Dog Gives Birth to 17 Puppies in Germany

Dec 20th 2010

A dog in Germany gave birth to 17 puppies in September, and thanks to her devoted owner, all eight females and nine males have survived, reports AOL News.

When Ramona Wegemann's Rhodesian Ridgeback, Etana, delivered 17 puppies in 26 hours, Wegemann knew she was in for a challenge. Normally, with that large a litter, several pups die within the first week because the mother is unable to keep up with the demand, but Wegemann stepped in to help.

Wegemann told the Associated Press that she slept only a few minutes at a time for close to four weeks in order to bottle feed the plentiful puppies. According to AOL News, she took a break from her work as an animal psychiatrist and her husband used his vacation days in order to help out.

Six of the puppies have already been sold; four of those are already in their new homes. Wegemann and her husband plan to sell most of the puppies, but will consider sending them only to family homes, not breeders.

The puppies were given African names in homage to the Rhodesian Ridgeback's African heritage, reports AOL News. The females puppies are called Bahati, Binta, Bahya, Bashima, Batouuli, Binki, Bora and Bisa; the male ones are Baakir, Banjoku, Belay, Bruk, Bundu, Bayo, Bukekayo, Biton and Bulus.

Wegemann admits that she has trouble telling them apart sometimes.