I would be interested to know everyones thoughts on supplementing pregnant bitches with vitamins, calcium, easy whelping additives and whether, if used, you think that they can help.

I did a bit of research on this and there are two school of thought on Calcium. Some say leave well alone as too much calcium can alter the ph of the blood and if that happens the hormone secreted by the parathyroid gland will do a less than efficient job or make it virtually useless. That hormone is the facilitator for releasing extra calcium out of the bones when the bitch needs it for uterine contractions.

This can cause inertia, inability to push out a puppy, and inability for the uterine muscle to contract appropriately to bring about the repositioning of the puppy for delivery.

Other people swear by it and often introduce puppy food that is high in calcium.

Personally I would just make sure they had a good quality food and a variety of treats e.g vegetables, fish etc every so often. Eggs with the shells on are a favourite with some breeders.

Personaly i woudnt bother, a good quality diet is all the dog needs,
i have known of some people before the bitch is due to welp give either puppy milk
or goats milk, dont know if it helps the bitch any.

What a subject for you to bring up ?!?!

Well, the first six weeks they get the food they have always received,
After we are sure that the bitch is in whelp, she gets what we think is good for her
And we start to increase the amount of food. But do not overdo it. Nothing worth than a fat bitch trying to get puppies. That is why we exercise them every day till they have puppies. We never give them any extras like calcium etc. But we do give them an extra calcium oral during the whelping and also during the first fourteen days
when the litter is big (5+) just to prevent them from getting eclampsia. We give them a stuff here known as Frubiase® Boehringer.
What of course the most important thing to do is, - to give the bitch all the good things when the puppies are really starting to grow (one week +) Honey, goats milk, best meat etc are then on the menu. Miss Noble gave the bitches also some vitamin drops while I worked for her.
But I think she just thought that they were good and did not do any harm.
On the other side we have no prove that what we do is right………….

My hero, I knew you would have a reply Fiddle. I was just curious to know what other people
had tried and whether they thought what they had used had helped.

We have always given Calcium tablets but if one reads any books on whelping they state that
supplements are unneccesary.

Another thing we have used in the past is Raspberry leaf tonic. It is supposed to help
towards an easy whelping. Cara and Amber both had Raspberry leaf, Cara had two easy
whelpings and Ambers was the whelping from hell. Orrin wasn't given anything except a
Calcium supplement. Orrin had her puppies like shelling peas but didn't have any milk for
the first week so we were having to bottle feed her puppies until Orrins milk came on her.

Here is another question for you all. Which, in your opiniion, is the best puppy milk
substitute on the market? We have tried Whelpi with no success but the puppies thrived on
goats milk.

Do you think Bjorn ,that a bitches' food conversion efficiency improves when she is in whelp, as even in the last three weeks of pregnancy she seems to put on "condition", even when fed her normal diet, unless of course, she is carrying a large number of pups? I have thought that this is the case with Border Collies as mine have tended to be fed the same diet until after whelping, as they would be working until a day or two before, but they still put on condition.

sally wrote:


Hi Sally,

We used to give our bitches a product called: concept-a-bitch.
Here is a link to the company (they also do raspberry-leaves; - which you will soon be able to pick yourself:) ):
a1petsupply.com/secure_ht...supplements.htm
We used to feed their complete food in the mornings (we feed “easy” in the morning, and cook etc. for the dogs in the evening), but it became so difficult to get their products here in Germany that we stopped buying anything from them.

Puppy milk: There is a saying, and I do hope to translate it right, - no company can afford to produce a bad-quality puppy milk……….If that is right or wrong I do not know.
We very much like to give them goat’s milk, as it is very good for their stomach.
I cannot remember when we last bottle-fed any puppy. Because we are rather against it,
But that is a different story.
Björn

alan wrote:

Hi Allan,

that is an interesting question and I discussed it with Klaus.
Our conclusion is: Maybe they do not need more food, but very good quality!
And why not?
And also, we let them run till the very last moment! We think that it helps to have a more easy whelping, again an unproven opinion.

I gave megan goats milk in the last couple of weeks of her pregnancy,and the puppy mil I used was Skinners.

That confirms what we thought then Bjorn because the puppies coped better with the goats milk
than with the Whelpi.

Hi Sally

Some homeopathic / alternative supplements to help pregnancy in bitches.

Caulophyllum is supposed promote dilatation at delivery and to reduce uterine pain during gestation.
Some idea re doses:
WEEKLY FOR 1ST 3 WEEKS
THREE TIMES WEEKLY FOR 2ND 3 WEEKS
DAILY FOR FINAL 3 WEEKS.

Calc phos to help in the uptake of calcium found naturally in the diet.

Of course it's always a matter of debate re the effectiveness of homeopathy and it's not everyones approach. Just thought it would be useful to add here.

The Cusidh pups have all had goats milk based puppy formula which has worked very well.

Elise

I've always used Hyperdrug's own brand of milk replacer. Much cheaper than Welpi, easy to mix and does a good job. The puppies like it, too. Get it on the Canine Chemist website.

Thanks Sid, I'll take a look at that website

I use that site often,and have been to the store as well,not too far from us.Very quick and reliable,free postage on wormers,drontal plus is £13.25 for 8.

All I do is just increase the bitchs food in the last 3 weeks but I think if you have a good dog she will let you know, this last litter I had she was chasing rabbits and catching rabbits to eat up untill the last day
I am a believer in letting nature do her stuff

I also increase the food when there is around 3 weeks to go to whelping,I use raspberry leaves and caulophyllum, if needed during whelping. Sally I dont like Whelpi, aside from the fact it is very pricey, i just use lactol and give it to my girls towards the end of pregnancy and during lactation,saying all this good quality puppy food little and often (last few weeks) and absolutely no calcium supplements,alot of the large breed puppy food contains less calcium than ordinary pup food to promote slower growth,
Saying all this, as much exercise as possible right up to whelping,cant beat a fit dog for having pups.

Thanks for your views everyone. Willow, what do you use instead of Whelpi if you have to bottle
feed any pups? We found Whelpi caused the puppies upset tummies so we used goats milk instead.

Sally we just use Sherleys Lactol it's been on the go for years I found the same with Whelpi....jippy tums and its pricey.No offence to anyone but i always think things like goats milk are designed for goats and wont always have the necessaries in them I can remember years ago giving lamb milk to collie pups though.
Good thread this, its interesting to see how other folks do it!

My vet recommended lamb milk after the pups are about 4 weeks old he said it’s the same as whelpi, I try not to use milk replaces, once the pups are eating meat ect, I let the bitch wean them and supplement them as ness, my bitch has caught rabbits and taken them back for her pups it’s a great sight to see 4 week old pups doing what is natural to them

DownJess had firm views on how puppies should be fed - she believed in pheasant, as much as possible and the fresher the better. She would leap six feet in the air, catch her bird then insist on taking it straight back home and out to the kennel for the kids. All we ever found was tail feathers.