A purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback dog in Ebereschenhof, Germany has given birth to 17 puppies, leaving their owner thrilled but exhausted after having to feed them with a bottle for several weeks because their mother couldn’t cope with the challenge of feeding them all.
Wegemann’s dog Etana gave birth to eight female and nine male puppies on Sept. 28 Wegemann said when dogs give birth to so many puppies several of them die within the first week. “But all of our puppies survived. At least five times a day, Wegemann gave the dogs a bottle with special milk because their mother’s nipples could have never coped with the demand, and when the puppies were not hungry, they wanted to be entertained, she said.Owner Ramona Wegemann said Monday she barely slept for more than a couple of minutes without interruption during about four weeks in an “exhausting” struggle to make sure all of the purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies would survive.
She said when she was “finished feeding the last puppy, the first was hungry again.” Wegemann said,It was the second time that Etana gave birth. She gave birth to eight puppies in her first pregnancy, not uncommon for the dog’s breed.”The birth of the puppies was very special. All puppies were born naturally, no cesarean was necessary,” she added. It took Etana a full 26 hours to give birth to all of the puppies and Wegemann was as baffled as amazed.
Caring for 17 puppies turned out to be a full time job, Wegemann put her work as an independent animal psychiatrist on a hold and her husband took as much vacation as he couldTheir lives have been turned upside down by the puppies and their living room is now engrossed by a giant box that are setup for the puppies.
Four of the puppies have been sold, two more are already paid for in advance and will leave their siblings soon. Wegemann said.,She hopes to get about 1300.00 per dog, but said they would only give them to families with children not breeders.
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