Your goals when feeding your pregnant dog are to optimize: 1) conception, 2) number of puppies per litter, 3) the ability of the dog to deliver and 4) the health of prenatal and neonatal puppies (Grandjean an Paragon, 1986).
The dam requires adequate nutrition for herself and for the correct growth and development of the fetus. Nutritional inadequacies in the dam will negatively affect the development of the fetus. Therefore, it is important for the dam to get a complete and balanced diet throughout gestation.
A simple method to follow when balancing for your gestating bitch:
- balance amino acids,
- balance fatty acids,
- balance minerals and vitamins,
- remaining calorie target is as close to zero as possible (-30 to +30 kcal)
Don’t forget to choose ingredients that are palatable to your pregnant dog. Remember that meat grinds (ground food) are good for mixing supplement powders, pureed veggies, etc.
Feed an energy dense diet 2 or 3 times per day during pregnancy.
In the last 2 weeks of pregnancy, the pups will take up more and more space in the dam’s abdomen, so that the stomach capacity is severely limited, particularly if she is having a large litter. Small, frequent meals are required at this stage.
Try to weigh your bitch every week. As the fetal tissue grows in your pregnant bitch, so will her weight and her nutrient requirements. Add her new weight into the PETS module and then open up her recipe and re-balance. You can also choose to copy a recipe and then re-balance the copy so you have the original recipes throughout the gestation life stage.
Stay away from the following foods.
Alcohol, Apple Seeds, Avocado, Candy, Chewing Gum, Toothpaste & Mouthwash, Cat Food, Chocolate (Cocoa powder, Unsweetened baker’s chocolate, Semisweet chocolate, Dark chocolate, Milk chocolate, White chocolate), Coffee, Tea & Other Caffeine, Cooked Bones, Corn On The Cob, Garlic, Grapes & Raisins, Hops, Macadamia Nuts, Marijuana and other drugs not recommended by your veterinarian, Onions & Chives, Persimmon, Peach & Plum Pits, Rhubarb & Tomato Leaves, Tobacco, Xylitol and foods containing xylitol, Yeast.
Although the database stores copper values for pig liver, it is not bioavailable. So subtract the copper added by this ingredient if you use it in your recipe. Our Pet Diet 365 line of products handles this automatically.