Calcium To Phosphorous Ratio During Pregnancy

[Stitch]

Can anyone tell me the calcium to phosphorous ratio for premium commercial canned or dry dogfoods please? and what is the optimum for pregnant bitches.

I have tried a variety of feeding regimes over the years then about 3 years ago I switched over to Raw all natural foods initially feeding VAN + minced chicken frames, etc.

I experienced a run of whelping problems on VAN during that time which may be co-incidental or may be diet related and when Dr. Billinghurst BARF diet was available in my area I decided to move on to this even though it is a more expensive alternative and I have been feeding BARF for about 9 months now.

My dogs are looking great and are in excellent health however I am hoping to breed a litter of pups soon and this will be the first one since changing over to BARF.

I notice that the calcium to phosphorous ratio on the BARF is 1:0.8.

A vet I know is of the opinion that it is preferable to change a bitch over to a commercial diet, canned or dry, until after the pregnancy because they have seen incidence of whelping difficulties which they think may be connected to feeding raw all natural food.

Does anyone have any experience with this??

[puggy_puggy]

I have only heard good reports in terms of big and healthy litters of breeders who have feed their bitches BARF/raw diets.

[Stitch]

Yes, it is difficult to sort out the 'it would have happened anyways no matter what I had fed' from the 'if I had fed differently maybe I could have avoided the difficulties'.

I just want to make sure about the calcium to phosphorous ratios as the calcium uptake during pregnancy seems to be vitally important.

[oakway]

Hi,

My bitches are mainly fed barf (with a little dry food) and I have never had a problem with whelping.

Healthy pups that go on to be Champions.

I don't know if the amount of dry food make that much difference. Bitches have been having healthy

litters for hundreds of years living in the wild.

[Staranais]

Commercial foods will have different Ca:P ratios, check the bag for information, they should all have this information available.

I believe 1:1 to 2:1 is the minimum and maximum recommended Ca:P ratio for pregnant bitches and growing dogs, and keeping it closer to 1.2:1 to 1.6:1 is advisable.

Remember that the absolute amount of calcium is also important, not just the Ca:P ratio.

If you're already feeding a well balanced raw diet, then IMO feeding more of the same should probably be quite sufficient for a pregnant bitch. But if your diet is already borderline deficient in any nutrient, then pregnancy can be one life stage where that deficiency shows up in problems during conception, whelping, or in the pups themselves.

[Stitch]

Yes Staranias that would be my take on it too.

What does everyone think of the calcium to phosphorous ratio of the BARF which is 1.0:0.8???

Do you think this is optimum?

[Staranais]

Yes Staranias that would be my take on it too.

What does everyone think of the calcium to phosphorous ratio of the BARF which is 1.0:0.8???

Do you think this is optimum?

That's the same as a 1.2:1 Ca:P ratio. So that sounds just fine to me.

[Stitch]

Hmmm, good to know.

I have one bitch that wouldn't eat dry dogfood ever so I will continue to feed the BARF as I know they are doing well on it.