So I have been a HUGE Victor Dog Food advocate for 10+ years. Always had great success until about the last 3 to 4 years. I started noticing smaller than normal litters.
That is when I started looking at everything but was not too worried figured its just mother nature. Next I noticed (on some not all) irregular heat cycles, 7 to 13 months between (cycles). Some would get pregnant and carry to term but I had started seeing an upraise in stillbirths and birth defects. Finally (especially the last 2 years) The 1 out of 3 were getting pregnant.
I don’t know how much time & money we spent at the reproduction vet only to be told, I don’t see why they are not pregnant, try again next time.
We spent a fortune importing our Rottweilers and it was getting to be very disheartening to see all our work and planning going down the tubes. Rightfully so our Clients were getting upset how long it was taking to get their puppy.
We re-evaluated our entire breeding program, retired some young dogs and imported some more. All the imported dogs were pregnant or got pregnant on their first heat cycle with us. In that time we try to slowly mix in Victor (since it is beef based) with their chicken based. By the time they have produced their first litter while they are nursing we were making the final switch to Victor.
Next time they came into heat no pregnancy was achieved.
After seeing a post on my facebook feed from another breeder how her proven bitch didn’t get pregnant and I knew she fed Victor I reached out.
We both decided to switch to two different kinds of food and protein. I went with a Mix of Wellness and Diamond Naturals, She went with ProPlan Active Dog and we both decided on the Chicken as the main protein.
I hit all my Rottweilers with Doc Roys Vitamin B-Strong for a week. Sure enough my females started coming into season and they were all getting pregnant.
Since I had 8 bags of Victor left over I figured I would just do a 3:1 ratio (3 parts Chicken based, 1 part Victor). I had three females that I did not plan on breeding. If they did produce a litter I would not have minded at all but was not counting on it.
First female did not get pregnant, shortly after breeding her she started picking the Victor our of her bowl and leaving it on the ground.
Second female did not get pregnant and would still eat Victor if you gave it to her. Of course you could give her anything and she will eat it.
Third female, got pregnant, carried the litter to day 62 and it looked like they dropped into place for birth. Two days later on day 64 she gave birth to 8 stillbirths and 1 live that passed away within 24 hours.
Next three female I feed then 100% chicken mix no victor at all!
All three gave birth to healthy litters, only had one loss amongst the three litters. Litters were 6, 9 and 11 puppies.
So from my own testing and results I think it is fair to say,
Oh the other breeder saw the same results with ProPlan, to this date she has not had less than 9 in a litter.
As I was saying, with my testing and results I think it is fair to say the food was / is the issue with it comes to Victor.
I did call their customer service and I was told “Victor Dog Food is for the average pet owner that wants to give their dog a high quality food without breaking the bank.”
I asked what about the breeders that produce these pups and promote you, they replied “Unfortunately some of our blend may not be acceptable to all breeders.”
So after 13 years, I have used my last bag of Victor Dog food as I personally believe there is something in there that causes reproductive issues with my breeding stock.
