Germany : Wednesday, 22 December 2010 (Local Time)
A dog in Germany has given birth to 17 puppies, leaving their owner thrilled but fatigued.
Owner Ramona Wegemann said yesterday she barely slept for more than a couple of minutes without interruption for about four weeks in an "exhausting" struggle to make sure all of the purebred rhodesian ridgeback puppies survived.
She said when she was "finished feeding the last puppy, the first was hungry again".
Ms Wegemann's dog, Etana, gave birth to eight female and nine male puppies on September 28 in Ebereschenhof, which is near Berlin.
At least five times a day, Ms Wegemann gave the dogs a bottle with special milk because their mother's nipples could have never coped with the demand.
When the puppies were not hungry, they wanted to be entertained, she said.
Ms Wegemann said when dosg give birth to so many puppies several of them usually die within the first week or two.
"But all of our puppies survived. This is incredible and wonderful," the 32-year-old said. It was the second time that Etana has given birth.
She had eight puppies in her first pregnancy, not uncommon for the dog's breed, Ms Wegemann said.
"The birth of the puppies was very special. All the puppies were born naturally, no caesarean was necessary," she added.
It took Etana 26 hours to give birth to all of the puppies, and Ms Wegemann was as baffled as amazed.
But caring for 17 puppies turned out to be a full-time job. Ms Wegemann put her work as an independent animal psychiatrist on hold and her husband took as many days off as he could.
Their lives have been turned upside down by the puppies, and their living room is now occupied by a giant box that houses them.
But even Ms Wegemann still struggles to recognise them: The females are called Bahati, Binta, Bahya, Bashima, Batouuli, Binki, Bora and Bisa, and the males are Baakir, Banjoku, Belay, Bruk, Bundu, Bayo, Bukekayo, Biton and Bulus.
Ms Wegemann gave them all African names because the ridgeback is an African hunting dog.
Story and Foto from : www.adelaidenow.com.au
