pregnant bordeaux

[michellej]

i have a 22mth old bordeaux she's called savanna,
well she has just been mated with champs of all champs APOLLO on friday
so with fingers crossedxxx and paws to xxxxx we should have a nice litter of pups ...
just would like to know if anyone could give me some advice on feeding my pregnant bitch(sorry baby) so shes nice and healthy in-return pups also

[bckrazy]

Congrats you sound very excited, and it's great that you want to give your girl the best. She deserves it, she's going through labor for you! hehe.

Of course, I highly recommend feeding your bitch a Raw meat & bones diet to give her nutrition while she's pregnant that will ABSOLUTELY give her puppies the best start in life! Check out the many Raw threads on this board, or this website, http://www.rawlearning.com. Preggy dogs need, from what I understand, 2x the amount of calories, and more while she's nursing. So, she should get at least 5%+ of her body weight while pregnant. You need to get her to your Vet for a check-up, ask them exactly how many calories they recommend as her pregnancy progresses and as she begins nursing.

More importantly, where are the pics of your Bourdeaux girl? I know a few members here have Dogues. Also, has she been shown/exhibited? I truly hope you have gotten all of her health checks... hips/patellas/etc.

[wolfsoul]

You really should have waited longer before breeding her -- with most breeds 24 months is the minimum, but with giant breeds or large heavy-set breeds like bordeaux, you are supposed to wait even longer because they take so much longer to properly develop. Your problem now remains that her hips are not properly developed and she may not be able to deliver the puppies (meaning she and the puppies may die or she may need an emergency C-section). Bordeaux also take a long time to develop mentally, so having a young dog's mentality while being a mother may be highly stressful for her and she may reject the puppies or have puppy seperation issues. Please keep this in mind for future breeding, and make sure you never breed two heats in a row. She also must not have proper health testing (unless you went with OVC which is really not reliable), which is really important. You want to make sure you are breeding that you are creating the healthiest puppies possible.

Do you have any pictures? What type of sports are you doing with your girl? My dog is having her first litter soon -- we are breeding her next weekend in fact (if we get her OFA results back in time).

I agree that a raw diet would be best to feed. I am keeping Visa on her raw diet while she is pregnant. I am so excited that the puppies will be nice and fat and healthy. Also make sure to avoid liver for the first two weeks, and research good supplements to feed (like alfalfa, seaweed, that sort of thing, not necessarily vitamins).

Good luck with the breeding, I'd get a mentor and learn more about breeding; That's what I'm doing. I have several breeder friends that I talk to and so many people involved in dog sports that help me with Visa's training.

[*LabLoverKEB*]

PLEASE make sure the puppies go to excellent homes... and please screen the familes... good luck.

[michellej]

hi thanks guys for your replies firstly savanna is good and well......
we took her to get mated and so far so good everything seems ok,i know its adviseable to wait till bordeaux bitches are 2yrs as thats when they are supposed to be mature and all there bones are formed as such but we checked with the kennel club as when she has her first litter she will be 2yrs and they said yeah thats fine....
anyway we breed her with the best of the best embreze apollo what a magnificent stud dogue he just struted around taking his time while savanna just stood waiting couldnt be any better....
so we will just wait and see
can anyone advise me on how to paste pics please ive done a few but they come out small (thumbnail)

[Roxyluvsme13]

If you have them uploaded on Photobucket paste the [IMG] [/I MG] code into a reply, if you have them someplace like Zoto and you dont want thumbnails then you'll have to copy the link location and add [IMG] [/ IMG] tags to the beginning and end of the link .

[BOBS DAD]

can anyone advise me on how to paste pics please ive done a few but they come out small (thumbnail)

You can also simply place them in your post by using "manage attachments". I like this method even better as they appear as thumbnails and if and when someone wants to see them - they just click on them and whallah - they open to full res on the screen.

It is also easier for folks scrolling through the posts as they scroll doesn't become overwhelmingly large. Try that out... I would like to see a Bordeaux as I not familiar with the breed!