Thinking about breeding your gundog

When we start to consider the next generation of gundogs, there is little doubt about the importance of good nutrition for future health and vitality. The right diet should support the nutritional needs of an animal whilst meeting their behavioural, activity and other physiological requirements.

With the plethora of choices available, how can you best decide what and how to feed your stud dog, breeding bitch or your new litter of future working dogs to ensure maximum health? Let’s explore some of the key points about feeding for breeding.

Before breeding your gundog

It might surprise you to know that the nutrition of the breeding pair, even before mating is critical to the long-term health of your litter!

Good breeders ensure that breeding animals are fit, healthy and well nourished. That doesn’t mean fat, rather it means they are fed a balanced diet, rich in key nutrients that will support fertility, and for the female, will also support pregnancy, birth and lactation.

Stud dogs typically benefit from a complete diet that supports an active lifestyle and has balanced levels of key nutrients to support normal activity levels.

For breeding bitches, a complete, balanced diet even before she is ready for mating can help to prepare her body for pregnancy, birth and lactation. She should be fit and active and certainly not be carrying any excess weight as this can affect both fertility and her ability to whelp (give birth) easily.

It’s also worth looking for key nutrients in the diet of a bitch intended for breeding – avoid excess levels of vitamin A as this can be associated with birth defects but look for essential nutrients such as folic acid that can help support the very early development of puppies before birth. Feeding a complete, well formulated diet, such as Skinner’s Field & Trial Superior, can help to avoid potential nutritional issues for the bitch and her new litter of puppies!

Understanding the breeding bitch

For pregnant bitches, providing they are in good physical body condition and are not either underweight or obese (both of which will negatively affect fertility and successful pregnancy) no dietary changes are typically needed until about week five of their pregnancy (and pregnancy is confirmed!) At this point, it is good practice to gradually swap the pregnant bitch onto a diet with a higher provision of key nutrients (protein, fat carbohydrates and balanced levels of the minerals calcium and phosphorous especially).

At Skinner’s, we recommend the gradual transition of a pregnant bitch onto one of our Field & Trial Puppy foods about week five of pregnancy, or Field & Trial Superior. This is because from about week five until birth (typically 63 days after mating), the puppies greatly increase in size and place additional demands on the female. Such foods are great choices as they are formulated to support puppy growth and development both before AND after birth, as well as providing mum with key nutritional support too. Indeed, even after birth, we recommend that the bitch is kept on this higher nutritional level until weaning is complete and she starts to get her normal activity level back.

A pregnant bitch might also need an increased number of small meals per day as the developing puppies start to impact on her digestive system and limit the amount of food that she can eat in one meal – little and often is a good motto for those last couple of weeks before birth!

After birth

Once the puppies are born, supporting their growth and development is one of the nutritionally demanding periods of a bitch’s life! Sometimes, after whelping, a bitch appears to “go off her food” and this is not that unusual. You can try and tempt her and help her digest her food, by soaking it in a little warm water and making a mash with a porridge consistency. This also has the benefit of ensuring that she gets additional fluid as well as good nutrition. Indeed, it goes without saying that fresh, clean drinking water should always be available.

Lactation places huge demands on a bitch and feeding large litters can really take their toll. A good strategy is to allow your bitch free access (sometimes called ad lib) feeding to her food, unless she is especially greedy! This can also be useful when the puppies have opened their eyes and started moving around, as exposure to the food they will be weaned onto can be gradual and not a stressful or scary experience. This is another benefit of feeding “mum” a puppy food, as it is already there for the puppies.

Additionally, some bitches actively eat and then regurgitate some food for their puppies. This is an entirely normal and natural behaviour for the domestic dog, so don’t be alarmed, but again, provision of puppy food for the mother dog will mean that this what the puppies get exposed to. As the puppies get older and less reliant on mum for milk, you can decrease the amount mum eats and gradually swap her back onto her pre-pregnancy food and normal exercise routine.

Weaning

Many breeders will start to wean their puppies away from mum somewhere between about three and five weeks of age. Indeed, many bitches naturally will start to spend time away from their puppies at this point and help “naturally” wean them. During this time, puppies will still nurse from mum but it’s also good to start getting them used to “solid” food. Gradually decreasing the reliance of puppies on their mother’s milk also has the benefit of helping dry up her milk production slowly and with minimal stress.

Studies also suggest that exposing puppies to a range of food types during weaning and early development, can help their overall gut and digestive health, even into adulthood! For many puppies, soaking a complete puppy formulation kibble in some warm water and forking through it when soaked, to make a meal with a porridge-like consistency is a good, if sometimes messy way to get them starting to eat solid food!

Multiple meals per day will be required initially and the amount of soaking can be reduced as puppies grow and develop, until often they are on entirely dry kibble by 8 weeks of age, when they are ready to move to their new homes.

After 8 weeks of age

By the time a puppy is ready to move to their new homes, they should be fully weaned and be happily eating a balanced food suitable for growing puppies. The Field and Trial range includes “Puppy”, “Puppy Duck and Rice” and “Puppy Lamb and Rice”, all of which are suitable for a range of breeds and types, although for the larger and giant breeds that are slower growing and need a more moderate level of energy nutrition to support their prolonged growth and development phase, we would suggest using the “Puppy Lamb and Rice” diet.

Good breeders will ensure that their puppies go to their new homes complete with at least a week’s worth of the food they were weaned onto and full instructions for the new owners. Breeders who have signed up for the Skinner’s Breeders Scheme, benefit from free “Puppy Packs” that includes some of the food that their puppies have been weaned onto. This is critical to help minimise digestive upset at an incredibly stressful time for a puppy! It also helps the new owners by ensuring their puppy can continue being fed consistently and allows time for any dietary changes that new owners might want to make.

It is worth noting however, that the transition to a new home, environment, people, other pets, vet visits, de-worming, vaccinations and all the other experiences a puppy has in a new home can be stressful and occasionally cause digestive upsets. Although tempting, it is advised not to make any significant dietary changes during this sensitive period!