Feeding through the Lifecycle

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Feeding through the Lifecycle
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Normal Feeding Behavior

• Wild Dogs
• Required to spend considerable amounts of energy
  locating and capturing prey
• No reliable and consistent source of food
• Thus, intermittent eatersgorging themselves and
  not eating again for extended periods of time

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Normal Feeding Behavior

• Wild Dogs
• Rapid consumption of food due to social
  competition with other dogs
• May have hoarded foodburying food and later dug
  up and consumed when food not readily available

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Normal Feeding Behavior

• Domestic Dogs
• Tend to eat rapidly
• Social competition (facilitation) stimulates poor
  eaters to consume more food
• Not uncommon for dogs to bury bones/treats, BUT
  rarely remember location to dig them back up

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Normal Feeding Behavior

• Domestic Dogs
• Ancestry suggests intermittent feeding schedule
  most natural
• When given free accesswill consume multiple
  small meals during the day
• Dogs generally only eat during the daytime

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Feeding Tips to Decrease Rate of Eating

• Feed less palatable diet
• Feed dry dog food
• Add water to dry food prior to feeding
• Train adults to eat only from their own bowl
• Feed puppies from several pans

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What to Feed

• More than 90 of all Americans feed their dogs
  commercially prepared food as the primary
  component of the pets diet
• One of the most important considerations when
  choosing a dog food is the pets stage of life
  and lifestyle

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When and How to Feed

• Feeding Regimens
• Free-choice feeding (ad libitum/self feeding)
  dog can consume as much food as is desired at any
  time of the day
• Dry pet food not canned food
• Least amount of work involved
• Greater meal induced energy expenditures
• Help with poor keepers and dogs with digestive
  dysfunction
• Anorexia and overconsumption may go undetected

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When and How to Feed

• Feeding Regimens
• Meal feeding involves controlling either the
  portion size or the amount of time the dog has
  access to food
• If not stressed, most dogs consume enough in
  20-30 min
• May exacerbate gluttonous behavior

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When and How to Feed

• Feeding Regimens
• Portion-controlled feeding feeding premeasured
  amount of food provided as one to several meals
  per day
• Method of choice
• Greatest amount of control
• Monitor food consumption daily
• Can document any changes to intake or eating
  behavior
• Greatest time commitment required

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Feeding during Pregnancy
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Ideally, correct feeding and management of
reproducing animals begins through growth and
development of the female!
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Prebreeding Feeding of the Canine

• Selection of breeding animals should include
  screening for any faults that may be genetically
  transmittable
• Before breeding, dam and sire should be in
  excellent physical condition

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Prebreeding Feeding of the Canine

• Female should be at optimal body weight prior to
  breeding
• If dam is underweight she may unable to consume
  enough food during gestation and lactation to
  provide for her own nutritional needs and needs
  of developing fetuses
• Overweight females can lead to development of
  very large fetuses and dystocia (difficult labor
  and delivery)

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Prebreeding Feeding of the Canine

• Fed high quality, highly digestible food
• Foods specifically for gestation
• High quality puppy diets
• Performance diets
• Change diet early in reproductive cycle so not
  abruptly changing diets during gestation or
  lactation

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Prebreeding Feeding of the Canine

• During estrus, females may exhibit a slight
  depression in appetite
• 17 decrease during estrus
• Lowest food intake at ovulation
• NO evidence that increasing nutrient density at
  ovulation improves conception rates or number of
  puppies born
• Unlike livestock species
• Most pets in above average nutritional status at
  breeding

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Feeding during Gestation

• Gestation length 63 days
• Less than 30 of fetal growth occurs during the
  first 5-6 weeks of pregnancy
• After 5th week, fetal size increases 75 and
  length increases 50
• Optimal nutrition critical here!!

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Weight Gain Pattern of Gestating and Lactating
Female Dogs
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Feeding the Gestating Female

• Period of appetite loss at approximately 3 weeks
  of gestation
• Only lasts few days
• Daily intake increased gradually so at whelping,
  female is consuming 30 of daily maintenance
  reqts.
• Her body weight should increase 15-25 by whelping

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Nutritional Needs of Gestating and Lactating
Female Dog
Gestation
Lactation
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Feeding the Gestating Female

• As fetuses increase in size there is a reduction
  in abdominal space for digestive tract expansion
  after a meal
• Helpful in last few weeks of gestation to provide
  multiple meals/day
• Mammary gland development occurs 1 to 5 days
  before whelping
• Females refuse food generally 12 h before
  whelping
• Most females will begin eating within 24 h of
  whelping

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Feeding the Lactating Female

• Must provide adequate calories!
• Prevents drastic weight loss
• Allows for sufficient milk production
• Must provide ample amounts of water
• Important for sufficient milk production
• Depending on litter size, females will consume
  2-3 times maintenance reqt.

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Feeding the Lactating Female

• General Guidelines
• 1.5 times maintenance first week of lactation
• 2 times maintenance second week
• 2.5 to 3 times maintenance third and fourth week
• Peak lactation occurs at 3 to 4 weeks
• At this time puppies are beginning to consume
  solid food

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Feeding the Lactating Female

• Lactation is the greatest nutritional challenges
  in any animal
• Energy deficiency is common, but should not be
  excessive
• Increases weight loss
• Limits milk production
• Compromise puppy growth and survival

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Feeding the Lactating Female

• Feed highly digestible, nutrient dense diet
• Regardless of litter size
• Premium performance/high activity diets
  recommended (for stressed dogs)
• Even soquantity of nutrients required during
  peak lactation may exceed capacity of GIT
• Divide ration into several small meals

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Feeding the Lactating Female

• Feed highly digestible, nutrient dense diet
• By 3-4 weeks of lactation
• Puppies interested in solid food
• Females interest in nursing declines
• Important to begin to reduce females food intake

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Feeding the Female through Weaning

• Most females will wean their puppies at 6 to 10
  weeks of age
• Most breeders will wean at 6-7 weeks so puppies
  can go to new homes
• If dam is still producing milk at weaning time
• Several days of limit feeding to aid in
  decreasing milk production

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Feeding the Female through Weaning

• If milk production is allowed to continue at high
  rate increased chance of mastitis
• Infection of mammary gland
• All food should be withheld the day of weaning
• The females daily ration should be gradually
  reintroduced at 25, 50, 75, and finally 100 of
  maintenance level on successive post-weaning days

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Feeding the Female through Weaning

• Generally, most females will lose some weight
  during lactation
• Should not EXCEED 10 of normal body weight!!

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Supplementation during Gestation and Lactation

• Calcium enriched diets
• Ensure healthy fetal development and aid milk
  production
• May prevent onset of eclampsia after whelping
• Low blood and milk Ca, tetany, convulsions
  (similar to milk fever in livestock species)
• No research documents these responses
• Some claim excess Ca or Vitamin D during
  pregnancy will result in soft tissue
  calcification and physical deformities in
  developing fetuses