Calcium and pregnancy - Page 3

 I think the warnings of raw food during pregnancy are a result of people assuming that no one knows how to feed it properly and therefore, they think the dog will be better off eating kibble. I won't say my dogs never eat any kibble, because they do, but the majority of their diet is raw, and they are often fed raw exclusively for long periods, pregnant or not. My pup are also brought up on raw and I see a marked difference between how they look and how their kibble-fed peers look, FWIW. 

I think adding too much can be more dangerous than not adding enough. Your girl is young and healthy and you keep her in excellent condition. I'm sure she will be fine...until they're born, then she'll probably run away from home if they are anything like their father, LOL.

a few things:

Calcium : Phosporus ration should never exceed 2 : 1   Feeding excess Calcium is well known to cause skeletal growth problems to include delayed maturity of the hip joint conformation.  Ah, that joint laxity we all fear because cartilaginous development is altered too.

Feeding puppies ad libitum also has been shown to do the same

Cottage Cheese is not a calcium source. Yogurt is

Measure  measure  measure

Nancy Rhynard
www.westwoodkennels.com

Oh! I forgot my corn answer!

Corn!  good carbohydrate source.  Not used for an amino acid souce in non-ruminants (see horse and dog)
as it is deficient in the growth necessary amino acid lysine. 

Corn is a very good carbohydrate source and most animals digest this well,  cooked first to disrupt the starch granules.  (same as potatoes for the potato person) or you can get some interesting diarrhea.

I like a quality prepackaged dog food that has the vitamins and minerals accurately measured.

For those of you who think dogs should not eat corn because, it is corn, why do you feed other vegetables? 

Nancy Rhynard
www.westwoodkennels.com

 Corn gets its reputation as crap because of the amounts of it used in cheap dog food, I think. Some dogs do ok w/corn; many don't.  Many dogs have issues w/grains in their food. I don't see corn the same as vegetables, as I classify it as a grain, however, I don't feed vegetables either, so I guess that question doesn't really apply to me. My dogs get corn if it's still in the tripe I give them;-) Otherwise, no corn. I stay away from grains when it comes to feeding my animals, except horses;-)

Nancy, what brand do you feed? 

I never thought about corn in the tripe!  That's a good one.

I have fed many brands since I get some help from whoever wants to sell their next ton of dog food I generally do not promote a specific brand.   I don't find too many problems but I do screen a product before I will test it.   No more testing on dogs and so far, since 1990 when I truly started testing dog foods, I have had no allergy ever on dogs.  I think much is mostly genetically initiated.  Testing is only on dogs 1 year and up. 

I prefer a high fat dog food on working German Shepherds.  The few problems I did see in the past was not enough essential fatty acids and so, skin starting to flake first then hair coming in a little dull.  One  simply did not have enough calories per lb.  

Cheap food is  cheap food even if they use meat scraps.  I will steer others away from products that have used Chinese originated ingredients.  They scare me.  Even their farm raised fish.  If someone is concerned, write their dog food company.  Usually they will tell you. 

I feed my puppies Nutri-source for large breed puppies.  (not nutro-source)
Pedigree canned puppy, a little organic whole milk yogurt, some frozen Bil-Jac, and mix occasionally some "other brand of puppy food" because puppies can imprint on the taste of dog food.

Pregnant dogs do get puppy food in their last trimester for the added calories and added organic whole milk yogurt. 

Occasionally some canned mackeral (outside only!) when the weather gets very cold. 

Abady anyone?  It is pretty darn good.  The tripe comes in a can!   

Nancy Rhynard
www.westwoodkennels.com

 I used Nutri-Source once. No problem with it...if I remember right, I got a whole bunch of raw right after that and it got me through to the next season. I do many of the same things as you do...mackeral, yogurt, and I totally agree that fat is lacking big-time in most foods. 

Also, total agreement on the Chinese. Even the raw I feed is almost exclusively free- range and/or organic and killed right near where I pick it up from. 

Tripe in a can is cheating! LOL

Hahaha - cheat I will!  and I hate the smell but dogs don't care, they'll roll in something dead anyday.

The point of this thread is Ca with pregnancy and the point I hope to make is many things work and we work with what is readily and reasonably cost effective.  I try to get people to read labels, do a little research and do use the NRC guidelines for feeding dogs.   We know well that HD can be created nutritionally and I hope to get that understanding out - Ca: P ratio along with overfeeding puppies especially during weaning.   Hopefully with this information, some do not take this the opposite direction and underfeed. 

Cheers!

Nancy Rhynard
www.westwoodkennels.com

Now Jenni, dont put any ideas in my head ....LOL   Afterall it was your little A-born who knocked her up on day 10 with her still fully bleeding. So, either she is super fertile or he has some damn spartanians as swimmers that will pass on his hardhead and determination! Linebred on Sven with an outcross, this will be interesting to see.

Back to the food. I didnt want to make any too drastic changes. The wellness puppy actual has less calories per cup than the core she was on before. But the core has a much higher calcium content, therefor the change.

For the curious minds, here are the two culprits:

 You know I think they're both awesome, but I have to say, Apache has a hell of a head on him for a dog his age. 

I'm no fertility expert, but I don't find dogs are wrong about timing too often;-)