We breed Alaskan Malamutes. This was to be Taxi"s third and final litter, after having previous litters of 5 and 4 puppies. Her last litter was six months ago. I put Taxi on bio-algae concentrates (Spirulina pacifica, Spirulina platensis, Dunaliella salina and astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis) two capsules/day for 3 weeks prior to mating. She welped 7 puppies, an increase of almost double her previous litters. As an additional bonus, she came through the litter with no weight loss. We do not breed often, one maybe two litters a year. It depends on when we are looking for something new to show in the conformation ring but we do place many puppies into companion homes. We have an extensive “puppy prospect" list and when we have small litters, we disapoint quite a few eager family homes. So, financial thoughts aside (puppies sell for $1,000 each), the emotional benefits of having larger litters is wonderful.
Recently, my friend bred Taxi"s daughter, who was not on bio-algae concentrates. Taxi"s daughter had a litter (her first) of 3 live puppies (5 showed up on the ultrasound)....HMMMM. Both Taxi and her daughter live in Colorado, are on the same diet and with the exception of the bio-algae concentrates, there are no other dietary differences. I can think of no other environmental factors that could make a difference. The mother (Taxi) was on bio-algae concentrates had 7 puppies while the daughter, who was not on bio-algae concentrates, had 3 puppies. I think she should try breeding using bio-algae concentrates next time!
Oh, yes, I also have the rest of our Malamutes on the bio-algae concentrates (two capsules/day) and they have georgeous coats and great immune systems. I know this because recently they were exposed to Kennel Cough (they are NOT given a Bordetella vaccine) and not one of our dogs came down with Kennel Cough.