Caring for a soon to be mama

Neves puppy from her last litter

As we go through the phases of pregnancy it occurred to me that most people probably don’t know all that goes into bringing a bunch of golden fluff into the world.

In order for Neve to be in the best possible condition we actually start increasing nutrient dense foods even before she is pregnant. Green tripe (very smelly but highly nutritious stomach lining) becomes a daily food, along with increased egg consumption and a higher percentage of red meats. Currently Neve is 5.5 weeks pregnant and just starting to really show. The next 2-3 weeks are where she really grows and an increase of food consumption is important. We will increase every week by 10-20% until week 8 then start backing down decreasing bone and increasing organ meats.

Though she already gets lots of attention we try and up the brushing and petting because studies have shown it has a positive effect on the tiny growing puppies. My 1.5 year old is one of my best helpers in giving Neve lots of love. Neve absolutely adores her and is SO gentle with her even when hair may or may not be pulled!

5 weeks pregnant

Usually it’s super hard to see ANYTHING happening physically to your pregnant girl…I’ve learned that with careful attentive observation I am able to see small differences pretty early on and if you know how, you can feel tiny puppies at 28-30 days! Neve is just starting to look a bit heavy and I expect by weeks 6-7 it will be even more obvious. Waiting is SO hard I’m just thankful that 68 days really isn’t so long.

Neve/Rollo puppies due Feb 25th