How to Care for a Pregnant Female Tibetan Mastiff? Sharing Daily Management Experience

Pregnancy is a rather special physiological stage. At this time, as the embryos develop day by day, the burden on the female dog also increases day by day, and the requirements for feed and environment become stricter and the standards higher. Strengthening the daily management of pregnant female Tibetan Mastiffs is of great significance for ensuring the safe delivery of pregnant female dogs. This is especially true because most female dogs are relatively weak in body condition at this time, and improper management can very easily lead to unexpected problems.

1. Scientific feeding    In terms of feeding, feed that is nutritionally scientific and complete should be provided. As mentioned above, in addition to supplying or gradually increasing the amount of feed according to the progress of pregnancy, pregnant female Tibetan Mastiffs should also be given some easily digestible foods rich in protein, vitamins and minerals (especially calcium and phosphorus), such as meat, animal offal, eggs, milk and fresh vegetables, to fully meet the nutritional needs of the female dog and her embryos.  2. Timely disease prevention    In order to ensure the health of the pregnant female Tibetan Mastiff and take preventive measures, in addition to normal immunization before and after the female dog's estrus (September to October each year), with injections such as canine five-combined vaccine, a booster vaccination should be given as far as possible in the final stage of the female dog's pregnancy, that is, about 20 days before delivery. In this way, even if the female dog is about to give birth and her constitution is weak, it is enough to free her from attacks by virulent infectious diseases such as canine distemper and canine parvoviral enteritis. At the same time, it is even more helpful during the lactation stage for newborn puppies to obtain relatively sufficient maternal antibodies through breast milk, so that when the newborn puppies are weaned (which coincides with the spring season when epidemics occur), they still have strong disease resistance and can effectively resist the attacks of canine infectious diseases prevalent in spring on puppies. Practice has also proved that puppies that can obtain higher levels of antibodies from the mother's milk can all have stronger constitutions and achieve good growth and development after weaning, and the morbidity and mortality of weaned puppies can be significantly reduced.  3. Supply clean drinking water    Clean and hygienic drinking water is important at all times. For pregnant female dogs, if the drinking water is not clean and causes digestive tract disease, with gastrointestinal inflammation or spasms, the female dog may miscarry due to vomiting, straining and other reasons; feeding cold feed and ice water stimulates the female dog's gastrointestinal tract and can also easily cause gastrointestinal allergies, correspondingly producing spasms and leading to miscarriage. Therefore, in cold seasons, when feeding pregnant female dogs, attention must be paid to the temperature of the food and water. Generally, the food or drinking water fed should be kept at 18 °C to 25 °C .  4. Persist in outdoor activity every day. Ensure that the female dog has 2 to 3 hours of outdoor activity every day. More sun exposure and more activity can not only enhance the female dog's appetite, improve digestive capacity, and raise the female dog's nutritional level and body condition, but can also promote fetal development and smooth delivery. It should only be noted that during pregnancy the Tibetan Mastiff is rather aloof in temperament and moves alone, so two female dogs must never be put outdoors at the same time, otherwise biting fights can very easily occur and cause unexpected problems. The outdoor activity time of the female Tibetan Mastiff should not be too long, and the activity should not be too intense; she should not run fast, cross ridges or leap ditches, so as to avoid miscarriage. After 50 days of pregnancy, the female dog is already obviously inconvenienced in movement; at this time she moves slowly and prefers quiet to activity. She should no longer be forced to move by means such as being led, but should be allowed to follow her own nature. Let her wander freely and get more sun, and attention should be paid to arranging a clean, spacious shed as a birthing enclosure.  5. Keep the kennel and bedding hygienic. The birthing enclosure should have sufficient light, face away from the wind and toward the sun, and be quiet and dry, and disinfection should be carried out every day. The birthing nest should be lined with clean, soft dry grass, and the female dog should be allowed to enter the nest early to rest or sleep, avoiding her lying on cold, hard ground. At the same time, in order to ensure the female dog's health after giving birth, in the later stage of pregnancy, great attention should be paid to the dog's body hygiene, and the dog's body should be combed and brushed every day to remove shed hair and dirt stuck to the dog's body. In the few days before the female dog is about to give birth, her abdomen and external genitalia should be washed as much as possible with disinfectant or soapy water, and after washing they should be rinsed clean with clear water and wiped dry. This can not only avoid postpartum infection, but is also more conducive to improving the blood circulation of the female dog's mammary glands and preventing mastitis.