Rearing Raw Fed Puppies
Rearing healthy raw fed puppies starts with healthy raw fed
parents. Prior
to breeding, we want our brood bitches in a weight-gaining pattern.
Generally, mom is about 2-4 pounds over her ideal weight. This tricks her
body into believing there is plenty of food available to feed her puppies and
therefore she releases more eggs…which hopefully turns into more embryos
attaching after fertilization.
Post Breeding
For
a few weeks, she eats a normal quantity of food and may experience bouts of
inappetence or emesis. At approximately 5-6 weeks after breeding the mom will
start to receive extra quantities of her normal meals and the addition of raw
liver or cod liver oil. Liver provides additional vitamin A which is assists in
the puppies eye development during the last third of the pregnancy.
Close to Whelping
Later in her pregnancy, mom will need to eat several small meals a day as
puppies take up a lot of room in her belly.
Her meals remain richer than the other dogs. She receives more organ
meat, more veggies, eggs, and yogurt. A
few days prior to whelping, the mom is fed a greater quantity of veggies instead
of mostly raw meaty bones. This helps her stool pass easily as the mom likes to
be 'cleaned out' prior to whelping.
Post Whelp
After whelping, the mom's appetite can become voracious. Feeding puppies takes a lot of nutrients. Her food
consumption is doubled or tripled depending on the number of puppies she is
supporting. From this time on, we
supplement the mom with Vitamin C. This helps the puppies ligaments grow at a
proportional rate to their skeleton.
3-4
Weeks Old
Puppies are introduced to raw meaty bones (RMBs).
The puppies do not eat the RMBs at this age, but usually lick at them and
then mom consumes these RMBs.
5-6
Weeks Old
We generally allow the mother to tell us when the puppies are ready for solid
food. At some point around 5-6 weeks, she will begin regurgitating her own meals
for her puppies. At this
time, puppies are given one or two small meals of fresh raw food, as they are
still getting a very rich source of nutrition from mom's milk. Commercial pet
food, especially for puppies, can be packed with too many ingredients and extras
(such as calcium in puppy formula to speed skeletal growth).
The raw food helps them grow slowly and steadily. It is important to
regulate the solid food as puppies are still nursing.
Too much nutrition can make them grow too quickly.
The Vitamin C supplement continues.
8-10
Weeks Old
We do not force wean puppies, but rather let them slowly start eating more and
more solid food while the mother gets a decreasing portion.
10
– 12 Weeks Old
By the time puppies leave for their new homes they are eating whole raw meaty
bones and ground vegetables. Homes that will feed a raw food diet are strongly
preferred. Continued use of Vitamin C is important until the puppy is grown.
Vitamin C supports a healthy immune system, which might be taxed by a new
environment and vaccinations. It also continues to support the proper growth of
ligaments.
More Information
The
following books and Web sites
are a great guide for beginners and we encourage you to research the fresh raw
food diet very carefully. You might want to consider finding a
holistic/homeopathic veterinarian.
We
do not proclaim to be health experts or veterinarians. We suggest that you
do your research and decide whether a limited vaccination lifestyle makes sense
for your pet.
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