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Pregnant female dogs, dog’s gestation, puppies, giving birth process
Gestation period differs from one dog to another depending on the dog’s breed. If you have a pregnant female in your home, you might notice that in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy, the mom to be leaves strange odor. That is one of the signs, which will tell you that the big event is close. In these, two last weeks of pregnancy, the food that you give to the dog must be rich in proteins and calories because she does feed her puppies, even though the actual birth has not happened yet. It is just as in human pregnancies. About the smell, you should know something. If the odor is too disturbing, you must get a vet appointment because that might mean that your dog as an infection of the uterus.
You should not provide your dog a fiber diet, with less calories and proteins. The best thing you can do for a future mom is give up the fiber food and raise the protein and calorie levels, in order to give the puppies a good start in life.
What should a pregnant female dog eat?
You must increase a pregnant female dog’s protein value by 20%. In the fifth or sixth pregnancy week, the dog will have a lack of energy if it does not eat properly. The food you give to your dog must also be easy to digest. You should change a female’s dog diet since the moment the dog goes into heat, and before it gets pregnant. This way, the dog will get used to the food in time, and will not have any problems in adjusting to the new pregnancy diet that you will provide.
The calorie value, as we already recommended, will increase only in the fifth or sixth week of pregnancy. In the last three weeks, you should give meals to the dog in small quantities, and more often during a day, because that will help the dog to assimilate it faster.
The food quantity will increase gradually during the gestation period, in between 25 %- 50%.
Do not be surprised if you will notice your dog gains up to 25% weight, because that is a natural pregnancy consequence. Right after the dog will give birth, the weight of the dog should not be bigger than 10% the normal weight of the dog before getting pregnant.
A dog does not need extra calcium during the gestation period, but it might be necessary that you give the dog extra vitamins if the diet is not the proper one. That is because the dog must not be overweight at the time of the birth; it might cause problems and complications. The same thing happens if the dog id too thin. You must also know that failing to feed the dog right during the gestation period might cause health problems to puppies as well.
How can we tell the day is close? If you love your dog, you should choose the easiest way for the dog to give birth, so you have to get as much information about the pregnancy stages of your dog, depending on the dog’s breed. However, no matter what breed the dog is there is one thing you should do, and that is measuring the body temperature on a daily basis. When the body temperature of your dog reaches 37 Celsius, you must know that the process of giving birth should not be further than 24 hours.
If you see the dog gets restless, and if it has one-minute away contractions, it does not get proper rest and it does not have an appetite, well, that is the first level before giving birth.
That first level lasts at least 24 hours. Level two means strong contractions and should not last longer than one hour, closely followed by the actual birth process. When a puppy is born, the mother has strong contractions, and that happens for every one of them
Level 3 is the time of the birth, which normally should not take more than four hours. Shortly after giving birth, the mom will also eliminate some fetal membranes.
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