The Puppies are coming, the puppies are coming!

[msvette2u]

If you allowed her to eat all the afterbirths she could be having the runs from that.

I'd upgrade her food to a high protein one if it was me, Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete or something similar.
We used a Blue Buffalo product for a nursing mom here (a Chihuahua mix that nursed an orphan litter of 4 GSD puppies) which was the highest protein you could get.

We added daily yogurt and cottage cheese to her diet as well.

[Cunningham GSDs]

Thanks for the help. Yes she did eat all of the afterbirths. Should I be concerned with changing the food now while she is already having the runs, or just add some yogurt and cottage cheese and then change to the higher protein after her tummy gets better? I didn't think of the yogurt....it always calms my tummy, lol. Maybe I will make some homemade yogurt with good organic cultures tomorrow........
The pups seem to be doing really good. Some are clearly black and tan and some of them the legs are almost a "taupe" color....I wonder if those will end up being black and red like their sire?

[selzer]

I use 4Health, which I believe is also made by Diamond, and is sold at Tractor Supply Co. It does not have corn, or wheat, or soy, or glutens and the first two ingredients are Chicken and Chicken Meal. It is also 29.99 for a 35# bag. Which is similar to the Diamond food. My dogs like it. I do not use large breed formula and I do not switch to puppy.

When all things are normal, I skip a meal of kibble (I feed twice a day to adults) and give a raw chicken leg quarter about 1-2 times per week.

When I have a pregnant female, I start out by giving her dog food as normal for the fist 3-4 weeks, and if she goes off her feed, I let her for a couple of days, but then I start adding half a can of can food into her kibble at each meal. Then I start leaving kibble down for her at all times. By the end of her pregnancy she will be getting two cans a day plus kibble and the occasional 1/4 pound raw hamburger, or chicken piece with bone.

Once she has the puppies her meals well be 4-5 times a day, a cup of kibble 1/2 canned food, yogurt, cottage cheese or raw meat, and a hard boiled egg (usually 2 total in the day). If I have runny poo I add some pumpkin. Usually the fifth meal is whatever I had for dinner -- yeah, I'm a sucker, but my girls love beef stew, potato soup, roast chicken, chicken papricka. They have a big job to do, and I want them to get the nutrients they need.

I weigh the puppies twice a day to make sure they are gaining.

ETA: I think that the bitch is going to get better nutrition from yogurt, cottage cheese, American Cheese, Egg, and raw meat than they would from any kibble, however much you up grade. If you go with a decent kibble and it generally works for her, then adding the extra means she is getting nutrition that has not been baked/processed to death. That gives me peace of mind.

[msvette2u]

What we did, but we're a rescue, remember, and she was one of like, 5 or 6 other dogs (plus our own) is put her regular kibble in a 4-cup bucket in her kennel run, and then the high protein kibble we added yogurt/cottage cheese (both together) to and mixed it up and fed it. She was around 15-18lb. and we fed her about a cup of food then mixed in like, 1/8 c. each yogurt/cottage cheese mixture and fed that 2x a day.
But she could free-feed on the regular kibble and had access to it at all times.

She ended up getting almost chubby But I doubt you could feed a nursing GSD mama enough to make her chubby!
All I know is our little mama did great and the puppies got downright chubby as well!

[Cunningham GSDs]

Thank you so much Selzer and Msvette2u. I am taking it all in like a sponge! lol.

Selzer...do you have a website?

[selzer]

No. I do not have a website.

Actually, Jenna gained weight to the point of looking a bit chubby while weaning her litters of 10 and 7. I had to put her on a diet both times afterwards, LOL.