# Nursing dog's diet.....suggestions please!



## savinggrace (Oct 27, 2005)

Hi,

Violet is nursing 11 pups; they are one week tomorrow and she's at a good weight right now. 

I've been giving her free choice-premium kibble and puppy formula premium canned food; raw grassfed hamburger as a treat. She's easially eating 2x what she was while pregnant. 

Violet and the pups went to the vet Friday, he said the amounts/type was fine; I just want to be careful she doesn't loose too much.

What do you feed your nursing dogs? She's a 2y/o English Shepherd who weighs 45 lbs now; typically she weighs 40. 

Thanks!


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## longshadowfarms (Nov 27, 2002)

I can't seem to find my book that had a handy, neat little chart that showed percentage by each week of the gestation and puppy-hood. The hardest time will come when the pups are about 3 weeks and really draining her before they are onto solid food. Free choice will allow her to eat as much as she is willing and able. Everything looks good from what I can see that you're feeding. You could switch her to a puppy food dry food for the extra oomph it will give her. That's a LOT of puppies! I think you're supposed to feed kibble and raw 12 hrs apart if you're feeding both so that might be the only wrinkle. Maybe some of the more experienced raw feeders will chime in on that issue.


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## NY Jewel (Apr 6, 2006)

I always add some calcium to my girls diet while they are nursing. I give them yogurt and cottage cheese twice a day. My guys are small about 12 lbs so i give them about 3-4 tablespoons at a time. I also give them 2 pet tabs daily and free feed all the kibble they want. Goats milk is great if you can get some. 11 pups is a big litter so i would be concerned about the calcium loss. Another breeder had once told me not to use calcium supplements but to add it into their diet with dairy products so this is what i've been doing and it works for me. Some people switch their nursing females over to puppy formula kibble also. Best of luck with your babies!


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## Willowynd (Mar 27, 2005)

I currently feed raw- and have for several years. But when I fed kibble, I increased amounts of kibble as needed. I went by feel of the ***** and still do. I feel her daily and if I think she is feeling a bit lean, I increase her. With a large litter by week 4 she can be eating 4x the normal amount. The only calcium supplements my bitches ever got was the first few days after whelping- I would give mothers pudding- essentially it is vanilla pudding with extra egg yolks added and helps to bring in milk. As soon as mom was eating well and true milk was in, I would stop. 

Supplementing calcium is usually not done with med/large breeds- that is mostly a small breed thing. Supplementing calcium without the right amount of phosphorus can actually cause a calcium imbalance and cause eclampsia. All she really needs is a well balanced adult diet in a large enough quantity to keep her in good weight. Puppy food is also not reccommended as it can be too high in calcium. The most I would change is to up to a little higher protein/fat content adult kibble if nursing a large litter.
If feeding raw and kibble- then feed the raw first and wait 8 hrs. It digests faster than kibble. Personally, instead of hamburger, I would feed RBM instead of just meat as it will have the correct calcium/poshorus levels. Feeding meat only can throw it off.


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## SDjulieinSC (Aug 8, 2005)

Here I go again with my favorite.....SATIN BALLS!!!!! They have worked for me in several different situations, skinny nursing bitches included. Just remember to use the cheap hamburger as it contains the highest % of fat.


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## Filas are Prima (May 4, 2007)

Most of all, she needs calories!
I always give a varied diet, including meat, eggs, yoghurt, veg. oil or animal fat, milk or milk replacer to a kibble that is for puppies or active working dog formulated.
At two weeks, baby spoon feed the babies with yoghurt, they'll slurp it with gusto!
At the end-ish of two weeks, add mashed, soaked kibble to the yoghurt, with an egg beaten into it, spooning it in.
Feeding the babies early, end of two weeks to beginning of third week, helps both mother and babies tremendously.
When you first feed babies in a dish, add a really stinky ingreedient (canned, or chicken, or raw hamburger, etc)to their slurp food, which promotes their enthusiasm to eat it.
They always get chilled from getting the slurp food all over them, so be sure that your whelping area has good heat, and a change of bedding to warm dry towels and blankets right after you feed them. Chicken lights are good for the babies while drying after their slurp meal.
Offer mother even three, or four meals per day during the high stress demand of nursing.


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## savinggrace (Oct 27, 2005)

Thank you for all of the great suggestions!


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

Cottage cheese and puppy food. Pics please!


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## savinggrace (Oct 27, 2005)

Ask and you shall recieve!  
This is when they were 1 day old. Violet's still pretty tired looking. I'll have more pics in the next few days!




















It's amazing to see how tiny that pile was-some of the pups have nearly tripled in size in 1.5 wks. 

Really, thanks for all the tips! Typically I feed my adult dogs my own raw recipe, but I am not confident it is balanced enough for her needs at the moment. And, she's eating about every 4-6 hrs so having her hold out 12 hrs would be torture for her. 

Now I have another question....Right now Violet and the pups are in the laundry room in a plastic pool. In a week or two that won't work any longer-and I intended upon installing a gate in a basement room; so that Violet can come and go as she needs but they will be contained.

It is an unfinished basement; concrete floor-obviously a cold floor. What do you suggest I use for bedding? It's an old storage room probably 10X10 or so. I could section it off further as well.

Thank You!!!!!


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## beoircaile (May 2, 2006)

Melissa- I'll send you pictures tomorrow of the whelping/training box that I have- it would be pretty easy to make in the basement- basically it's a 4'x8' plywood box with a removable divider. This one is a little fancier and on wheels, has a dutch door, etc. But a quick one could be made simply and quickly.


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## Filas are Prima (May 4, 2007)

For moving your babies to larger quarters, I suggest again buying a tarp the size of the floor-bigger if you can attatch it up the sides of the walls.
Bed the floor with pine shavings. You may also top bed with bright straw. Newspapers, shredded, also work. You can remove the daily cleanings using trash bags.
Make sure you can still heat the floor level where the babies are to at least 80-85 degrees until the third week, when the babies can maintain their own body temperature of 101 degrees. They are totaly dependant on ambient air temperature until then!
Mom will need a retreat where she can rest away from the babies demands, but have access to them when she chooses. A partial wall contrived to divide the area, yet the height mom can hop over, but keep the babies inside, is needed. During the 3d week, babies are pretty proficient at getting over barriers.
Again, use a chicken light, or other heat source.
Have handy milk crates, or very sturdy cardboard boxes for moving the babies up to the sunbeams daily.
You can spread straw on top of snow to give the babies a good sun/play spot, even in the most lousy of weather. Turn their transport box on it's side for a little shelter. The babies will need to be out in the sunshine at least 20 minuites a day when they are 4 weeks. Basements make this necessary.
Basements can be a dilima, as babies will readily follow you outside, but the stairs are too much for babies until the 6th week. And then there's the perpetual peeing on the way to worry about going through your house to outside.
If you have a good sheltered kennel, the babies can be in it by the 5/6th week. They need a big dog house, deeply and repeatedly bedded with straw. The danger is mom may goof and crush a baby in the dog house. A dog house that mom can get up on top of gives her a good retreat from the puppies nursing demands, and also lets her supervise her babies.
At the 5/6th weeks, mom will not be nursing them very much, if at all, and the babies should be offered meals 4-5 times per day, starting in the 3d week.
The babies should have at least two play times per day, out of the kennel, where you take them on excursions and show them various challenges to their growing physical competence and increasing mental abilities.


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## Filas are Prima (May 4, 2007)

I wanted to come back in here and add the good news concerning kittie litter!
Spread it on the tarp, prior to the shavings. It does wonders for the urine odor. You'll do well to have it handy throughout the duration if you have them in the basement!
After they are outside, then use the enzyme odor eaters on the basement cement floor. No matter how meticulous you are with your pen clean up, the odor will permeate.
A litter of puppies produces a prodidgeous amount of waste, and clean up is a HUGE issue to taking care of them.


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