Pregnant Shepard (food question)

[danbeaulieu]

Well I made the mistake thinking that my 1 year old male shepherd, Herzog Jr., would be ok for an hour around our (in heat) 3 year old shepherd, Lavine.

Long story short, Lavine and Herzog were... together when we came in the room. Soo... Looks like a high probability of Puppies.

Both are great dogs so I am not too worried, getting excited actually.

Now, I feed herzog "Taste of the Wild - High Prarie Formula", Lavine isn't my dog and I am not a full-time resident here. So her owner feed her Purina.

What should I feed her while she's pregnant? Something with quality protein and high in vitamins right? Anything specific?

[GSDElsa]

If this is not a litter you want, I highly recommend to spay her. It will fix the issue of any future oops and terminate any potential pregnancy at the same time.

Females in heat shouldn't be around unfixed males for 30 SECONDS yet alone and HOUR.

[Anja1Blue]

"Lavine isn't my dog and I'm not a full time resident here." So who is going to be responsible for the care of this girl? If she is indeed going to have puppies (and I pray she isn't) you - or someone - is going to need more than different food. Vet visits are an essential part of pre-natal care - are you (or the owner)willing to spend the money to ensure she has a healthy pregnancy and delivery? Who is going to look after Mom and babies after they are born? And find good homes for them? SPAY THE DOG and stop this before it goes any further.
___________________________________________
Susan

Anja SchH3 GSD
Conor GSD
Blue BH WH T1 GSD - waiting at the Bridge

[krystyne73]

Sorry no advice on feeding. I agree, See if you can talk the owner into spaying her. Puppies are a lot of work not to mention extra mouths to feed.

Hope for the best.

[Linzi]

Is "Lavine"the mother or aunt of your dog,after reading your other post's,i hope i am wrong.
Linzi

[selzer]

If Lavina is doing ok on Purina, maybe upgrade to Purina Pro-plan. A lot of breeders use it. If you try to put her on a high end food, (I would NOT do grain free food for a pregnant bitch who is not accustomed to the diet), you may have to try several before you find the one she does best on. Pregnancy is not the time to make radical changes to her system.

I would probably switch to pro plan, but not start upping her food until the last half of pregnancy. And you could leave the kibble constant and add a third meat meal, raw chicken or hamburger. Add some cheese or yogurt, and a hard boiled egg. If she polishes everything away, and is looking for more, You might add a half a can of high quality dog food, Merrick, Wellness -- something along that line.

Whether you truly did not know that you dog was capable of impregnating this bitch, you sound excited about having puppies. I really do not know if there is much we can say or do here that will make you reconsider this. You are not going to find people happy and excited for you here. But if you persist, and have questions or problems, bring them up and for the sake of the puppies we will do our best to answer them.

I do have a question though, if the bitch is not yours, why would you be in charge of making a food change for her?

[GSDElsa]

The fact she isn't yours just really makes me question how this will turn out if something happens to the Lavina...dies in birth...needs and emergency C-section...pups have huge issues. Who is responsible? How much bitterness will there be for YOUR man knocking her up and causing this?

Just seems like a bad situation all around.

[WarrantsWifey]

This thread makes me mad..... >:-(
There is irresponsibility written all over this one. You THOUGHT it would be okay to leave two intact dogs together, especially when the female was in heat??????

Spay Her. Call it a day.

[selzer]

I want to stress something in my previous post.

DO NOT OVER FEED HER right now. Give her regular moderate exercise and keep her fit. A bitch who is not overweight and has good muscle tone will have a better chance at having her litter with the least amount of complications.

As the owner of the stud dog, you have some responsibility here. If the owner of the bitch will not spay her, then you will have to determine if and how she is going to manage the litter and find homes for the puppies. Are both German Shepherds, and are both registered? AKC? Well, it really is not important -- being AKC does not mean this will be a good breeding, but it will make it easier to get homes for them.

It is easy to home 4 pretty GSD puppies. But the bitch can pump out 14. Believe me that around about 6 weeks, if you are not prepared for it, you will find that it is an incredible amount of cleaning mostly. Eating and Pooping are their major functions at this point, and playing. Playing consists of rolling in poop. How fun for you. Bathing and grooming fourteen little hellions before some of the early ones have rolled in poop again, well, I think you get the picture. And toenails. Each pup has 18, and at 1 week of age they are pretty much see through and miniscule. But if you want your bitch to continue nurse them and not get her mammary glands infected, as well as clean after them -- the first three weeks are not so bad as she does this, well, you kind of have to keep after the toenails. Clipping toenails for fourteen squirmy puppies is a real chore.

If taking care of them at six weeks, is tough, at eight and ten weeks it gets even harder. Lots of cleaning, lots of poop, lots of baths, lots of toenails. Not so much fun any more, and the little buggers have shredded your pant legs and are biting your ankles and fingers now too! They are making you BLEED!

Get a good book and read it through and keep it handy during the whole ordeal. You need to know how to tell if your bitch is in trouble, and so much more.

But it is not your bitch. Well, I hope that someone cares enough to at least figure out what they need to know to whelp and raise the litter, and care for the bitch.

[Lucy Dog]

Try the emergency spay diet. It's great for dogs who should never be pregnant to begin with.