Yes, but no one here that I know of is an expert in animal nutrition, so we aren't qualified to help you. I feed homemade food and have done a lot of research, but I wouldn't risk someone's pregnant dog's health with my advice. I carefully monitor my own dogs' health for signs that something is not right and add calcium and other supplements to their food and still I worry whether I'm missing something. It's not that simple to just have someone tell you their recipe and that's that. A lot of people post recipes on the internet that they feed to their dogs, but if you research it, you will realize they are leaving out crucial elements. During pregnancy, a dog's needs are even more complicated, so it's an especially bad time to take stranger's advice. There are books out about homemade diets, such as those by Dr. Pitcairn, but for a pregnant dog I would certainly ask your vet first or wait until the puppies are born and weaned.

Prevent Your Dog from Getting Loose You can do a lot of things to drastically reduce the risk of your dog getting lost. Yes, the house could be robbed or on fire and a door left open, but thats not how the majority of dogs get lost. To prevent most losses and to get your dog back if one does happen, here are precautions that work: 1. Use a double barrier system at house and car doors and gates. This means to put the dog behind another barrier or on a leash before you open an exterior door. If you cant get kids to shut doors, put springs on the doors or other automatic closers so that it takes an adult to make the door stand open. Do the same with gates. Set up an extra door or gate for the dog to stay behind when someone opens the exterior door. Have two gates between your back yard and the outside world. 2. Monitor your gates in the yard so that someone doesnt accidentally let the dog out the back door into the yard when a gate is open. It helps greatly if you position the gate where you can see it from the door when letting the dog out. 3. Work with your dog on not dashing through open doors. Also work with a reputable trainer or class to teach your dog come when called, but do not rely on calling the dog back after a dash out the door! PREVENT the escape in the first place. Every time the dog gets out and has a good time running loose, the dog will want to do it that much more at the next chance. Do not punish a dog you recover who has gotten looseever! That will make the dog run from you in the future, and will not make it one bit less likely the dog will dash out the door next time. There is no effective punishment you can give to make the dog understand that dashing out doors is "wrong." You have to teach the dog a good "wait at doors" behavior instead. 4. Keep a collar and current identification tag on your dog. Collars can cause accidents, so find the safest one you can. When you first get a dog, immediately get a tag. Use a tag from a previous dog that has the correct contact information, have one made at the pet store, or buy a temporary type until your preferred tag can arrive. Escapes are extremely common with dogs in new homes, and tags get dogs back home faster than any other method. 5. Have your dog injected with a microchip, tattooed, or both. Keep a tag on the collar that calls attention to the microchip and/or tattoo so anyone finding the dog will know to have it checked. It also tells thieves that your dog can be positively identified. 6. Dont leave your dog outdoors in a fenced yard without you. Dont rely on an electronic confinement system to keep your dog safe. And dont leave a dog outside in a storm, around fireworks, when noisy construction work is happening nearby, or any other situation that could frighten the dog into bolting the yard. Most dogs can get out of any fence when sufficiently motivated. The safest course is never to leave the dog out there alone to discover that. 7. Spay/neuter your dog to remove hormonal reasons for roamingbefore roaming starts. Roaming is instinctive and is self-rewarding. Your best bet is never to let it start in the first place. 8. Keep your fence in good repair, and make sure it is tall enough for the dog before the dog ever even thinks to test it. Check for loose boards anywhere on the fence and for holes at the bottom, too. 9. Watch your dog carefully for signs of anxiety such as separation anxiety or noise fear. Dogs have clawed through doors and broken glass windows jumping out to flee homes because of these problems. 10. If you have a wonder-dog who can open doors and gates, stay one step ahead of this genius with more secure closures. Its amazing what some dogs can do. 11. Realize that a dog who gets loose will wander farther, will get bolder with various behaviors, and will never know how to be careful and stay safe. If your dog has been loose once, fix the situation so it wont happen again. That time may be the only warning youll get before something happens that means your dog is gone forever. I found that info on VIN and it's really quite good. Hope it helps. Glad you got your dog back each time. Good luck with training and puppy proofing!

Raul_in_mexico: Well, I'd prefer to spay non-breeding dogs before first heat to reduce chance of breast cancer from 25% (spaying after 3rd heat cycle) to less than 1%. Although women with genetic markers for breast cancer DO elect prophylactic radical mastectomies and I for one don't see anything wrong with that. And in breeds with high incidence of hip dysplasia I'd screen them with a distraction view radiograph at ~14 weeks so we could discuss doing a juvenile pelvic symphysidesis before the dog had excruciating pain and lameness and required a total hip replacement or FHO. The point being that there is no good predictive test that allows a vet to determine that THIS dog will at some point have GDV and THIS dog will not as with hip dysplasia. I'd love that GSD study cindyxeus posted to help find something that vets could use to determine more accurately which specific dogs are at risk. But until then, all we have is family history when available and breed. You can either wait until the dog is presented as an emergency with all sorts of odd stacked against it (usually older dogs, electrolyte imbalances, +/- stomach necrosis, shock) or do a prophylactic gastropexy while the dog is young and healthy and prevent the whole problem in the first place. Of course, the prophy pexy would have to be based on risk, but until we get a handle on what the risk factors actually are, all we have is breed and family history. I think that if a vet here in the US did not discuss the risk of GDV in at-risk breeds and ALL the preventative options, that the vet can and would be successfully sued for malpractice should that dog bloat. And to respond to the "lining the pockets" comment, it is MUCH less expensive to do the pexy prophylactically than when the dog actually bloats. OTOH, with the numbers you gave it is clear to me why you don't think GDV is a problem. The vet school sees about 12 per month and the animal hospital where I worked in a small NC town had about 9-12 patients per year get GDV, although not all were seen at the hospital. So you are not seeing it nearly as much as we are for some reason. If we were seeing such low case numbers as you are, I doubt we would be even having this discussion because it would be pointless. But we are seeing GDV a LOT, and people with at-risk breeds are intested in preventing it rather than dealing with it, especially considering the suffering to the dog and expense to the owner. But I certainly see your point and if it was as rare here as it is in your practice, I'd 100% agree with you.

I am so happy to hear that Sadie is OK. Based on the information you gave, I agree with cindydexus, you may well have escaped a very near death. I would want to know why your vet did not consider the symptoms you described lifethreatening. I would also consider asking him if he has ever seen or treated a case of bloat. His answers may help you decide whether or not to change vets. Bloat in dogs is a life-threatening condition. My layman's understanding is that the stomach fills with gas, twists closed on its own axis, and after that point the internal organs begin to die from blood loss. If untreated, collapse and death follow within hours. Whether your pet lives depends on recognizing the symptoms and getting them into emergency surgery fast enough to repair the torsion and to prevent so much internal organ death that survival is impossible. As a dog owner whose beloved mastiff died of complications from bloat, even though we rushed him to the emergency vet, I would strongly suggest that you ACT IMMEDIATELY to have Sadie evaluated. No one knows why, but dogs who survive an attack of bloat are extremely prone to a second attack. As spiritual_gardner remarked, you need to find out what happened and why. In addition, if Sadie were my dog and ever presented similar symptoms again, I would rush her immediately to the vet (regular or emergency).