Well, all of my bitches have whelped their pups fine and produced plenty of milk on my diet, and I sure have gone through a bunch of litters.

Honestly, adding extra calcium is not part of anything I do or recommend, and it is entirely possible to over-do calcium. In other words, giving too much calcium is not good. If she was getting chicken bones/egg shells, etc., there really was no reason to add extra calcium.

Although it may seem like a good idea, adding extra calcium alone (especially as an oral supplement) can cause absorption problems, ultimately throwing off other essential minerals, which will mess-up a bitch completely. There is an ideal calcium:phosphorus ratio that I discuss in my book, and so unbalancing this with too much of anything can be bad. Ironically, adding too much calcium to the diet can even result in eclampsia (not enough calcium in the blood--despite giving it as a supplement--because of minimizing absorption) ... which is a breeder's nightmare.

You might want to ask your vet about that, or read-up on over-supplementing with calcium. When vets use calcium to assist in a delivery, it is by injection, not oral.

I am truly sorry you lost some of your valuable Silverback pups

Jack