Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Puppies born healthy from mothers fed very low-carb diets
By Anturaniemi, Johanna et al.·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2026·Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Dams fed diet with no or minimal amounts of carbohydrates during pregnancy and lactation produce normal and healthy puppies: seven case reports.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of pregnant dogs, including a French Bulldog and a Mastiff, were fed diets with very low or no carbohydrates during their pregnancy and lactation. Despite concerns that such diets could lead to problems like low birth weight or high puppy mortality, all live-born puppies from these litters survived, totaling 41 healthy puppies. Some dogs had natural births, while others required emergency or elective C-sections. While a couple of stillbirths and health issues like metritis and mastitis were noted in the mothers, the overall outcomes for the puppies were positive.
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Abstract
A diet containing approximately 20% carbohydrates is typically recommended for pregnant bitches. Carbohydrate-free diets have been indicated as risk factors for low birth weight, increased neonatal mortality and stillbirths, hypoglycemia, and ketosis in the dam. Here, seven cases of dams fed raw-food diets are presented. These diets contained 0 to 6% of metabolizable energy from carbohydrates. Altogether, there were 41 puppies in these seven litters, including two stillbirths and two mummified fetuses, with 100% survival among live-born puppies. Four dogs gave birth naturally, two had emergency C-sections, and one had an elective C-section. Postnatal survival compares favorably with the previously reported ranges, while prenatal loss fell within previously reported intervals. Health issues observed among the dams after giving birth included metritis in a French Bulldog and mastitis in a Mastiff. These case reports show that dams can give birth to healthy puppies with excellent survival rates, even when their diet contains few or no carbohydrates.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41960353/