My dog refuses to eat the new dog food we got for her. Puppy food, which is easily digestible, is richer in the major nutrients and provides more energy than adult formula food. The First Half of Pregnancy. If your vet decides that your dog’s diet is poor in nutrients, he will prescribe a different type of diet. It’s important because it helps a dog maximize the nutrition in every bite she eats. With a bit of planning and input from your veterinarian, you can create a nutritionally sound plan for pregnancy and lactation, setting the stage for producing healthy puppies. On day one of weaning, withhold her food, allowing the puppies to eat their food while they are away from their mother. It is equally important that a dog not become overweight or obese due to overfeeding in the first and second trimester. How should these foods be fed to pregnant or nursing cats? For the first 4-5 weeks, you can feed your dog regular dog food. To make a protein, amino acids are linked together in a long chain. Barking is one of the most common complaints of dog owners or their neighbors. If your dog is pregnant, or if you are planning on breeding your dog, there is so much information that you need to know, from the signs of pregnancy in dogs to caring for your pregnant bitch. A good puppy food usually fills the bill. She is a large breed. Related Articles. Once the puppies are born, the mother can increase her food intake, but the energy density of the food must be high enough or she will not be physically able to consume enough to sustain milk production, weight, and body condition. Hydration is vital. Your pregnant dog's appetite and feeding schedule. These formulas feature essential nutrients in sufficient amounts and help developing puppies get off to a great start in life. When we put other food with it, such as gravy or sausage, she will eat most of it. This can be a commercial diet labeled for pregnancy and lactation, or a diet labeled for puppies. The easiest way would be to feed 75% of the old diet with 25% of the recommended feeding amount of the new food for a day or two, followed by 1-2 days at 50/50 and for the last couple of days feed 25% of the old food with 75% of the new. Over the next 4 or 5 days, increase to her full pre-breeding portions. Feed your pregnant dog the amount suggested on the food package, and keep feeding her puppy food until her puppies are finished weaning. We now know fresh, species-appropriate raw dog food is better for them than dry, ultra-processed kibble and yet, when faced with what to feed a pregnant dog, we can get a little nervous. If your dog has a balanced diet, you should stick to it. By the time of parturition (birth), the female dog's food intake should be approximately 15-25% more than her normal, non-pregnant intake. Taste of the Wild High Protein Real Meat Recipe Premium Dry Dog Food with Roasted… The type and amount of food a dog needs depends on their breed, type, age, health and lifestyle. By this time, mom’s weight should have increased by about 25%, or more if she is expecting a large litter. Free-choice feeding during the first 3 to 4 weeks of lactation, unless she only has one or two puppies, provides many advantages. Feeding an all life stage puppy food such as Purina® Puppy Chow® brand puppy food is best The food should have 1600 kcal digestible energy per pound of food and at least 22 percent protein. It’s demanding and the mother’s diet must be the best it has ever been. It normally lasts for just a few days. Other tips for feeding a pregnant dog: If you notice abnormal changes in the pregnant dog's stool you can switch to canned or softer foods for easier digestion. Folic acid and essential fatty acid supplementation may be beneficial to support developing fetuses. Break up the feedings for your pregnant dog. Just like the third trimester of pregnancy, feeding during lactation is best accomplished using a highly digestible, high quality puppy food. We add Plain … For the first 4 to 5 weeks, your dog can be fed her regular adult dog food. What if my dog has enough milk but too many puppies? Each provides specific nutritional concerns that should be addressed to maximize the health of both mother and puppy. Just like the third trimester of pregnancy, feeding during lactation is best accomplished using a highly digestible, high quality puppy food. Periodic assessments of her body condition provide opportunities to fine-tune feedings. Free-choice feeding during the first 3-4 weeks of lactation, unless she only has one or two puppies, provides many advantages. Growing Dogs: Weaning Period; p. 247, © 2020 Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc. Feeding dogs is always a hectic task for dog lovers, and it becomes more hectic if your dog is pregnant. An overweight or obese dog should lose weight before breeding. Most puppies begin eating solid food at 3-4 weeks of age. This means that your dog will not need extra nutrients. Sale. The very best dog diet is built around a 5:1:1:1 ratio. Even if the mother dog produces enough milk after whelping, some pups may not get enough as they have to … The chain is then bundled into to a three-dimensional structure, like a tangled ball of yarn. 1 Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, 4th Edition. Learn to feed your pregnant dog correctly-1- The first half of the dog’s pregnancy- The dog’s pregnancy lasts for around 63 days. Some of these that you might normally give to your dog, such as calcium, can interfere with normal vitamin and mineral regulation in her body during pregnancy, resulting in unwanted health complications. With a full litter of puppies on the way, your dog is naturally going to gain weight during her pregnancy. By the end of her term, she’ll eat about 50% more than her normal level (although it's not unusual for her to need up to twice her regular amount!). When considering dog food that meets the nutritional requirements of the mother dog, some options are to feed your dog puppy food. Continue to feed a kitten food to the mother until her kittens are weaned. Five to six weeks into her pregnancy, she will need 30-50% more food than normal to provide sufficient nutrients to her puppies. What to Feed Pregnant Dogs. When She Is Pregnant Once a bitch is pregnant, she should be fed a high-quality, well-balanced performance diet throughout gestation, even though the … Are there special instructions for feeding my pregnant or nursing dog? Diet should be considered BEFORE mating. Free-choice feeding while nursing only one or two puppies is not advised because it allows the mother to make much more milk than she needs, potentially predisposing her to mastitis (inflammation of the milk glands). Keeping a record of your puppies’ weights, development and activity every 1 or 2 days2 can be very helpful for your veterinarian’s routine assessments in the first year of life. i fed my springer her normal diet but from about 4 /5 weeks into pregnancy she started to be a fussy eater some days she wouldnt eat anything. Five Tips for Choosing the Best Dog Food ; Whelping Supplies; Dog Heat Cycle Signs; Our other male dog eats all of his food. When puppies start solid food around 4 weeks of age, the feeding amounts to the mom should decrease weekly through weeks 4 to 8 to assist the ending of milk production. A dog’s pregnancy lasts around 63 days. Avoid foods that have generic protein sources and by-products such as meat by-products or animal digest. Good food builds good pups. Why you should feed your pregnant dog puppy food. Feed a normal amount of high-quality commercial dog food for the first 4 weeks of pregnancy. Use the guidelines on the pack as a starting point and always weigh out your pet’s food. (Pregnancy in dogs lasts for about 62 days.) During the first two trimesters of the mother's pregnancy, her nutritional requirements are essentially the same as those for a young adult dog. What if she is a large breed dog? The same growth/lactation diet started in the last 2 weeks of pregnancy should be used during lactation to avoid a finicky appetite and digestive problems from sudden diet changes. If your dog is fussy you can add an egg, or blend up meat to make a broth, and poor over adult food, and let soak in. Pregnant dogs should be transitioned to a higher-calorie diet at four weeks of gestation (about a month into their pregnancy). Again, we can talk with you about your dog’s particular needs - just make an appointment. With this in mind, it might be tempting to change her feeding schedule to fit in with her altered appetite. Week three- Days 14- 21. 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