Breeder special - Pregnancy in dogs

It’s an exciting time for every dog owner when a bitch is pregnant and expecting puppies. Pregnancy lasts 63 days on average - sometimes a few days more and sometimes a few days less. During this time, the bitch's body changes due to the puppies growing inside her, giving birth to and then suckling with her mother's milk.  Here’s how you can prepare and support her for this.

In this guide, we provide information on how to prepare the bitch for pregnancy, what food she needs during pregnancy and how to support her when the puppies are born and are suckled by her.

Preparations before mating

The bitch should be fed a natural, species-appropriate diet without synthetic additives and preservatives. These synthetic additives can accumulate in the body, irritate the metabolism and thus impair the immune system, thereby favouring the development of allergies and intolerances. If you are already feeding your dog a natural food such as our Canis Plus®, you can simply stick to this food. Whether you feed our cold pressed Canis Plus® dry food or our Canis Plus® wet food or combine the two types of food is entirely up to you.

It is very important to submit a faecal sample from the bitch before mating to check that she is worm-free, as there are types of worms that the puppies can pick up from their mother. The following applies here, the healthier the mother is with a fit gut, including through a species-appropriate diet without synthetic additives, the less likely it is to find worm infestation in the puppies.

If there is an infestation in the mother, our Canis Extra Vermcurat® will help to get it under control again quickly. Of course, the mother can also come into contact with worms during pregnancy - please call us in such cases so that we can discuss an adapted diet.

The right feeding during pregnancy

Our range offers various options to provide pregnant and lactating mothers with everything they need. Wet and dry food can easily be combined in separate meals. They can be fed our Canis Plus® puppy and young dog food and meat can be added. Raw meat is suitable here or the Canis Plus® puppy meals, Canis Plus® complete meals, the Canis Plus® Pasture fed lamb with millet and full cream goat's milk or Canis Plus® Beef power with millet and whole goat's milk rolls or our Canis Plus® Meat Pots or Meat Rolls with our air-dried flake mixes Canis Extra Top-Fit-Mix or Canis Extra Vit/Min-Variety flakes and a calcium source such as our Canis Extra Organic Eggshell Powder. This also applies to the lactation period.

Feeding from mating onwards

It has proven to be a good idea not to increase the amount of food when the bitch is pregnant if she is at her ideal weight. Only feed more if the bitch is already underweight. Only from about the second trimester of pregnancy can a higher amount of puppy & young dog food be fed - at the beginning only a small increase, about 30% more from the 5th week of pregnancy. Watch the bitch closely, as she should not gain too much weight before giving birth, otherwise she will have a harder time giving birth. In the last trimester of pregnancy, the amount of food can be increased again by approx. 50% of the normal requirement, as the ultrasound will usually tell you how many puppies there will be. The more puppies, the higher the requirement. With a small litter, the amount of food is significantly lower.

Preparing for the birth

Before the puppies are due to be born, you should make a few preparations to ensure that the birth is relaxed. The bitch needs a cosy place that gives her a sense of security where she can give birth to the puppies. The so-called whelping boxes have proven to be a good choice. The whelping box should be set up early so that the bitch can get used to it. You can also check whether there are any dangerous objects, exposed cables etc. in the home that could be dangerous for the puppies when they take their first steps outside the whelping box. It is also particularly important to be prepared if the bitch does not have enough milk for the puppies or does not want to suckle them. If you want to help the bitch suckle her puppies, you can do this with the help of our Canis Extra whole goat's milk powder by mixing a puppy milk and feeding it to the puppies to supplement their mother's milk. However, if the puppies do not receive any milk from their mother, it is very important to offer them colostrum for the first few days and only then to use our goat's milk powder.

Digression - The birth process

You have probably already learnt a lot about the birth process from the previous examinations at the vet. The vet will have shown and explained a few things to you and prepared you for how you can support the mother during the birth. You will have clean towels and a heat lamp in the house. When you realise that the birth is about to start, you should inform your vet or veterinary clinic so that you have a quick point of contact in case the birth is accompanied by complications.

The prenatal phase

A few days before the birth, you can observe a swelling of the vulva in the pregnant bitch and in some bitches the body temperature drops to below 37°C 6-24 hours before the birth. The bitch's body temperature should therefore be taken twice a day between the 50th and 55th day of pregnancy. Normally, this should always be similar during the regular measurements and only be subject to slight fluctuations - if there are more pronounced deviations, you should take note.

The birth and postpartum phase

If the bitch becomes restless, frequently licks herself, keeps looking at her belly, possibly refuses to eat and has vaginal discharge, she will probably give birth in the next 6-12 hours. Some bitches also experience diarrhoea or vomiting. As soon as the first abdominal pressure is recognisable, the first puppy should be born within an hour. There are approximately 30-60 minutes between births, which the bitch uses to free the previously whelped puppy from the amniotic sac, nibble off its belly button cord and encourage it to breathe on its own by constantly licking it. A healthy puppy should begin to seek out the mother's teats and drink colostrum immediately after it has been prepared and cleaned by the mother.

Each puppy born is followed by an afterbirth, which the bitch usually eats straight away. This can cause diarrhoea or vomiting. Puppies are not yet able to maintain their own body temperature and are dependent on their mother's body temperature. If you want to offer the puppies some extra support, you can position a heat lamp so that a limited area in the whelping box is warmed, which the puppies can visit if they want to. Direct heating with a red light lamp should be avoided.

The newborn puppies

The puppies should suckle from their mother several times a day and gain between 5-10% of their body weight every day. Within a week, they will usually have doubled their original body weight. Would you like to find out more about when you can start introducing the puppies to solid food? Take a look at our Breeder special guide - Raising puppies with Naturavetal® - Naturally good from the start.

Feeding during the lactation phase

During the lactation phase, the amount of food depends on how many puppies the bitch has had. In litters of 8 or more puppies, the mother’s food requirement is extremely high and this increases from week to week. With this litter size, it can happen that the bitch needs 4-5 times as much food (always puppy and young dog food). It can often be difficult to keep the bitch's weight up. A fully lactating bitch with a large litter can in principle eat as much as she wants. Only after the puppies have been fed do you control the amount of food. Lactation is a high-energy sport for bitches. If they don't get enough, they quickly become emaciated. However, if the litter size is only 2-3 puppies, it is possible that the food requirement is not significantly higher than normal.

Valuable supplements for pregnant and lactating bitches

Mixing a teaspoon to tablespoon (depending on the bitch's body weight) of our Canis Extra full cream goat's milk powder into the feed every day has proven to be a good idea providing an additional source of energy. Our Canis Extra Mineralmoor can also be supplemented during pregnancy as well as during the lactation phase to provide the bitch with a variety of valuable nutrients. Canis Extra Berry Power can be used to support haematopoiesis (creating new blood cells and plasma) by feeding the specified daily amount 2-3 times a week during pregnancy.

What about parasite prophylaxis for pregnant or lactating bitches and their puppies?

If a breeder belongs to a breeding association, it can sometimes be difficult to opt for natural ways of parasite prophylaxis/prevention, as the association has clear requirements that the breeder must fulfil if they wish to remain a member of the association. Even if the breeder can provide evidence of successful but natural parasite prophylaxis, this is often not enough to obtain approval for their litter. For example, it is recommended that bitches should be wormed 2-3 times during pregnancy, regardless of whether there is a worm infestation or not. In addition, puppies should be wormed every two weeks from the second week of life and vaccinated during the basic immunisation phase. This means that a lot of things/chemicals accumulate in a very short time that can put a strain on the organism. The adherence to these methods and regulations on the part of some breeding associations has long been criticised and many are waiting upon a rethink in favour of dog health.

Parasite prophylaxis for bitches following mating

To protect pregnant bitches from parasites such as ticks, fleas and mites, we recommend starting treatment with our Canis Extra organic Coconut Oil. This can be mixed into the food or massaged into the coat externally. If this is not enough, you can combine our Canis Extra Parasite Complex® (please follow the instructions for use). If the dog has previously been able to cope with our Canis Extra Defence Complex without any problems, this product is also suitable.

As described above, the bitch should be checked for worms before mating and should be worm-free - during pregnancy, worming should only be carried out if it is really necessary.

Tick and flea prevention during lactation

For both puppies and mothers, the gentler the better. This is because the mother is suckling her puppies and is therefore in an extremely exhaustive phase and the immune system of young dogs is still developing and many are also in the middle of the basic immunisation phase. Canis Extra Organic Coconut Oil is the gentlest way to protect very young dogs and their mothers from parasites.

Canis Extra Egyptian Organic Black Cumin Oil can be added to the puppies' food from the 4th month of life, but this should only be fed for a limited period of time and not permanently. The mother can be fed Canis Extra Egyptian Organic Black Cumin Oil again as soon as the puppies are hardly drinking any milk from her. It should only be fed for a limited period of time and not permanently.

From the 6th month of life, the puppies can be given our Canis Extra Defence Complex and the following applies to the mother. Once the puppies are out of the house, our Canis Extra Defence Complex can be used again.

Worm prevention during lactation

When the intake of solid food is regular and the start of excursions into the countryside - even if it is only the front garden - you should regularly submit poo samples and have faecal examinations for parasites carried out. The mother and puppies should also be given a daily preventative. Our Canis Extra organic coconut oil and freshly grated carrots are suitable for this purpose.

The following feeding recommendations are intended to provide an initial guide to what such feeding-related support might look like. However, the quantities may need to be adjusted individually. If you have any questions, please contact our team of experts.