Our bitch is nearly 5 weeks now and lost her appetite for the past week. I've tried different things to tempt her but all she does is pick out the meat. She is having a fair size litter (scan) so I am worried about her nutrition. Any suggestions welcome please.
Sue

some bitches do go off their food I would not worry too much, just try giving her more of what she will eat she wont starve herself, give her cooked meat, rabbit etc and try giving her a little goats milk diluted with water, maybe an egg yolk mixed up in there also, you will probably find she will eventually eat you out of house and home before long, try giving little and often some dogs cant eat a lot at each meal because their stomach is so distened anyway, so theres little room left for a large mealthere will be others who reply to this post with their recommendations hope this helps a bit
Tracy

I agree she probably hasn't got much room little and often is the answer if possible a good quality high protein food with green tripe or anything, sardines, anything that might tempt her. But yes she will eat you out of house and home once she has had them.

Just agreeing with the other posters. Lots of small meals of high-quality protein and not too much carbohydrate, and make sure the carbohydrate she does get is easily digestible - rice, potato, porridge etc. And bran to prevent constipation. There's not a lot of room in there for the gut to function properly, so don't overload it.

Hope it all goes well.

Hi Star,

My Rough Collie girl was the same for much of her pregnancy - only thing she would eat for most of it was rice pudding, so she had lots of that as I figured something was better than nothing. You could see she was hungry, but physically couldn't stomach anything meaty, as she'd put her face in the bowl and then virtually gag! Towards the end of the pregnancy, she did go back towards more meaty things.

She whelped and reared 8 healthy puppies, so don't worry too much.

M.

hi i have the same problem with my cavalier,shes 7 weeks gone and wont even look at anything unless its hand fed!! little madam!!i have resorted to frying her sausages....giving her ham/chicken etc....dog biccis...basically wotever i can get her to eat.im not sure how healthy this is for her but i figured somthing is better than nothing rite?!!! emma

I actually tried mincing up the dried, soaking it with gravy and adding meat. So far so good, she has eaten the last 2 meals

My i whelp bitch looks like a whippet at the moment. Even before yeaterdays scan I knew she must be in whelp, as she has been very picky, trying to steal our food, and diving for anything in the gutter, but turning her nose up at what is in her dish!!!!

Your best bet is to feed her several times a day, and give her anything you are having for tea that is suitable also! This is the one time I will pander to them.

My girl had her last litter 3 years ago, and I was convinced she wasn't pregnant at four weeks as she loked thinner than ever, but she went on to have 9 pups!!! Half that number this time would be nice.

I have even had to force feed a bitch who had enteritis half way thorugh pregnancy, and I think just had an aversion to food. Four times a day I fed her soaked food, and pushed meatball sized portions down her thorat and made her swallow. I did this every day four times a day from week five of pregnancy, until pups were weaned. The experience was shattering, but at least we had a weell reared litter, and a bitch that maintained acceptable condition.

wow brainless! im sorry to hear of your bad experience last time but it has reassured me no end!!
poppy isnt so bad that she would need to be force fed, i really have been worrying over nothing!:)

Well actually this was nearly 3 years ago, with a friends bitch, but the pups are all little pigs, and need to have their weight watched :D

lol....:):)