Hi,
I am hoping to have some puppies from one of my dogs and wanted some advice about diet. (shes not pregnant yet)
Shes a small cavalier and is currently being fed on raw green tripe mixed with natures menu biscuits as her staple dinner. (tripe flavour biscuits)
On top of this she gets chews, and a handfull of treats, varying from marrow bone biscuits, raw hide chews, doggy sausages, occasionally doggie chocolate, tripe sticks and pieces, paddywack and so forth. (usually 5 pieces a day including her breakfast and bedtime snack)
Breakfast consists of a large bonio and beditme she gets a couple of biscuits, the rest she earns.
I also feed, tinned pink alaskan salmon and pilchards in tomato sauce and skinned cooked chicken breasts and raw chicken wings or legs.
Most weeks she gets a raw bone from the butchers.
I have been advised by the stud owners not to feed her any raw meat while pregnant, however she will not eat any of the other dried foods on the market, but will eat tinned dog food which I am keen to avoid.
if you can advise anything here I would very much appreciate it, as even if she doesn't get pregnant this time it would be helpful in the future.
Food for Pregnancy
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
During pregnancy, within reason whatever she wants.
Ive never heard of raw meat being a problem, as long as its fresh and if its beef its been frozen first.
Id be wary of some of the treats she gets lots of the ones you have listed contain a lot of fat, salt and sugars and preservatives.
Give her access to a good range of foods, preferably most of them raw, fruits vegetables and meat, the odd raw egg is good too, and tinned fish, the oily fish like pilchards are probably better than the salmon.
Ive never heard of raw meat being a problem, as long as its fresh and if its beef its been frozen first.
Id be wary of some of the treats she gets lots of the ones you have listed contain a lot of fat, salt and sugars and preservatives.
Give her access to a good range of foods, preferably most of them raw, fruits vegetables and meat, the odd raw egg is good too, and tinned fish, the oily fish like pilchards are probably better than the salmon.
Thank you for the speedy reply!
The stud owners told me that the raw meat I feed her carries too much bacteria and could affect the puppies.
I don't actually ever feed beef, as I'd heard it can upset their stomachs, just chicken and tripe. though if it would be good for her I'd be happy enough to do that if I knew which bit would be suitable to feed. the raw green tripe comes frozen and I ocasionally suppliment this with frozen menus from one of the larger pet shops, rabbit, tripe, chicken and liver. It seems a bit watery to me though when its defrosted.
(not tried her on raw fresh liver yet but I might give that a try, would it need frozen too?)
The pilchards are certainly easy to feed, and she loves them too! I usualy feed these once a week, but she would eat them every night if she could have them.. should I up this to a couple of times a week?
I would definately feel much happier feeding her what she likes and she loves her raw meat more than anything else.
On the subject of her chews and so forth can anyone recommend anything other than those that would be better for her?
And the veg, are there any that should be avoided? I can certainly puree some and mix it with the meat. (how much % to meat though) I'd drop the biscuits out of her main meal but I felt she needed some roughage.
Thank you!
The stud owners told me that the raw meat I feed her carries too much bacteria and could affect the puppies.
I don't actually ever feed beef, as I'd heard it can upset their stomachs, just chicken and tripe. though if it would be good for her I'd be happy enough to do that if I knew which bit would be suitable to feed. the raw green tripe comes frozen and I ocasionally suppliment this with frozen menus from one of the larger pet shops, rabbit, tripe, chicken and liver. It seems a bit watery to me though when its defrosted.
(not tried her on raw fresh liver yet but I might give that a try, would it need frozen too?)
The pilchards are certainly easy to feed, and she loves them too! I usualy feed these once a week, but she would eat them every night if she could have them.. should I up this to a couple of times a week?
I would definately feel much happier feeding her what she likes and she loves her raw meat more than anything else.
On the subject of her chews and so forth can anyone recommend anything other than those that would be better for her?
And the veg, are there any that should be avoided? I can certainly puree some and mix it with the meat. (how much % to meat though) I'd drop the biscuits out of her main meal but I felt she needed some roughage.
Thank you!
She knows whats best for her.
You ought to feed something wtih some raw bone content too, not just meat or the diet becomes unbalanced.
Chicken wings have an excellent meat/bone ratio, and if you are worried at feeding them whole you can bash them up with a rolling pin first.
Dogs are perfectly dhas esigned to eat meat that would make us very ill, they have short intestines to process food quickly and strong stomach acids which kill things dead before they have chance to do the dog harm.
If dogs got salmonella or ecoli as frequently as we humans do, dogs wouldnt exist these days because for the majority of their existance, they have lived on carrion, fresh meat, rotting vegetables, pre digested vegetables from the stomachs of those they have killed, and a whole host of other revolting things. Its only in the last 70 years we have fed them tinned or dried food!
Beef is fine to feed, as long as it has been frozen first, i would feed beef mince.
You can also feed lamb ribs, chicken wings, chicken carcasses, tripe obviously, turkey (its a bit rich so watch out for wind!), pork, anything really just avoid the really big weight bearing bones from mature animals as they are very strong and will wear teeth down quite fast. Small bones like chicken bones are fine as long as they are raw - cooking changes them and makes them splintery and indigestable.
If you feed any meat from a wild animal then be sure to keep up to date on your worming program, wild rabbit is particularly wormy.
The best way to keep a dog healthy is offer a really wide variety of good quality foods, make sure to offer some offal and some veg, not too much offal, just a couple of times a week (heart doesnt count, its a muscle).
Its very common for pregnant bitches to turn their noses up at some foods, I think they know what it is important for them to have far better than we do (although id disagree with a friends ***** who wanted Single Malt Whisky.....).
You ought to feed something wtih some raw bone content too, not just meat or the diet becomes unbalanced.
Chicken wings have an excellent meat/bone ratio, and if you are worried at feeding them whole you can bash them up with a rolling pin first.
Dogs are perfectly dhas esigned to eat meat that would make us very ill, they have short intestines to process food quickly and strong stomach acids which kill things dead before they have chance to do the dog harm.
If dogs got salmonella or ecoli as frequently as we humans do, dogs wouldnt exist these days because for the majority of their existance, they have lived on carrion, fresh meat, rotting vegetables, pre digested vegetables from the stomachs of those they have killed, and a whole host of other revolting things. Its only in the last 70 years we have fed them tinned or dried food!
Beef is fine to feed, as long as it has been frozen first, i would feed beef mince.
You can also feed lamb ribs, chicken wings, chicken carcasses, tripe obviously, turkey (its a bit rich so watch out for wind!), pork, anything really just avoid the really big weight bearing bones from mature animals as they are very strong and will wear teeth down quite fast. Small bones like chicken bones are fine as long as they are raw - cooking changes them and makes them splintery and indigestable.
If you feed any meat from a wild animal then be sure to keep up to date on your worming program, wild rabbit is particularly wormy.
The best way to keep a dog healthy is offer a really wide variety of good quality foods, make sure to offer some offal and some veg, not too much offal, just a couple of times a week (heart doesnt count, its a muscle).
Its very common for pregnant bitches to turn their noses up at some foods, I think they know what it is important for them to have far better than we do (although id disagree with a friends ***** who wanted Single Malt Whisky.....).
Thank you again! you must live on these forums as you replyed before I even got a chance to look at some of the methods posts!
She gets chicken wings to crunch up about once a week and sometimes a leg with the bone in it, absolutely adores this but she doesn't seem to think of it as dinner, more a treat. and ofc uncooked. so she can manage that pretty well.
Will ask my butcher about lamb ribs, hes usually pretty good about trying to get me stuff. He gets me large marrowbones about once a week for them which they adore but I have to keep them separate while feeding the chicken wings/legs and the bones or they bicker.
She is a picky eater but when my mums dogs had her puppies in the past all she would eat was fillet chicken breast towards the end so I've gotten in a huge bag of frozen ones just in case, though she gets one or two of those a week anyway.
would you recommend I put any suppliments in her food? was recommended plain bio-yogurt (which I can easily freeze into cubes for her) and ofc some olive oil.
still working on the veggie part of her diet, obviously she gets the tomato sauce with the pilchards. there is a smoothie bar that do veg drink near me so I could ask them for some pulp, but am concerned there would maybe be something in it that would disagree with her.
If I offer her more raw chicken wings/legs would it do her any harm to cut out the biscuits she gets with the tripe?
She gets chicken wings to crunch up about once a week and sometimes a leg with the bone in it, absolutely adores this but she doesn't seem to think of it as dinner, more a treat. and ofc uncooked. so she can manage that pretty well.
Will ask my butcher about lamb ribs, hes usually pretty good about trying to get me stuff. He gets me large marrowbones about once a week for them which they adore but I have to keep them separate while feeding the chicken wings/legs and the bones or they bicker.
She is a picky eater but when my mums dogs had her puppies in the past all she would eat was fillet chicken breast towards the end so I've gotten in a huge bag of frozen ones just in case, though she gets one or two of those a week anyway.
would you recommend I put any suppliments in her food? was recommended plain bio-yogurt (which I can easily freeze into cubes for her) and ofc some olive oil.
still working on the veggie part of her diet, obviously she gets the tomato sauce with the pilchards. there is a smoothie bar that do veg drink near me so I could ask them for some pulp, but am concerned there would maybe be something in it that would disagree with her.
If I offer her more raw chicken wings/legs would it do her any harm to cut out the biscuits she gets with the tripe?
Wont do any harm to cut out the biscuits - dont forget she doesnt need that much more food until she has the pups and is feeding them, if she gets too much whilst pregnant you risk her producing BIG pups she will struggle to birth.
When she has had the pups she may well eat up to four times as much as normal!
The meaty bones are more valuable food to her than the biscuits, if you want to keep offering them do so, but offer them seperately as raw and cooked things digest at different rates. She will want smaller more frequent meals as she gets bigger anyway.
I make my own veg pulp as then i know whats in it, so this would probably be safest - just use a blender to turn veggies into a revolting looking mush, a good dollop of olive oil and some bio yoghurt can be thrown in with that, it can be frozen in littel baggies or icecubes and try it mashed inwtih the tinned fish!
Em
When she has had the pups she may well eat up to four times as much as normal!
The meaty bones are more valuable food to her than the biscuits, if you want to keep offering them do so, but offer them seperately as raw and cooked things digest at different rates. She will want smaller more frequent meals as she gets bigger anyway.
I make my own veg pulp as then i know whats in it, so this would probably be safest - just use a blender to turn veggies into a revolting looking mush, a good dollop of olive oil and some bio yoghurt can be thrown in with that, it can be frozen in littel baggies or icecubes and try it mashed inwtih the tinned fish!
Em
Ooops sorry i should have said
I tend to get a balance between dark leafy greens such as cabbage, spring greens, spinach, and sweeter tasting veg like celery, apples, cucumber..
I dont really use most root veg as they are higher in carbs and dont tend to have a particularly nice texture when blended, i do use carrots, and occasionally boiled mashed potato or sweet potato, but dogs dont tend to need carbs like this.
You can use tomatoes and peppers as long as your dog doesnt have any joint problems as these can make this worse, (however if he doesnt have joint problems, red coloured veg is very high in anti oxidants which are very good for you), i sometimes use avocado although not too much as again this can cause a problem in some dogs.
Get a good balance between sweet and bitter, and a good slug of olive oil to get a more appealing texture, and try mixing in with fish or minced raw meat to start off with as many dogs wont at first eat veg blended up.
I tend to get a balance between dark leafy greens such as cabbage, spring greens, spinach, and sweeter tasting veg like celery, apples, cucumber..
I dont really use most root veg as they are higher in carbs and dont tend to have a particularly nice texture when blended, i do use carrots, and occasionally boiled mashed potato or sweet potato, but dogs dont tend to need carbs like this.
You can use tomatoes and peppers as long as your dog doesnt have any joint problems as these can make this worse, (however if he doesnt have joint problems, red coloured veg is very high in anti oxidants which are very good for you), i sometimes use avocado although not too much as again this can cause a problem in some dogs.
Get a good balance between sweet and bitter, and a good slug of olive oil to get a more appealing texture, and try mixing in with fish or minced raw meat to start off with as many dogs wont at first eat veg blended up.
