Calcium and pregnancy - Page 2

 Thank you hodie, I will read the info in the above link very carefully to know more about ingredients, I appreciate your reply and the info. Elkoor, I wish your girl a smooth pregnancy and safe delivery.

Ibrahim

Ibrahim,

Here is a synopsis of the nutritional needs for dogs as provided by the National Research Council, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences, a very prestigious group of scientists in the US who help set standards on a variety issues.


http://dels-old.nas.edu/banr/briefs/dog_nutrition_final.pdf

I think you will find it very interesting as well.

Have you tried Nutri-Source Large Breed Chicken & Rice? Very good feed , reasonable price, and my dogs' coats and skin alway look good on it. No soft stool problems either, actually smaller stool amounts than with feeding RC. I give them a vitamin supplement with calcium (from the vet). NS has a large breed baby puppy also that is good as a pup starter but can't afford it unless you buy from a distributor in 40# breeder bags. I feed the bitch half adult/half puppy within 3-4 weeks of delivery and until they're a month after they're weaned.

I would never feed any bitch a supplement with calcium   during pregnancy.

NO matter what vet said so...Calcium overdose during pregnancy is very dangerous...Read about proper diet of natural dog food and things that contain CALCIUM in the natural form not a supplement...



YR

YR is correct about supplementation during pregnancy, and especially with pregnancy in the late stages, added calcium can be very dangerous. If you feed a quality food, and more of it, she will get the necessary extra calcium from the food she eats. Here is one link of many describing how to care for a pregnant female:

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=70328

I have learned some good information from a reproduction vet. I got this information from a frined of mine who went to this vets repo seminar. The vets name is Cindy Smith, she is a vet in Washington state ( l believe it is WA). This is what she said to me in an email... "If the food is labelled "adult" and not puppy or "for all life stages," I find we do well during pregnancy. We have a much harder time balancing raw diets for pregnancies and, consequently, no longer recommend raw diets during pregnancy- though I think they are often excellent for other uses."

What I have learned from the friend of mine that went to the reproduction seminar has been AMAZING. The one thing that I learned is to NOT feed and All Life Stage food or a puppy food while the bitch is pregnant. This is because of the high content of calcium. The higher content of calcium while pregnant can cause uterine inertia. It also causes longer whelpings. Feeding a puppy food and adding calcium, AFTER the pups are born, to the females diet is fine.

Another thing I learned is to use a product called Cal-Sorb when the bitch is in active labor. This is a straight calcium supplement. Since the female needs the calcium to help with labor. I used it when my last litter was born and was AMAZED at how fast the whelping went and how strong the pups were.  The first litter that my bitch whelped it took her 15 hours to whelp 11 live pups. This last litter there were 8 pups and she was in labor for a total of 5 hours. Once she actually started whelping it took 2.5 hours to whelp 8 very strong healthy pups.  The only different things I did was to use the Cal-Sorb with this last litter and not feed an ALS food and I didnt add an calcium to her diet (the first litter I fed her a puppy food and also gave her cottage cheese while she was pregnant).

You can get the Cal-Sorb from here. I would get 3 tubes of it. The dosage is 3cc per hour until the last pup is born... just make sure she is in ACTIVE labor. Not the beginning stages.
http://www.revivalanimal.com:80/store/p/1889-Calsorb.aspx  I will NEVER whelp another litter without this stuff!!!!

Another thing I learned is to offer whole milk to the bitch while she is whelping. Often times she will not drink when whelping and will get dehydrated, but for some reason will drink the milk. It is also good because of the calcium, which she needs now.

So in closing...lol.... dont feed an ALS or puppy food while the female is pregnant. Also do not add any calcium to the diet. When the bitch is in active labor and whelping use Cal-Sorb and offer whole milk. You can feed a puppy food and add calcium to the diet after the pups are born.

All the information I stated is a short version of what was learned in the reproduction seminar from the DVM I listed above, Cindy Smith.

I hope this helps.

Thank you all for the responses. Normally I am feeding Wellness, Core and Salmon for my allergic one.

After a lot of research and speaking to different breeders I settled on the Wellness Large Puppy which has 1.4% Ca at max and 0.9 % Ph for my pregnant girl. We are 20 days out from due date.

Thank you Jyl, I will read up on the Cal-sorb. The coupons arrived and will be put to good use.

Glad the coupon arrived. I figured someone could use them..lol.

Glad you settled on a food. I wouldnt give your pregnant female puppy food though until after she whelps. I would keep her on adult food.

 Elkoorr, your boy survived his mother being fed raw and grain-free kibble for all life stages. I didn't supplement with anything at all.  

Tripe is excellent, and I had a lot of that at that time. I have to say though, that while I was in the process of moving and had no freezer, she was on Nature's Domain grain-free, and I have never seen a dog look so great before, during, and after whelping. No hair loss, no weight loss, and if you didn't look under her and see she was obviously nursing, you'd never know she'd just had pups. 

Are you sure she'd bred yet? I hope you're not planning on suing the parents of the guy who knocked her up. 

Lightly cooked Meat, fish oil, Greek "live"yogurt, bit of raw veggies, in pasta, sea salt,  chicken feet are great, beef hearts, pig's feet, turkey necks, chicken with flat bones and gristle......
No commercial dog food can beat this since it is void of live enzymes and unaltered amino acids.
 Dogs ate this type of a food for 100000 years +- and then came Purina ( and all the others)  and told us that that is wrong.
Balanced diet in a shiny bag.LOL.
Give me a physical brake .
Prager Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com