does new mum need supplements

sonofsteptoe

Hi all, I'm the proud owner of Bella a collie/Terrier cross [i think]. She has just had a litter of 4 pups. Dad is a Springer Spaniel. My question is whether I need to be giving her any extra food/supplements for motherhood. 4 day old pups and all doing well. Mum is back to herself after 3 days of not leaving her box except for toilet.
Thanks in advance

are you serious

The food you have her on should supply a food specially designed for mothers...

Either that or take a trip to your local vets, they will point you in the right direction!

Shanao

WHat food is she on? She needs to be on a high quality puppy food. Best thing to do is keep her bowl topped up the whole time; the pups will take an awful lot out of her and she needs to have an almost constant supply of good food while she's feeding them

Cherry Blossom

Maybe someone will correct me - but if she isn't already on a food designed for pregnant and lactating bitches I don't think it would be a good idea to switch her over now when she has just given birth. As long as she's on a good quality food you could feed her extra rations for a week or two, she would need to be on a proper food really but you would have to be very careful switching it over as the last thing she needs is an upset tummy right now.

Shanao

I would still reccommend changing to a puppy food, just over a few days by mixing with the old food as usual. She will need the extra calcium that puppy food provides (just make sure its not a large breed puppy food!).

sonofsteptoe

Thanks for advice so far, She has been on a can of Pedigree and 300g of Bakers Complete (dry) since she was one and thrives on it. Didn't realise she was in Pup till late on so didn't change her food at that stage (she had enough to deal with). I have an app with Vet on tuesday so I just want to make sure I'm doing right by her till then. Shanoa, are you saying to give her pedigree puppy as extra to her normal diet.

are you serious

If she is already on these foods there is not much you could do to get a worse diet right now!

Definitely add in a tin of the pedigree puppy food or 2!!

sonofsteptoe

Garkane, I'm not sure I properly understand the first line of your reply. Are you saying that she is on a bad diet?

are you serious

I'm not saying she is unhealthy or anything along those lines. I will say that those 2 brands of dog food would rate around the bottom of the ladder in relation to nutrition per kg of food.

Shanao

sonofsteptoe wrote: »

Garkane, I'm not sure I properly understand the first line of your reply. Are you saying that she is on a bad diet?

op right now you are giving pretty much a cheeseburger with a can additives on the side. there are far better foods out there that are way cheaper and have less chance of compromising your dogs health

are you serious

sonofsteptoe, nobody here will hassle you if you have always chose to feed your dog pedigree or bakers, everyone here will encourage you to change your choice in food for your dogs/pups for a better higher quality food.

In comparison when you take how much € you pay for your bakers/pedigree dry+wet per feed over the space of a month, you could potentially be talking a very little difference money wise depending on your dogs appetite and what better quality food you choose to feed (if you did decide to change that is)

If you do change now is definitely not a time to do it as your bitch is feeding the pups and a change in food now could be disastrous, you could add in a different wet food to her nuts 1 can or so of the new stuff in addition to what she would normally get, just as a booster.

there are a ton of different threads here on "what food" to feed or "changing food" all of these threads will be very helpful for you if you do change!

sonofsteptoe

I've been to the vet on a couple of occasions and that diet was never an issue with him. Although he did show me a big display of one brand that he was recommending (i presumed it was commission for him). No health issues to report, lovely coat and good stools which i was lead to believe is a sign thigs are working ok inside. Talk to me more about a "perfect Diet" bearing in mind her present situation.

sonofsteptoe

Garkane just missed your last comment, I'll look up the mentioned threads. By the way cost was never the issue, Just purchased in Tesco/ Superquinn with the weekly shop.

marley123

ok so basically the bakers etc pure sh**... it the equivilent of feeding kids Mc Donalds every single day... Please do right by her & put her on a better feed... how did she fall in pup accidently?

sonofsteptoe wrote: »

Thanks for advice so far, She has been on a can of Pedigree and 300g of Bakers Complete (dry) since she was one and thrives on it. Didn't realise she was in Pup till late on so didn't change her food at that stage (she had enough to deal with). I have an app with Vet on tuesday so I just want to make sure I'm doing right by her till then. Shanoa, are you saying to give her pedigree puppy as extra to her normal diet.

are you serious

The vet would have been on commission for that particular food no doubt about it! But at the same time if it was not a good quality food he would not allow it in his clinic!

Pedigree is by far the dog food pushed on everyone because of its advertising.

I dont think anyone here would recommend changing food at all right now, it just is the total wrong time to do it! Once she has the pups weaned off her and you have them on solids and ready for their new homes then would be the time to change her when the pups are gone!

sonofsteptoe

Ok so I've had a look at a couple of threads re Diet, WoW there is a can of worms. Basically what I gather is that all suprmarket food is crap, Who knew? There must be hundreds/thousands of dogs on very bad diets! Anyway I've taken some of the info on board and I'll research it more before I change, obviously after she is finished with the pups. Cheers