Nutrition, part I (Pre-breeding, gestation, parturition, lactation, and weaning)
By Susan Lauten - http://www.petnutritionconsulting.com

What role should nutrition play in a breeding program? Nutrition plays an important role in every aspect of dog breeding. The reasons for implementing a breeding nutrition plan include goals such as optimal conception, high numbers of puppies per litter, the dam being able to deliver the puppies, and viability of newborn and nursing puppies. Just as women are advised to be in good health and consuming a healthy diet before getting pregnant, the same consideration should be given to a breeding dam.

The dam should be in good body tone, without parasites (internal and external), with good gastrointestinal (GI) health, and in perfect body weight. If you are planning to ship the bitch off for breeding, she can carry an extra one or two pounds if you expect her to be stressed by shipping and going to a strange environment. However, obesity in the breeding dam is associated with decreased ovulation, decreased fertility, silent heat, prolonged interestrous intervals, anestrus and small litters. Obesity in the breeding sire is associated with decreased stamina, decreased libido, and an increased susceptibility to heat stroke.

Once conception occurs, development of the puppies begins. We often don't think about what is going on in the dam's body until the day pregnancy is confirmed. A dog's pregnancy can be divided into trimesters as we do in humans, giving us three 3-week periods. Some time near or at the end of the first trimester, palpation or ultrasound can confirm pregnancy. However, one third of the pregnancy is already over and much of the puppy development has already occurred, and the dam's nutrition was critical to that puppy development. The second trimester consists of continued puppy development, with the beginning of significant puppy growth. During the last trimester, bones calcify and puppies grow rapidly, in preparation for birth.

Why should I choose the foods I'll use ahead of time? Once pregnancy is confirmed, it is a good time to decide upon the lactation diet you wish to use. Also, deciding upon a diet for the puppies that is similar in ingredients to the lactation diet will make things easier for everyone. You might also decide upon a diet for the dam to switch to when the puppies are weaned.

Why choose similar diets? The dam needs to make the transition to her lactation or nursing diet while she is pregnant, and the breeder should be careful not to do anything that might upset gastrointestinal (GI) function, either in late pregnancy or while she is nursing puppies. Once the puppies begin to eat, the dam will be exposed to this food too, and will consequently be subject to GI upset if the food is significantly different. Once weaning occurs, the dam can be fed a maintenance diet again, and a food of similar composition makes this transition easier as well. Keeping everyone's GI tract happy and healthy goes a long way when trying to care for both the dam and the puppies. All types of complications can occur, and management and diagnosis will be easier if symptoms of rapid food changes are not part of the symptoms you are trying to evaluate.

How should the pregnant dam be fed? After pregnancy is confirmed and your food choices have been made, it is time to slowly transition the dam to a lactation diet. This food will likely be a puppy food, but be careful not to choose a large breed puppy food for this task. A small breed puppy food, a regular puppy food, or a performance food (last choice) would be an appropriate choice. This transition can be made after pregnancy is confirmed, and the increased calories in the puppy food will result in early weight gain if not carefully monitored. During pregnancy, dams need the increased protein of a puppy food, adequate carbohydrates (50% of energy requirements for fetal development are supplied by glucose), and increased vitamins and minerals. Foods should also be highly digestible, as the dam will be required to eat large volumes of food to produce sufficient quantities of milk. After 35 days of pregnancy, only 2% of the puppy's weight has been achieved and only 5-½ % has been achieved after 40 days. Rapid weight gain in the puppies occurs during the last trimester, or last three weeks, of pregnancy. Large breed puppy foods are not appropriate for the pregnant and/or nursing dam and could be detrimental if used.

How much weight should the dam gain during pregnancy? Feeding guidelines for the first two trimesters of pregnancy are not significantly different than pre-breeding requirements, while the last trimester should include about a 2/3 increase in calories. For example, a 60-pound bitch might be consuming about 1500 calories per day. For the last three weeks of pregnancy, 2500 kcalories would be required for puppy development. Adequate nutrition should have the bitch gaining 15 to 25% of her body weight, depending on the number of puppies she is carrying. Using the 60-pound bitch as an example, she should weigh between 69 and 75 pounds at whelping, depending on the size of the litter. Obesity should be avoided as it results in difficulties during whelping. Supplementation with minerals, particularly calcium is to be avoided. The body's hormonal systems are finely tuned, and sudden addition of calcium, for instance, would upset that balance and put the bitch at risk for eclampsia or milk tetany. Many of these cases are the result of improper nutritional management of the dam, and would not have occurred if calcium supplementation had been avoided.

How should the nursing dam be fed? If your dam was properly fed before whelping, she should weigh about 10-15% more after the birth of the puppies than she did before breeding (66-69 pounds for our hypothetical dam). Increases in calorie intake occur after parturition or whelping, and reach their highest levels when puppies are between 3 and 4 weeks of age. A dam with 8 puppies will need to produce up to 3 liters of milk per day during this time. Free access to unlimited quantities of clean fresh water should be available to the nursing bitch. Offering a dry kibble to the bitch may help her eat enough food to produce the required volume of milk for her puppies. If you chose a high quality, easily digestible puppy food for your dam, she should be able to produce adequate quantities of milk. The dam will lose the 6-9 additional pounds she retained after the birth of the puppies during nursing, and may lose an additional pound or two. Your dam should be back at perfect body weight within a month of weaning. No caloric requirements are suggested during this time; because the dam will need to eat all she can to maintain milk production. Demands for milk production depend upon the size of the litter and the age of the nursing puppies. Keeping food available for her at all times will help her meet these requirements.

What are the recommended procedures for weaning? Simple weaning procedures will reduce the incidence of mastitis in the nursing dam. We can think of the weaning process as two different periods. The first period begins when solid food is introduced to the puppies between 3 and 4 weeks of age. An appropriate large breed, or a weaning formula puppy food should be used for the puppies. Often the dam will dictate when weaning begins by regurgitating food or by dumping her own food onto the floor of the puppy pen. If she does this, please introduce your large breed puppy food to the puppies at that time. As the puppies begin to consume solid food, demand for milk from the dam declines, and milk production should decline as well. However, some bitches continue to produce large amounts of milk and will be at risk for developing mastitis. Restriction of food for a day or two before weaning will reduce nutrient availability for milk production, which should help. The final weaning protocol will enable your breeding dam to return to normal quickly. During this procedure, the dam's original diet is used for re-introduction of food.

As you can see, proper food selection can help minimize GI symptoms associated with food changes. The dam receives her normal food, and then a puppy food during late pregnancy and nursing, is exposed to the large breed puppy food that the puppies are weaned to, and finally returns to her original food. All of this happens in a period of about three months. Not only does the bitch benefit from easy changes, but also your work might be easier as well. The large, international pet food companies make foods that are similarly formulated in puppy, large breed puppy, maintenance, and or performance foods.

How do these recommendations apply to non-traditional feeding programs? Nutrition is a science, not a method of feeding. Regardless of how nutrition is presented to the sire, dam, and puppies, a high quality, highly digestible, fully balanced diet is required for proper health of breeding animals and puppies. The information provided in this article is presented as percentages where possible, and these guidelines apply to home-cooked and raw meat diets.