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Pregnant dog not eating dry food. Can I feed her raw chicken?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Female | unspayed | 10 months and 7 days old

Rita is in her final 10 days of pregnancy. She is not eating her dryfoos. I offered her raw chicken neck and she ate it, she seems she preferred it over dryfood. Is that ok?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on February 8th, 2020

It is not recommended to feed her anything raw because she could get a severe bacterial infection from the raw food that could make her lose her pregnancy or harm the puppies (like E coli or salmonella). She should be eating puppy foof during pregnancy as it is higher in calories. So maybe try some canned puppy food or if you want to cook the chicken necks, etc you can do that. NO BONES! In the future, it is not recommended to breed dogs until they are at least 18 months of age. She isn't even full grown herself yet.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Dr. Kristin DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on August 22nd, 2018

    Some dogs are pickier than others. While she is pregnant is not a good time to force her to eat dry food. After the pupppies are weaned, you can work on transitioning her to dry food by slowly added less and less chicken, knowing that she may stop eating, but after a few days when she is hungry enough she will start eating again. For now, it is important to make sure she has adequate and balanced nutrition. If she is more likely to eat wet food, then you can mix chicken into the wet food to encourage her to eat. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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