Pregnant GSD but no increase in appetite - Page 1

I co-own a kennel here in Manila and have bred many Golden Retrievers from Champion lines and Hall-of-Famers.
Currently, I have expanded from breeding just Goldens to include German Shepherds, with my first expecting bitch mated with a Philippine Champion import from Serbia.

Being the first GSD I have that is pregnant, she is on day 43 of her pregnancy with slight growth. She's wider when viewed from above and a bit thicker on her abdomen, mostly in the front and middle abdomen. Her ribs are a bit wider, too.

She's now 2 but ever since a pup, she hasn't been that interested in eating her dogfood. She has no worms and is maintained by frequent vet visits. All her shots are updated. Right now, she still refuses to eat more than her usual ration pre-breeding, which is three cups of Go Natural Grain Free Endurance. You should have seen her on week 4, when she was vomiting and had almost zero appetite.

This is new to me because all my pregnant Goldens both past and present were big eaters. When they were pregnant they could eat ALL DAY.
I've been worried since I'm trying to get my GSD to eat around 2,000 Calories a day, now that she's on week 7 of pregnancy.

I am afraid she's not getting that amount and has been supplementing with eggs and occasional peanut butter. I've even added 2 tbsp of either salmon or olive oil to her food just to get her to have an extra 240 Calories.

What can I do to encourage her to eat more? I don't think its a food issue because her food has been her favorite since puppyhood.

Thanks.

One of my dogs about 4 weeks into her pregnancy will literally only eat her dog food if it has canned food mixed in it.  She won't eat certain canned foods either, she's really picky about which ones she'll take......and which dog food mixed in with it.  From 4 weeks until 8 and 1/2 weeks into the pregnancy that's how she ate her food.......If I didn't do that, she would just look at her food, look at me, and literally push it away with her nose.  

#1 make sure she has no infections with a blood test and vaginal smear.
#2 try giving her a bit of ground meat and water mixed into her kibble.
#3 at 55 days get an x-ray to see how many puppies she has (optional).
#4 good luck!

It is normal at 3-4 weeks to have "morning sickness".  I would encourage her to eat raw and see what happens. If she's still feeling a bit queasy then this might entice her. Mixing it into the kibble can help also. Other things like cottage cheese can help too. Some of my female GSD's will not eat the kibble they normally eat when they are not pregnant and they gobble down raw. I take this as a sign that something about the kibble does not "set" well in their stomach. Others do fine on kibble all the way through. Although I still give all the pregnant girls things like cottage cheese and raw hamburger, extra folic acid and omega's 3,6,9. etc.
Debby

You can't put a Golden's appetite in the same category as a GSD's. Your dog is bored to death with its food. Give it some raw. She will love it.

Stephanie