The link between nutrition and health is especially important when feeding brood females about to begin the most metabolically demanding canine life stage of pregnancy and lactation.
“The goal should be optimal nutrition, the whole package,” says Purina board-certified veterinary nutritionist® Dr. Jason Gagné, DVM, DACVIM (Nutrition).
Proper nutrition, or lack thereof, can impact a female’s ability to conceive, the size of her litter, neonatal puppy survival, and her milk production. An underweight or overweight female could have difficulty delivering her puppies.
Experts advise breeders to breed females in optimal body condition that are lean, toned and conditioned. They also tell breeders to gradually increase the amount of food fed starting in the second half of her nine-week pregnancy.
Longtime dog breeder Michael Glass of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, recounts hearing different food recommendations. “The first 25 years, I was told to feed a quality adult food and only adjust the food if a female had a problem,” Glass says. “Later, I was told digestibility is most important, and any puppy food is better than an adult food and/or all-life stages food.”
“Not all dog foods nor all puppy foods are the same,” Dr. Gagné says. “They vary tremendously in energy and calcium levels. Adult maintenance and large-breed puppy foods have targeted levels of calories and fat. These diets are intended to support the nutrition of non-breeding adult females and of large-breed puppies that require a moderate growth rate to avoid stress to developing bones and joints. They will not meet the energy demands of the gestation and lactation periods.
“The objective is to achieve optimal reproductive capacity in bitches and optimal growth in puppies. Prior to breeding, breeders should choose a complete and balanced all-life stages food or a puppy food that has been validated in feeding trials to support pregnancy and lactation.
“If you are switching to an all-life stages or puppy food from an adult maintenance diet, you should make the change slowly before breeding or in the early stages of pregnancy,” he says. “This is because there is a lag time before she will get the full benefit of the diet.
“Importantly, you want to be sure the food has enough calories and the right nutrients to support fetal growth and development.”
Dr. Gagné advises breeders to consult their veterinarian if they have a nutrition question or concern related to an individual dog.
“I have nutritional confidence in the food I feed,” says Glass, a breeder of Newfoundlands who changed two years ago to an all-life stages food, Purina® Pro Plan® Sport Performance 30/20 Chicken & Rice Formula. “My conception rate is high, and my litter rate average eight to 10 puppies, whereas I used to average six puppies. The milk production of my females is great, noticeably better than what I fed before, and they have zero problems.”
Here are some key points to help you understand the nutritional demands of growth and reproduction.
Optimal Energy & Nutrient Requirements
“Seventy percent of fetal growth occurs after the first five weeks of gestation,” Dr. Gagné explains. “During the early stages of pregnancy, a female should be fed her regular amount of food to maintain an ideal body condition score of 5 out of 9. She should have an appropriate balance of muscle and fat, meaning she is lean and fit.”
The Purina Body Condition System helps breeders and veterinarians evaluate dog’s physique on a 9-point scale. It can be used to determine how well a dog’s diet meets its activity level.
Ideal body condition is defined as having palpable ribs without excess fat covering, an observable waist behind the ribs when viewed from above, and an abdominal tuck when viewed from the side. At the end of pregnancy, neither the waist nor the abdominal tuck can be seen due to her growing abdomen.
“Breeding females should be in ideal body condition prior to breeding and conception,” Dr. Gagné says. “This is important for optimal conception, pregnancy, whelping and lactation.”
An active lifestyle with regular exercise is helpful before and after breeding.
“A female should return as soon as possible after she is bred to a normal daily exercise routine, depending on her endurance level before breeding,” Dr. Gagné says. “Keeping her active will help her to be lean and fit and ultimately help her during labor and delivery when she will need energy and strength to whelp her puppies.”
“The health risks to an overweight or underweight brood female should not be ignored,” Dr. Gagné advises. “Being overweight or underweight can cause difficulty conceiving,” he says. “Underweight females may not have normal estrous cycles. Overweight females have increased adipose tissue, or fat, which is a source of inflammation, and they also may have lower ovulation rates, both of which can contribute to their decreased conception rates.”
During late gestation, an underweight female may experience pregnancy ketosis in which her body burns fat energy instead of glucose. This occurs due to inadequate nutrition in which she does not receive enough carbohydrates that are so important for a healthy pregnancy to meet her energy needs. Likewise, her puppies may have a low birthweight and be prone to hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. These puppies may not survive.
In the last trimester, it can be challenging to provide adequate calories when the stomach is reduced due to the litter taking up most of the abdominal space.
“Multiple small meals, up to six a day, may be required in some females,” Dr. Gagné says. “If you need to jump-start her appetite, try adding a good quality canned wet food to the dry food. Just the smell and texture of the canned food may be enough to get her to eat.”
“Feeding a highly digestible food helps to ensure she gets the calories she needs. This is one in which a high percentage of the nutrients are used for bodily functions versus one in which a high percentage of nutrients are excreted by the dog.”
An overweight female is more likely to experience a dystocia, or have difficulty during delivery, and not be able to deliver her puppies without assistance. Having more pelvic fat prevents her puppies from easily passing out of the pelvis during delivery.
“Overweight females also tend to have smaller litter sizes,” Dr. Gagné says. Monitoring a pregnant dog’s weight and how much food she eats is recommended.
“The fetuses require so much energy at the end of pregnancy, the dam can’t eat enough in the last trimester and early lactation,” says Glass, who weighs his Newfoundland females every few days starting around the second half of pregnancy. “My females, on average, gain 3 pounds per puppy.”
“Around the fifth week of gestation until whelping, breeders should increase the calories offered, or the amount of food fed, by 10 to 15 percent per week,” Dr. Gagné recommends. “In the last trimester, the female gains from 15 to 25 percent of her prebreeding weight in preparation for whelping.”
The nutritional goal is to produce healthy and strong puppies and to have a healthy dam that experiences little or no weight loss during pregnancy and lactation. Optimal results are possible when you feed a complete and balanced food for growth and reproduction.
"I’ve never known anyone who regretted feeding a quality food,"
says Glass, the Newfoundland breeder. “You have to look at the whole picture, the whole package, to get the results you want.
