Labrador Retriever Forum
I am curious as to how many of you put your girl on puppy food during her pregnancy....and if so what kind. My vet advised to put my girl on puppy food 2 weeks prior to whelp. My breeder told me to put her on puppy food now as her pregnancy was confirmed today at 30 days. She is and has been on Nature's Variety Raw Instinct which is 42% Protein and 22% fat. I am wondering if this is sufficient for her. It is higher protein and fat than a lot of puppy food. I am anxious to hear what you all have to offer.
TIA
So, Sherry, Ciara is pregnant Congratulations!
I would do the puppy food, for the last two weeks of her pregnancy, until weaning. Innova has a very nice Puppy Formula.
I don't put them on puppy food until they whelp. What they really need to higher protein food for is milk production, which they don't need until they whelp.
Mike
I bred my girl this weekend. If she takes...the vet wants me to put her on puppy chow at 5 weeks and increasing her caloric intake up to about 150% just before whelping takes place.
"I don't put them on puppy food until they whelp. What they really need to higher protein food for is milk production, which they don't need until they whelp."
Actually the developing whelps do need a good source of animal protein. Phyllis Holst in her "Canine Reproduction" book recommends starting an animal protein every other day as soon as pregnancy is confirmed, about 4 weeks, and every day from 6 weeks on. The protein source should alternate between meat, eggs (high in zinc) and a calcium source such as cheese or yougurt.
My first litter I followed this and only increased my bitch's food 10-15 %. She was HUGE and had 11 puppies in 3 & 1/2 hours. But she was so thin afterwards, I realized I was not feeding her enough for the size of her litter. It's a balancing act, as feeding too much early on in the pregnancy can actually inhibit healthy litter size.
I have since just gone to puppy food (or half and half, depending on litter size) at about 6 weeks, and full puppy food by the time of whelping. I've had good success with this.
I keep hearing more and more about DHA enhanced food, and how it makes puppies smarter:
http://newsarchives.tamu.edu/stories/06/020906news-8.html
I use a DHA enhanced performance food 30% protein/20% fat. Start them on it when breeding, but don't up the amount until 3 weeks or so before whelping.
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Replying to:
I am curious as to how many of you put your girl on puppy food during her pregnancy....and if so what kind. My vet advised to put my girl on puppy food 2 weeks prior to whelp. My breeder told me to put her on puppy food now as her pregnancy was confirmed today at 30 days. She is and has been on Nature's Variety Raw Instinct which is 42% Protein and 22% fat. I am wondering if this is sufficient for her. It is higher protein and fat than a lot of puppy food. I am anxious to hear what you all have to offer.
TIA
I normally feed a 30/20 chicken based food so I keep them on this the whole time of pregnancy and lactating. But do give Pet Tabs Calcium the last two weeks as a precaution against eclampsia.
I've been considering this very subject lately. I have always done the puppy food thing the last half or third of pregnancy. But I've also been reading and remembering about calcium problems post whelping, and have had some instances of very grouchy moms the first couple of days where I had to supplement calcium. I can't remember the exact mechanism, but giving higher calcium before they whelp makes it harder for them to mobilize the sudden increase in calcium need post-whelping. In dairy cows, they get a low calcium diet until they have their calf.
Puppy food has a higher calcium level (1.1% vs 0.9%). So since I feed ProPlan performance, a high protein food, I decided this time to feed it through pregnancy, and switch to puppy food when she has the puppies. The ProPlan should be more than enough nutrition for the growing pups and mother alike.
This particular mom did have the grouchies after her first litter, so I'll let you know if it's different this time.
This is interesting to me. It is the opposite of what I have been told. I have been told that supplementing calcium during pregnancy may lead to eclampsia. I usually start Pet Cals after the first pup comes. Anyone here know which would be better?
I actually confused myself and answered a slightly different question. I do start with the puppy food a couple of weeks before whelping.
What I think many people do is increase the amount of the food too early. Whelping is harder for an over weight bitch, and they don't need a ton of extra calories until they have to start producing milk.
Mike
In years past, I never put my girls on puppy kibble until after she whelped her litter but even then my girls don't like the puppy formula until she sees her babies eating their first mushy meal. Then all bets are off and she will try and sneak and eat all the puppy mush up. They've all done this though and I don't know why.
My vet told me to not supplement calcium during pregnance but when she starts to whelp her first puppy, start giving her tums or yogurt, ice cream. I give Dannon Yogurt and vanilla icecream and continue to give her these things while she is nursing. She always has plenty of milk and it helps with her energy level and not getting the gumpies.
These dams who are pregnant really don't need to be "Eating for Two" or in a bitch's case, eating for 10 until the tail end of their pregnancy. I've seen alot of C-sections that could have been prevented had the bitch not gotten so fat and out of shape from over eating and lack of exercise.
I was advised by a repro vet who's also a breeder, to put them on Performance Food.
I dont put my girls on puppy food at all.They are eatting Premium Edge chicken and rice and seem to do fine on it.However we do triple their food intake while they are nursing. I do give them a regular dog multivitamin 1 at each feeding, after they breed and keep them on it till 1 month after they wean.
Laura I have read your article and refreshed my myself with it last night and your article is actually what prompted me to ask the question in the first place due to my girl being on a 42% protein and 22% fat Nature's Variety Raw Instinct kibble. I was not planning to supplement calcium until after she whelps. I was planning to add some Nature's Variety meat patties, along with cheese, eggs, etc., the last two weeks and of course after whelp. I can not see taking her off a high protein high fat and putting her on a puppy food that actually has less protein and fat. She currently eats 2-2.25 cups per day so around 1000-1125 calories and maintains a very healthy 72 lbs. She weighed the same yesterday at at the vet. Of course as her appetite increases I will also increase her intake. She is one of those "so not lab" labs that she can take eating or leave it...that is another reason I hate to take her off the high calorie (490 cal/cup) high quality kibble. More input is deeply appreciated!
Sherry, Instinct and all the NV foods are all stages. And Instinct is already pretty high in calcium 2.49%, higher than even puppy foods, if you were going to consider a switch. Even the regular NV kibbles run a tad higher that most other foods at about 1.4%. I would probably just leave her with her food, maybe slightly increase it in the late stages of pregnancy. I probably wouldn't consider adding calcium until the pups are born.
What I understand and what I did:
The idea of putting a pregnant bitch on puppy food is in lieu of increasing the amount you feed on adult food. We had always increased the adult in years past.
In my last litter I switched to puppy formula (for the first time) at the beginning of 5th week of pregnancy but fed the same amount of food. I didn't switch back to adult until after pups were weaned.
I also did not supplement with calcium during pregnancy but did after first pup was whelped and in between each pup.
The Nature's Variety IMO is quite hi in protein at 42% and I would see no reason to switch to puppy formula. However, I'm not sure that 42% wouldn't be too high for pregnancy (I am new to this high protein and am feeding this particular food to my grown dogs now)
I would also think that the amount of calcium at 2.49% in the NV Instinct would be sufficient as well. Or perhaps too high?
Anyone else have any ideas or experience with this very high prot. and the calcium level of 2.49% for pregnancy?
Wanted to also point out that my last litter was an easy whelp for my girl and all pups were healthy.
She was on a 28% prot. during pregnancy and up until weaning.
We switch our girls to puppy food about 2 weeks before they're due, but we don't increase the amount we feed until they are nursing. We keep them on puppy food until weaning. Never had a problem with calcium deficiencies or anything else doing this.
We too increased the amount of puppy food during nursing - sorry should have remembered that for OP. Dealing with food recall issues right now so brain is a bit tired.
