Animed Di-Cal Powder

[carmen in nj]

I attended a Breeders brain storm session this weekend and this product was highly recomended and reviewed. the rep was very nice and had a lot of knowledge about their products, but we disagree in the consuption of calcium of a pregnant dog. besides that I think is a good product, I did bought a jar and are planing to try it with Delilah, during whelping and after, we do agree in the importance of calcium during and after whelping to prevent an eclampsia attack. anyone else has experience with it, good or bad?
thanks in advance.
Carmen in nj

Animed Di-Cal Powder is an excellent source of calcium and phosphorus when supplemention is indicated, especially in young, growing pups and pregnant females.

Di-Cal is an easy to use powder, which can be mixed with your pets normal food ration: no messy liquids or difficult to use pills.
Calcium & Phosphorus Supplement
up to a 192-day Supply Recommended Dosage: Feed ½ to 1 teaspoom per 10 lb body weight daily mixed with normal food ration. Feed amount doubles for pregnant and lactating females.

Each ounces contains (not less than): Calcium (max) 22 %, (min) 19 %
Phosphorus not less than 18.5 %
Flourine not more than 0.185%

[Suze225]

Carmen,

Now this is not to replace the calsorb or whichever calcium gel we keep on hand in case of emergencies, but more so as just a daily supplement, correct?

[carmen in nj]

that is correct, this is to keep her calcium up, the oral cal plus I give right after whelp and keep handy in case her calcium goes low, this powder is the right supplement to keep her calcium levels right.
hugs,

[bjh]

I am not familiar with that product so I cannot comment on it but I do want to relay my experience with eclampsia since you are most likely expecting a large litter. Earlier this year one of my yorkies had a litter of eight. She had had a litter of 6 over a year earlier and she had no problems with eclampsia. I had always given my nursing mommas one Doc Roy's Healthy bone per day, 1/2 in morning and 1/2 in the evening. Over the years I have only had a few problems with eclampsia so I had always used the Cal-sorb and it worked great in stopping eclampsia attacks. This time my new momma started showing signs of eclampsia in the morning when her pups were 11 days old. I started giving her the Oral Cal Plus since it had been recommended by other breeders and it had no effect on her. She was getting worse so my husband rushed her to the vet. By the time he got there her temp was around 105. The vet gave her intravenous calcium and sent her home. He said to increase her calcium to two tablets a day and that it would be okay to let her nurse once she was producing milk again. I had to feed the pups for that day and by the evening the momma had plenty of milk so I put the pups back on her. We had no problems after that but I made absolutely sure the momma was eating lots of meals and she was getting her two calcium tablets a day. All eight puppies did great.

My concern is that if the Oral Cal Plus is really as effective as the Cal-sorb so from now on I will make sure I have the Cal-sorb on hand.

One of the biggest challenges of raising a litter is making sure the momma eats plenty of food. Many of my new mammas are hand fed for at least the first few days. I have had a few mommas that want to be hand fed for weeks. In the case of the momma that had eight pups, she was being a picky eater and was not eating as much as she should. Once I figured out what she wanted she ate really good. I ended up soaking her dry puppy food and adding some canned Pedigree Healthy Digestion to the soaked kibble and she loved it.

I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming litter. You will definitely have your work cut out.

[carmen in nj]

thank you, for your post , very interesting.. I have oral cal plus on hand, my experience with calsorb was the oposite, Taffy vomited after each dose, so i had to have the oral cal plus shipped overnight to me, so I been using it on my gals since then. the Di cal is a supplement that she will take every day and is the right balance of calcium and phosphorus.. I am just curious if anyone else have heard of it or is planing on using it, I got 2 jars on hand for Delilah..
hugs,

[Suze225]

My Bella also had an eclamptic attack with her first litter. NOT her normal vet had recommended too small of a dose of her calcium daily meds. (Said to give her 1/4 of a pill 2 times a day, when it should have been 1/2 a pill two times per day.) Bella had such an issue with diet after her first litter and would only eat meat, chicken to be exact. WOULD NOT TOUCH DOG FOOD. So my thinking was ok get her to eat what she will, and if chicken was it, chicken was it. To my horror at about 3 weeks she started shaking, couldn't walk properly, and was very lethargic. I knew instantly what it was, and administered calsorb.....she got a bit better, but kept panting and shaking.....off to the emergency vet we went. (OF course this happened at 11pm on a saturday night!!!!) Thankfully with a bit more calsorb in the car on the way, she made a vast improvement. ER vets gave her IV calcium and kept my poor baby over night. (750.00 bill later!!!)

We bottle, drop fed the pups, OM what a NIGHTMARE, they wanted nothing to do with the bottle or formula. ER Vet recommended letting one pup nurse at a time, and to bottle feed the others, and recommended the same dose of calcium to supplement.

Monday morning, everyone was better, off we went to Bellas normal vet. I told him what happened, they drew blood to get calcium levels, he instantly told me what the problem was. She was misdosed the correct dose of calcium supplements by 2 prior vets and her diet of meat only basically depleted her calcium stores. (There was a very long explanation to how this works, but basically they said, she needs a good quality puppy food, and she WILL eat it when she gets hungry. Which she did after a good 6 hours. I was just trying to get her to eat whatever she could, guess I was in the wrong.) My 2 vets and I discussed spaying her and both said they couldn't recommend spaying her at this time because the eclamptic attack was diet related.

My vets let Bella back to nursing, and they monitored her calcium levels ever 2.5 days for 1 week to make sure they didn't go down. Which with proper diet and supplements they didn't!!!!

She since gave birth to a 2 pup litter and with proper diet and supplements, not one issue with any low calcium levels. We did have her tested at 2 weeks after whelp, and they were on the high side of normal!!! So I am extremely careful with the calcium. I have 2 large bottles of calsorb on hand plus 2 bottles of canine calcium supplements for nursing dogs. I can only hope and pray with the knowledge I have acquired that my T Bell will not have any low calcium issues, but am very worried with us also having what we believe to be a 6 pup litter!

[bjh]

Originally Posted by carmen in nj

thank you, for your post , very interesting.. I have oral cal plus on hand, my experience with calsorb was the oposite, Taffy vomited after each dose, so i had to have the oral cal plus shipped overnight to me, so I been using it on my gals since then. the Di cal is a supplement that she will take every day and is the right balance of calcium and phosphorus.. I am just curious if anyone else have heard of it or is planing on using it, I got 2 jars on hand for Delilah..
hugs,

Were you using the Calsorb because the momma was having a eclampsia attack? The one female I had to use it on when she was having an eclampsia attack did throw up too but her calcium levels came up quickly and she did not have to go to the vet. Her pups were about 5 weeks old at the time and she had her attack in the morning before she had breakfast.

[bjh]

Sue, thanks for sharing your experience with eclampsia. We all learn so much from each others experiences. I am glad your girl did okay after getting the proper dosage. You are so right about feeding the right food. I have always felt that a good quality puppy food should be the main ingredient of the nursing momma's diet.

[carmen in nj]

Originally Posted by bjh

Were you using the Calsorb because the momma was having a eclampsia attack? The one female I had to use it on when she was having an eclampsia attack did throw up too but her calcium levels came up quickly and she did not have to go to the vet. Her pups were about 5 weeks old at the time and she had her attack in the morning before she had breakfast.

yes,her calcium had gone down, the 4 babies were about 4 and a half weeks.. Taffy woke me up pacing in the room and was panting and her temp was about 105. so I ran and gave her a dose of calsorb and she vomited so I panicked and called my son who rush with her to the ER, where he worked, and she got a dose of calcium, I called my mentor and she recomended oral cal plus, and I been using it since. and on Puppy food, yes all my mom's get to eat puppy food the week they get mated all thru the weaning of their pups...
hugs,

[noochie2742]

I was chatting with a breeder who had a yorkie come down with eclampsia the day before whelping. She had fostered her out for her pregnancy and thinks its possible that they did not take proper care of her. She's bred again is there anything we can do to provent this from happening again.

[carmen in nj]

While she is pregnant a good puppy food will do high calcium before whelping is not recomended, studies had shown that too much calcium during pregnancy can cause uterine inertia,and we don't want that, so a good food and three small meals a day do very good, I also give my pregnant girls a scramble egg every other day. this girl should be on calcium from whelping to weaning tho..

[Yorkiemom1]

Originally Posted by carmen in nj

While she is pregnant a good puppy food will do high calcium before whelping is not recomended, studies had shown that too much calcium during pregnancy can cause uterine inertia,and we don't want that, so a good food and three small meals a day do very good, I also give my pregnant girls a scramble egg every other day. this girl should be on calcium from whelping to weaning tho..

I would also have a baseline calcium level drawn at intervals, one now, so you can follow her calcium levels...if you dont check her calcium levels, you are guessing where you are and where you are going.