Breeders, a question for you... - Page 1

I would like to hear the opinions of other breeders regarding whether or not you allow your bitches to eat the placentas, and if so ,how many do you allow her to eat? All?,some? none? If she has a large litter--10 and up do you change your opinion? If you don't allow her to,why? Is it there needed protein for her strength in the placentas that we should allow her to eat all of them?. I am most interested in all opinions,mostly from the old-timers but from all. We all can learn if we want to, no matter how much we think we know. Much thanks in advance.

Not an old-timer, but I allow my Golden bitches to eat two, thats it. I have heard from several highly regarded breeders of 25+ years say it helps with milk production. Not sure if its true or not, but I allow only two. Just my two cents

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It is a very valuable way to enhance your bitches milk supply. If she has a large litter, then allow her to eat the placentae if she chooses too. After a large litter, sometimes, they leave the last ones, and thats ok too - but let them choose what they want to eat. The reason that it enhances the production of milk is that eating the placentae, has just the same clinical effect as the suckling of the newborns,it stimulates the anterior pituitary gland, so making more colostrum, the better the supply of the initial colostrum, the better the supply of the hindmilk.Hope that helps, I can assure you that its right, even though not nice to sit and watch !! Regards Mo Lakin - Mascani

IMO if they eat to many they will get diareha (sp). I think just a few is best.

I try to let the birthing process be as natural as possible,which means the mother will eat all evidence of the birth to protect her young from ememies in the wild.It makes sense to me not to interfere as much as possible,as I have seen my females much more relaxed if I keep my distance during that time.

I have always let my girls eat whatever they want and it never seemed to cause diarea ?? (sp)lets say... loose stool ! IMO that its feeding the bitch too early after whelping together with her eating the placenta that causes this "loose stool" I`ve done that before now. I now leave the bitch with glucose water after whelping the last puppy and leave 6 hrs before feeding. incidentally, as a midwife, I was "privileged" after a home birth to be asked to partake in a PLACENTA PARTY by the joyful parents and their friends with new babies... with onions I was told... believe me, I was out of there !

my females get to the placentas before I could possibly try to take them away - never had a problem with females eating all of the placentas. They normally miss at least one meal because they are in labor/whelping, so it's good protein/calories for them and is supposed to help with milk production, as Penny said. molly

I haven't bred GSD's, only Goldens, and I can tell you, they like having you there. Its a dang good thing our whelping box is HUGE, so we have room to "bunk" in there with them. Goldens are very different from shepherds, and birthing is quite different too. I have one bitch that wont deliver till I get in the box with her...she prolongs the delievery as long as she can, or until I give in. In all of my girls' litters, there have always been 10+ puppies, most of them good sized (you should see the female those last few days, she's as big as a damn house!) so I think birthing is more difficult. Looking forward to smaller shepherd litters :) Out of our last Golden litter, we had 14! A nice even litter of 7 girls and 7 boys...She started whelping at about 10:00am and finished around 1:30am next morning. I didn't give any Oxytocin injections until after she was fully done whelping. Bathroom breaks were taken, very fast, with me behind her with cloths and hot water bottle, just incase. I don't care what the books say (for goldens 6-8 pups) How many puppies do YOU average per Shepherd litter?

I let them eat about half of them to help stimulate milk production. If the litter is big, and I let them eat them all, they have the smelly craps for days... My pups are born inside, so the smell of placenta-poop wafting up under the basement door when I wake up in the morning is not a pleasant thing. (Yes I do let them out to eliminate every few hrs., but when they have the runs they can't always hold it for more than an hour or so. SS