pregnant dogs

[waterhouse]

my dog (bonnie) is around 4 weeks pregnant, can anyone tell me, whats the best food to be feeding her at this moment in time??

also thanks eels for all your help.

[drgnrdr]

The expectant mother will gradually require increasing amounts of food to nourish her developing litter. A food approved for growth (i.e., a puppy food) will certainly be necessary during the nursing period and pregnancy may be a good time to transition into this new diet.
About 3 weeks into the pregnancy, she may experience a little nausea and appetite loss similar to morning sickness. This should resolve within a week, so if an upset stomach or loss of appetite lasts longer than that or is accompanied by listlessness, something more serious is going on and the vet should be notified.
Calcium supplementation may be tempting but is not a good idea. As long as the expectant mother is on a quality diet, supplementation is unnecessary. Further, supplementation can suppress her natural calcium releasing hormones so that when she really needs extra calcium during nursing, she will not have the proper hormone balance to get it. This can create a very dangerous situation that could easily be avoided by not supplementing with calcium.
At around 30 days of pregnancy, bring the female dog to the vet for a wellness check up.

I would say a good "high quality" food is the best bet. Transition to a "different food" from 1 brand to another is recommended, do 25 new to 75 old for 2 days then 50-50 for 2 days then 75 new to 25 old for 2 days if all goes ok, no tummy upset, you can be on the higher quality better food brand on day 7. If your on "purina" and go to puppy food "purina" you probably don't need transition. But going from "purina", to say, "Nutro"would require it. I don't care for Purina though, too many fillers in their food. Look for "Fillers" such as Corn, Wheat, By -Products, high quality foods don't use these. Look at ingredients of your present dog food. Hope this helps..

[Eels]

I agree, feed her a decent quality puppy food and start gradually weaning her onto this over the next couple of weeks.  Be careful because a bitch that is overfat is at risk of having problems giving birth.  Something like James Wellbeloved puppy/performance diet would be a good start, but there are cheaper alternatives such as Beta Puppy which aren't premium brand but nonetheless will give her the extra she needs.

Diet-wise after the birth she'll need the most food when she is suckling the pups - pretty much as much as she can eat.

[Eels]

Just found another number for you waterhouse:  Thornberry animal sanctuary near Doncaster. 01909 564399, I think.  You don't know how many pups you're going to be landed with, so do contact one of the numbers I've given you for a bit of friendly support and advice.  They may be able to help you find really good homes for Bonnie's babies, and that's the most important thing!