Possibly pregnant female not eating

Question
Hello,
I e-mailed you a few weeks ago about my toy poodles not wanting to breed but a few days later nature took its course and they successfully bred. You were very helpful.

My problem now is my female, who is now at day 31 of her gestation, has become very finicky. It started about a week ago. I've tried to put some cottage cheese with her food but she's not interested. I've also been giving her a scrambled egg and she seems to like that only sometimes. For example, yesterday she ate the egg ferociously and no dog food but the day before she didn't touch the egg, and the day before that she ate some of her dog food along with some cottage cheese.

Is this normal? She's on week 5 and I would assume she'd be more hungry. I haven't increased her intake but by week 5, I would think she'd want to eat a bit more. Is there anything else that I should be giving her? I want her to have a balanced diet but it's difficult since she's not interested in her dog food.
Despite not eating very well, her sides are still thickening and in the past couple days she's been losing her waist. Her teats are becoming more and more enlarged and her vulva has stayed slightly swollen.

I understand that even with all these signs she could be having a false pregnancy and I have been wondering about that. But for now, I'm treating her as she is pregnant and I'll get an x-ray done after day 50 to find out for sure.

Thanks for the help,
Andrea

Answer
Hi Andrea. I'm glad that things worked out.:-) Some girls get super picky when pregnant. Have you tried canned food? Sometimes that does the trick. It may be easier for the dog to digest and pass while pregnant, and some girls just love it. That may be what's needed here. You can also try some beef broth over her food and see if she likes that. You can go to the vet and get some Nutri-Cal, it's not that expensive, maybe $8, and it should last your girl for a long while since she's small. It will help give her the calories and nutrients that she needs but isn't getting by not eating well. It's also good to have on hand for mom and puppies after whelping, it's a good pick me up.

It sounds like she's right on track for a pregnant dog. They can fool you though, so you're right about getting that x-ray just to be safe. It sounds to me like you had better be getting ready for puppies.:-) Let me know if I can help with anything else.