posted 02-12-2004 08:35 AM         

It is absolutely normal for your girl to lose weight, (and may notice her hair thinning.) Being pregnant isn't what is bad for the female and if healthy, don't need any extra vitamins or care, BUT, having and feeding a litter IS what takes SO much out of them. Especially with a large litter like you have. Some mothers also tend not to want to eat for the 1st few days. Of course it is essential for them to eat to keep their milk flowing and to keep mother from getting run down. Mine will not eat just any ol' dog food as before. You basically have to bribe them with their favorite food. Vitamins may be good at this point, though I don't do anything special in that regards. I do however have a ritual I do every winter. Whenever there are sales for those big 10# bags of chicken part, I will buy around 4 bags. (Usually when the cost is around 35c/lb), I will freeze them and each winter I will get the bags of chicken out one by one and make up a pot of chicken/rice/carrot mixture and bag it in GALLON size ziplocks and freeze for future use. This mixture is great for putting on weight!! It has the extra fat & carbohydrates/starch that will put weight on them, not to mention some vitamins and protein. It does miracles as far as putting weight on a dog. I give mine a cup or so a few times a day.

The reason I wait until winter to do all of this, is because it is cold outside, (no summmer heat), and I can actually cook it on top of our wood burner instead of the range, plus I just have too many other things to do in the spring/summer to take the time out to make this stuff. I just finished making 20 gallons to last me for the year. I give this to my girls who have just whelped a litter. I give this to them without mixing with food for several days, since they still do not want to eat their dog food. After that, I will start slowly mixing their regular food with the chicken mixture. This stuff is great also just to give your dogs who may need to gain some weight. (MY male dogs will lose considerable weight when a bitch is in heat, and I have 5 GIRLS!)

Anyway, I actually wrote down the recipe this time so I can add it to my site for people who need it. Before I just did it without really measuring anything. Below is for making 5 - 6 gallons depending how much you fill the gallon ziplock bags:

You need NO LESS than a 16 qt. pot.

10lbs of cheap chicken parts (best are the quarter parts - thighs and legs)

1½ lbs of carrots (about 6 really large)

16 cups *uncookded* rice

31½ cup of the broth. (add water if needed to make this amount)

Fill the pot with chicken. Fill with water 2/3 to top of pot and cook several hours. Cool and pour through strainer to separate the chicken/bones from the broth. Now the fun part..
Debone chicken, and you want to keep all the fat/skin!! Also you want to shred the chicken you debone while your at it.
When finished, you want to dice the raw carrots and add to the chicken. Once that is done, you want to measure the broth (add water at this time if need to measure up to the above amount) and add it Put all of this back into the original pot btw. Cook again until the carrots are cooked.
Measure your rice, stir and stick the *covered* pot into the oven on 325. You will want to get it out and actually stir it from the bottom up like in 15 minutes so that all the ingredience are evenly distributed. (Repeat the stirring again in 10 or 15mns.) It keeps from having all the chicken and carrots at the top and it is alot easier to stir at this point then when the rice is actually fully cooked. Cook until rice is cooked. Cool and bag.

It may sound like a lot of work. Well, it's not as bad as it sounds really. I just gave you alot of details. lol... But it is time consuming _ (the reason I do it all in the winter.) It's just so much easier to do a large quantity than to do it everytime you need a bag, and a bag will only last you a few days. So yes, you can make small quantities using the same ingredience. You can also add other vegetables. (Don't use onion.)

posted 02-18-2004 09:26 PM         

I also buy liver for my dogs sometimes because you can buy it so cheap.
We should start a recipe exchange thread???
I think that is a great idea!!
we could all benefit from it!!
Bow Wow Emerald LOL
Susan

posted 02-19-2004 05:30 AM         

Her food intake should be increased to 3times her normal intake this helps replace nutrients and helps make sure that there is enough milk.

Giving puppy substitute milk is good i give it to my females i also inbetween meals feed them boiled rice with chicken or lamb also scrambled eggs all mixed together
This helps them gain weight.

If your female does not get enough food her body will use up her energy and fat reserves to produce the milk which can cause her to become really ill.

Was your femal wormed 1 week before she gave birth.

When the puppies are 2weeks old mother and pups can be wormed the vet will give you the correct wormers to use.

All in all feed chicken or lamb with rice and eggs and she will gain her weight.
Also after she has eaten keep her away from the pups for about 1hour this will give her tyime to digest the food and her body absorb most of the vitamins and nutrients.
Cheeses and full cream milk will make the bitch sick at the moment so these should be avoided until she has gained atleast half her normal body weight.

if you would like more advice or help please feel free to email me.

posted 02-19-2004 11:01 AM         

Worming a week before the litter is due helps reduce the risk of any worms or there lavae passing onto the litter either while in the uterus or during lactation.

To help your female gain weight what i usually do is...

Feed there normal food in the morning then about 2-3 hours later i will feed them boiled chicken or lamb with boiled rice and scrambled eggs.

Then about 4hours later there normal food and a couple of hours after that i give them more boiled rice.

Giving a substitute milk designed for bottle feeding puppies is ideal for the female as this will help keep her milk plentiful and will also give her back some vitamins and nutrients.

The puppies should be weighed daily to make sure they are all gaining weight well and mums mammary gland should be checked to make sure she has no lumps(mastitis) and that her milk is still flowing well simply gently squeeze her nipples and the milk will come out a little.

You can start weaning the puppies on soft food about 3-4weeks old they should be given small meals, by the time they are 8weeks old they should be eating 4meal aday giving them either water or substitute milk should also be available to them when they start to eat but this needs to be warmed a little.

posted 02-19-2004 12:41 PM         

As far as wanting MORE ways for your dog to gain weight, what MORE do you want? I think it's all been said or are you looking for something with less work?

posted 02-19-2004 02:24 PM         

By the way, give up your speech to someone who gives a hoot. Tootles.

------------------
REDCOAT KENNELS
Home of the chocolate/rednose!

posted 02-19-2004 04:08 PM         

This is Meadow

Is this the color that you are talking about?

posted 02-19-2004 04:43 PM         

Just do the picture trail thing it works really well, but it does expire if you don't upgrade and pay. If you want you can get a yahoo ID and make an album on there. Right now I'm using picuretrail until it expires and I'm working on my yahoo album right now since I already have a yahoo email. Once you do have an account do like Angie said and copy the url of the pic then come on here to post and click on "insert a picture" and paste the URL and press ok.
Here is my picturetrail page. You can make more than 1 album. http://www.picturetrail.com/true_pits

Here is a pic I took 2day. She is in heat right now, but I'll be conditioning her in a couple weeks. She is looking really good now.