FREDERICKSBURG, Texas – It’s not quite 101 Dalmatians, but a mama Dalmatian in Fredericksburg just gave birth to a huge litter of 16 puppies on June 24.
KSAT spoke with Brittni Turner, the veterinarian who helped deliver the puppies via emergency C-section at Fredericksburg Veterinary Center, who said she’s done “a lot of emergency C-sections but never had a litter this big before.”
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BreedingBusiness.com notes that the average litter for a Dalmatian is about seven puppies.
Turner told KSAT that the owners of a Dalmatian named Luna brought her in when her labor stopped progressing at home. “Luna’s owners are incredible and have been clients of ours for a long time,” she said.
An X-ray revealed that after five of the puppies had been born naturally, a sixth was malpositioned and unable to come out on its own.
“I was so focused on the surgery preparation, I didn’t even check the number of puppies left inside,” Turner said. “When we got into surgery, I was just pulling out puppy after puppy and we ended up needing to call in all of our receptionists and staff for an all hands on deck to help clean and revive puppies.”
Reviving, according to Turner, is the process of stimulating the puppies and cleaning out their mouth and nose. Something Turner said Luna would have done if all the puppies were able to be born naturally.
“The staff kept saying. ‘surely there can’t be anymore and then I would pull out two more. It was absolute chaos,” said Turner. “The staff was amazing, and it was truly a team effort... lots of 101 Dalmatian jokes were made.”
It was all hands on deck this morning at Fredericksburg Veterinary Center for an Emergency C-section! We always hope...
Posted by Fredericksburg Veterinary Center Neal Eckert, DVM on Thursday, June 24, 2021
Luna is doing well and was very attentive to her puppies after waking up from surgery, according to Turner.
She confirmed that all the puppies have already been spoken for and will have forever homes once they’re old enough to leave their mother.
According to the BBC, the world record for the most Dalmatian puppies born in a single litter goes to a dog named Melody, who gave birth to 19 puppies in 2019.
Dalmatian puppies start developing their first spots a few weeks after birth and can continue to develop spots for several months.
No word on whether or not Cruella de Vil made an appearance after the birth. (Kidding!)