Bill, Feeding my pregnant bitches their regular diet, increasing the amount after they whelp and in a very few cases adding a puppy or performance food if their own weight was dropping too much as they nursed their puppies has worked best for me. Whether BARF, homemade or kibble, the diet they do well on at rest seems to serve them well in pregnancy. If I make a switch to a higher calorie-dense diet, it usually occurs with a very large litter and VERY late in pregancy or after the puppies are whelped. Here's why.
My own vet warned me years ago about something that occurs in the bitch that makes additional calcium supplementation dangerous early on in the pregnancy. According to him, it is impossible for a bitch to ingest enough calcium to meet the needs of her growing litter. Therefore nature has established a means for her to leach calcium from her own bones. This calcium is transferred to her milk to meet the growing litter's needs. This is why in a breed like ours that matures so slowly, it is in the bitch's best interest to wait until she is skeletally mature before breeding her. Imagine the effects growing AND feeding a litter from her own bones would have on a young bitch. A physiological occurence occurs sometime in the last trimester of pregnancy which triggers the bitch's body to start gearing up for this leaching of the calcium in her own bones. My vet believes that by supplementing with extra calcium BEFORE that trigger has initiated sends a signal to the body it doesn't need to leach calcium and therefore the bitch is subject to not make this physiological change that is essential. The result can be eclampsia or lack of calcium, pain for the bitch and not enough milk for the puppies. With that in mind, if I have a bitch who is falling off in weight in her last two weeks of pregnancy, I'll consider adding 1/2 puppy diet to her diet but not before. Another valuable tip I learned years ago was the prudence of less is better when it comes to raspberry leaf supplementation with pregnant bitches. Raspberry leaves are known in humans and dogs for conditioning (toning) the uterus during pregnancy. Be cautious of using too much. I had a litter once where I believe now I'd over supplemented with this valuable "herbal" remedy and caused too much fluid to be retained resulting in many pups who nearly drown and some who did in one litter. I would think a teaspoon of this daily would be plenty to prompt whatever benefits it might have. In that one litter I had used several tablespoons daily sprinkled over the bitch's food throughout the last two trimesters of her pregnancy. Our bitches have traditionally been excellent whelpers (2 of our 13 brood bitches needed a c-section with 50% of Berner bitches needing sections in their careers being the average for the breed), so I've discontinued using the RLT in my program. Good luck to you with the pending whelping! Ruth Reynolds Pioneer Bernese Greenwood, FL celebrating 20 years with Berners this month :-) 24 litters from 13 Berner bitches since March, 1988 > I know there are a lot of 'experienced' breeders on the list...we're into our second pregancy and wanted some info on supplements and/or diets that you might have had good luck with for the pregant bitch. Thanks bil dunnavant Kotten Kennels Athens, AL
