Hi. I have a bitch that delivered 9 pups on Mon. She was always a "thinner" long dog but now she looks kinda rough. I was wondering what everyone else uses or has heard of using to replenish the mom after birth and for nursing a large litter?? Thx.

Hi all. I appreciate the comments. I am feeding her all the "normal" stuff you're supposed to. I was interested more in the "home-remedy" type suggestions that you hear people talking about like...yogurt, cottage cheese, yam essence etc...I just wanted to know others opinions and experiences with other stuff. Thanks again.

Hi, I feed all my dogs on a raw meat diet. You can google this by typing in 'give the dog a bone' one of the most famous books on raw feeding. My bitch delivered a month ago, and although it was only two pups, I still top her normal feed to get her back in tip top shape fast.

One thing you can do is mix beef/lamb/turkey/chicken mince (any or all of these) with a WHOLE egg (shell and all, just mash it all in). Add some sardines, fresh or dried herbs (i use a mixed herb, dried about 1/4tsp). I give this to her about once every three days.

UNDER NO CIRMCUMSTANCE AM I SUGGESTING THAT YOU
1. COOK THE MEAT FIRST or
2. GIVE YOUR DOG COOKED BONES!!!!!!!!!! THIS CAN KILL!!!!!!

The one thing you DO want to be careful of is to not feed too much calcium. This can cause pre eclamsia or eclamsia (i know my spelling is horrible, sorry).

In America you can get hold of chicken necks, they are full of protein and cartledge, which will help her get back on top too.

Once she stops nursing, I give my bitch one evening primrose oil caplet a day for about two weeks. This will get her coat in awesome shape and help with hair loss post puppy.

I hope this has helped. It seems that there may not be many raw feeders on this site, but it is well worth looking into and can be cheaper (an ofcourse better for the dog) than processed dog food. My vet calls it a 'species appropriate diet' It took me about six months to find a vet that wasn't against the idea!

Think about this. The only nutrition and health training the vets receive is funded, sponsored or done by dog food producers.

Have a great Christmas, all those puppies!!!!
Amy