Question for breeders.

[Gracy]

I feed my girls Nutro Puppy food with Lamb & Rice.
Lulu has had 3 very healthy litters.
My Lily is due in 2 weeks,for the first time. My vet suggested Purina Puppy food if she becomes finacky.
They need a high protein diet. Also it wouldn't hurt to test her blood level
to make sure everything is ok.
Good luck

[yorkiegold]

Originally Posted by feminvstr

Prenatal calcium increases the chances of eclampsia or AKA milk fever.
As well adding calcium can cause metabolic, nutritional imbalances in your moms diet. As well excess vitamins may be harmful to the puppies interfering with their proper growth stages.

hope this helps

These are all of the good reasons why you should never feed puppy food to a pregnant bitch. Puppy food contains added calcium.

The wisest approach is to simply increase the bitches regular food. She will need you to feed her smaller, more frequent meals as she gets bigger. Avoid adding cod liver oil until about the 7th week.

CJ

[feminvstr]

The bitch should eat a premium adult food prior to pregnancy and for the first few weeks of pregnancy. Starting the fourth week of pregnancy, begin adding a premium puppy food to her diet. Each week, increase the amount of the puppy food and decrease the amount of adult food, so when she is in her final week of pregnancy, she is eating all puppy food. Increase the frequency of daily meals to three by mid-pregnancy. She may need to eat small meals every 3-4 hours during the last week of pregnancy as the puppies continue to take up more room (remember, most fetal growth occurs in the last two weeks of gestation).

Within 2-3 days of giving birth, the bitch's appetite will dramatically increase to 2-4 times her pre-pregnancy intake. She will need a near-constant supply of a high-quality puppy food and water to maintain her weight and health while feeding the puppies. She should still have her supplements of vitamin/mineral tablet, cottage cheese, and cooked egg. If her weight is properly maintained, she should not look gaunt or thin. Ideally, she should weigh the same at the time of weaning as she did when she was bred.

[Gracy]

Just want to give accurate information.
So I looked up Eclampsia.
My Lily is due in 2 weeks and just like
my Lulu I knew it is important to make sure they have a correct diet.


Puppy food is always suggested, because it is high in Protein and Calcium.
Insufficient Calcium causes Eclampsia.
I copied and Paste the information below from a creditable site.
I hope this will help all, I know I feel better that my Lily is eating for herself
and for her puppies.



CANINE ECLAMPSIA

Canine Eclampsia, also erroneously called "milk fever", is a startling and dangerous condition brought on by extremely low levels of calcium in the blood stream. Also called hypocalcemia and puerperal tetany, I consider these episodes emergencies so the patient is admitted as soon as possible.

Most commonly seen in small to mid-sized bitches a few weeks after whelping, this condition should be watched for closely. A typical call to my office goes like this:

"Doctor, my four year-old Schnauzer whelped five puppies two weeks ago. She was fine until today when she started pacing and didn't want to nurse. Now she's worse and panting, shaking all over, and can't even stand up."

The following is a brief outline of what the typical case of Canine Eclampsia looks like:


Signs:
Muscle tremors, restlessness, panting, incoordination, grand mal seizures and fever as high as 106

Causes:
Hypocalcemia (low blood calcium) brought on by the following:

1. Poor Nutrition - "Home brewed" diets usually are at fault. The owner innocently may be adding too much unbalanced meat to the bitch's diet, thinking the extra protein is beneficial. What's really happening is the calcium to phosphorus ratio is out of balance because the amount of useful calcium in the food is actually reduced! The ideal contains a ratio of calcium to phosphorus of 1.2 to 1. (Many organ meats such as liver have a ratio of calcium to phosphorus of 1 to 15!! Liver is great for dogs but if it comprises a large part of the diet, the calcium/phosphorus ratio of the diet will be improper.)

2. Low Blood Levels of Albumen - Dietary protein deficiency or excessive loss from the body of albumen, which happens in some kidney diseases, will cause low levels of calcium.

3. Disease of the Parathyroid Glands - This condition is quite rare.

4. Excessive Milk Production - When pups require large amounts of milk (10 to 30 days post whelping) the bitch's ability to maintain proper amounts of calcium in her blood stream becomes stressed. Milk production has priority over the blood stream for calcium!

Treatment:

[Lady of Yorkies]

2. Low Blood Levels of Albumen - Dietary protein deficiency or excessive loss from the body of albumen, which happens in some kidney diseases, will cause low levels of calcium.


What foods does the Albumen occur in naturally?

Do you feed the whole boiled egg or just the yolk or white?

Dang! Am I lazy or what? I just want all the answers handed to me! LOL

[txshopper73]

Originally Posted by feminvstr

Prenatal calcium increases the chances of eclampsia or AKA milk fever.
As well adding calcium can cause metabolic, nutritional imbalances in your moms diet. As well excess vitamins may be harmful to the puppies interfering with their proper growth stages.

hope this helps

Wow! I've always heard including from my vets to give calcium pills. I found out you start it in their last week of pregnancy so that they won't get eclampsia. In fact, I have it in my cabinet right now.

[Gracy]

You have good questions and it's nice to get so much advice.
I just listen to my Vet and make sure Lily now eats at least half of her daily consumption of puppy food. Lately I have been hand feeding her.
But that's OK, cause I love her.

[yorkiemom1970]

hi! i give my preggo mommy's purina pro plan puppy food (dry) and a mixture of my own....i take white meat chicken and boil....take meat off the bone. then i put a little of the broth, the chicken meat, some fresh garlic (about 1/4 clove) and 4 vitamins into the mixture in a blender. i pour this over my girl's regular food. i take the remaining mixture and freeze and take out as needed. i have used a variety of dog food over the years. i know there is alot of controversy over them. i have used pedigree, pro plan, science diet. all with no problems...
i used eukanuba for about 8 months and my yorkies wouldnt eat it as good as the others. i know iams and eukanuba make a great doggie diet, but there are also other good foods. i am also a fan of pedigree healthy start, and have any of you noticed that at akc dog shows and events, pedigree is a huge sponsor. if they trust them, i surely trust them...it's just trial and error with food. if you find a good quality food that your baby likes, stick with it. try different things and then find one for your paticualar pregnant girl and stick with it throughout her pregnancy then give the same puppy food to her puppies... (oh , a treat i give my pregnant mommy's is "neese's liver pudding") i know we all do these things different and i'm always open to new things and ideas concerning my babies. i'm a trial and error kind of person...good luck to you!

[Ash]

Originally Posted by yorkiemom1970

i know iams and eukanuba make a great doggie diet, but there are also other good foods. i am also a fan of pedigree healthy start, and have any of you noticed that at akc dog shows and events, pedigree is a huge sponsor. if they trust them, i surely trust them...

Yipes! I wouldn't trust a food simply because they are large enough to dump money into sponsoring a dog-related event. Number of distributors and appearance on grocery store shelves doesn't make a food quality...ingredients do. Whole Dog Journal comes out every year (or at least they used to?) with a top-ten list for foods. Not saying that if you food isn't on there, it's no good...just that they are a reputable source and I wouldn't hesitate recommending any of the foods on their list to my puppy buyers. I feed Eagle Pack, which I think was recently muzzled (no pun intended!) out of their list.

I agree that you should feed what your dogs like (the best food in the world won't help them if they don't eat it!) but consideration should also be made for the quality of the ingredients. All of my dogs SHINE on Eagle Pack; glossy, gorgeous coats. People who pet my mixed breed also comment on how incredibly soft and nice her coat is. I went on and off of different foods with her trying to find what works best, and this seems to really work well for all of our pooches. Good diet will lead to better muscle mass, a lean and trim figure, and superior coats.

Iams per my understanding (only based on talking with Iams-feeding owners) is that the food went downhill after it was bought by Proctor & Gamble, and then mass-marketed. It's not a food I recommend to my puppy buyers.

Again, feed what works. But if you can afford to play with different foods, try out the higher-quality brands like Canidae, Wellness (my dogs don't care for it, but it's a good food), Eagle Pack, Innova, Solid Gold, etc. Like I tell puppy buyers, spend the extra few bucks and get the superior food...it's not like you're feeding Great Danes!

Ash