly suddenly got rounder and harder and she's more mucous-y lately. And her flank is starting to fill in.

And she's loving her yummy food (1 cup of rice mixed with chicken gravy, topped with half a can of dog food, a tbsp of good oil, and 1/8 cup of her usual kibble. We feed this 3 to 4 times daily. She snacks on 2 tbsp of peanut butter.