Hi all,

I was having a discussion with a friend today about feeding amounts for a nursing bitch. He seems to feed a lot less than I do.

I am curious to hear what any of you feed your females when they are nursing. Realizing that the size of the litter is a factor, what do you feed at various stages? For example, When the pups are a week old and 3 weeks old for a litter of 6?


Wade

I guage by the bitch's body mass and the size of the litter. One bitch had a litter of twelve, and produced enough milk for them every 2-3 hours. At three week of lactation, which is the time of the biggest nutritional drain on the bitch, I fed her twelve cups of puppy food a day!!!! And she was not fat, just perfect. Of course, free choice of fresh water.
Other large litters I have fed similarly. My general rule of thumb is as many cups of food per day as puppies in the litter. Of course, factor in exercise, size of puppies, general health of the bitch and how much milk she is producing, etc.

As much as she wants.

Thanks!!!

If I fed as much as my girls wanted though, most would eat until they burst ........ nursing or not nursing! LOL

Wade

It sounds kind of obvious, maybe, but I just keep check on my bitch and adjust accordingly. Dazzle is feeding 11 puppies, that are now 2 1/2 weeks old. On 12 cups of food per day she was looking ribby. She is now getting 14 cups per day, plus eggs, cottage cheese and liver. (Was getting the additions when she was on 12 cups, too.)

I hate it when the Mom is done with the pups and is all bones. I can't do anything about the loss of coat, but I try to keep my bitches in good shape throughout the nursing.

Before whelping I give them an extra meal at lunch time and bedtime. If a regular size litter 6/8 she would be fed at least 8 cups and maybe more on a bigger litter. Start feeding pups at 3 weeks and you don't have to build her food up to much more. You would start leveling off and she would be keeping some for her own body. I find about 4 weeks they need the most. Pups are good size by then and demand alot.JMO

I don't increase the amount of food until the pups are born. She gets the same amount of food in later stage of pregnancy, but it is divided up into smaller more frequent meals. Once she whelps, I free feed for the most part. I do have one bitch that I can't do that with because she would eat herself to death, so with her, I fill the bowl up twice a day. If she doesn't seem to be keeping up with the pups, I'll increase it. If she's producing too much milk, I'll back it down. Basically, I let her tell me how much she needs. Now, I have a girl who recently had a singleton and with her, I didn't increase at all. I kept her meals exactly the same as they always are and she's been doing fine with that. Her pup is a very well fed monster!