Vitamins for a dog in pup?

[mosa]

as title anyone suggest any or is it a vet option

[Ozzy Fudd]

i got calcium and iron tablets when jess was in pup, was advised by the vet; not sure what the iron helps but the calcium is good for milk production and can help prevent milk fever.

 

 

best to ask the vet though

[Malinois]

Hi,

contrary to popular belief, you should not change a bitch's diet at all during pregnancy except maybe to split her meals into 2 or give her the smaller volume puppy food dring the last week of her pregnancy.

 

The reason for this is that dogs can develop eclampsia when their pups are born. This is potentially life threatening.

 

Dogs have an inbuilt mechanism where they learn to rob calcium from their own bones during their pregnancy and subsequent feeding of pups.

 

If you supplement her with calcium then this mechanism shuts down and when the pups are born she will not be able to convert enough of the calcium introduced in supplements and food to provide for her pups.

 

Obviously when the pups are born then carefully increase the food intake or keep her on puppy food.

 

When I was new to breeding I had a bitch with eclampsia and researched it throughly. It never happened again.

 

I also made the mistake of overfeeding in the first 2 weeks a bitch that had 15 pups. She developed very serious sceptic mastitis and ended up with the hole in her side the size of a fist.

 

You live and learn, it never happened again.

 

Best of luck.

 

Ian

[apache]

No need to give any vitamins if feeding a decent quality complete food. What does she get? You will need to increase it as pregnancy progresses and she will be eating 150 -200% by she has her pups.

 

If you must supplement calcium only AFTER the birth and then really only if the dog is milking lots, or has had calcium deficiency before.