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Home / Nutritional Pet Food / Pet Health Guide / Dog Nutrition & Health / Feeding Bitches During Pregnancy

Feeding Bitches During Pregnancy

We recommend feeding ARDEN GRANGE PRESTIGE during pregnancy and lactation. It will provide your bitch with the concentrate d calories, vitamins and minerals she needs during this time when so many extra demands are placed on her body. PRESTIGE is a concentrated, calorie dense diet that is easily digested and is an ideal food to accommodate the pregnant bitch’s nutritional requirements. PRESTIGE contains pure chicken oil as its primary energy provider. Chicken oil is the highest quality fat source that a dog can consume, with better digestibility and higher, more consistent levels of essential fatty acids, compared to other animal fats and vegetable oils. The primary ingredient in ARDEN GRANGE PRESTIGE is human grade FRESH CHICKEN, which, together with egg, are the top two protein sources available in terms of the dogs ability to digest, absorb and utilise them. Whilst feeding ARDEN GRANGE, no further supplementation is required or recommended. To add extras will upset the fine balance our nutritionists have formulated for your bitch.

There is very little foetal growth during the first 4-5 weeks of pregnancy and therefore we suggest you keep your bitch on her normal daily food allowance, splitting it into smaller portions and feeding three times a day. By the 6 th week of pregnancy, you should begin to gradually increase her food intake, until by the time of whelping she is consuming 40-60% more than normal. Many bitches will lose their appetite 2-3 days prior to whelping and will just pick at their food, this is quite normal.

After whelping, the bitch’s appetite will increase dramatically and she will appreciate being fed small frequent meals. The quantities we suggest are to be used only as a guideline, as individual bitches will vary greatly in their requirements. Your eye will tell you if she is getting too fat or too thin, and you can regulate her intake accordingly. As a guide you may wish to increase her normal intake by 130 – 140% in the first week, rising to 180% in the second week and up to 250 – 300% by the third week. The size of the litter will affect the amount of food the bitch requires and this should be taken into account.

Different breeders and different breeds will have variable weaning timetables, however, if the litter is unusually large you may wish to start weaning slightly earlier than normal. Most breeders wean gradually over a period of two to three weeks, starting when the puppies are around 3 weeks of age and during this time the bitch’s intake of food should be gradually reduced. This will mean that by the time the puppies are fully weaned, the bitch is back down to her normal daily amount.

When feeding Arden Grange, it is important to remember that puppies and adult dogs do not require milk in their diets. In fact they lose the ability to digest the milk sugar, lactose found in any mammals milk shortly after weaning and its consumption could lead to problems such as diarrhoea. However, it is important to provide a plentiful supply of fresh clean drinking water.