Special delivery of 17 hungry purebred puppies

A DOG in Germany has given birth to 17 puppies, leaving their owner thrilled but fatigued after having to feed them with a bottle for several weeks because their mother couldn’t cope with the demand.

Owner Ramona Wegemann said 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’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, 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.

Wegemann said when dogs give birth to so many puppies several of them die within the first week. “But all of our puppies survived. This is incredible and wonderful,” the 32-year-old added.

It was the second time that Etana gave birth. In her first pregnancy she gave birth to eight puppies, not uncommon for the dog’s breed, Wegemann said.

“The birth of the puppies was very special. All puppies were born naturally, no caesarean was necessary,” she added. It took Etana 26 hours to give birth to all of the puppies — and Wegemann was as baffled as amazed.

Wegemann put her work as an independent animal psychiatrist on a hold and her husband took as much holidays as he could.

Their lives have been turned upside down, and their living room is now occupied by a giant box that houses the puppies.

But even Wegemann still struggles to recognise them: The female puppies are called Bahati, Binta, Bahya, Bashima, Batouuli, Binki, Bora, Bisa and the male ones are Baakir, Banjoku, Belay, Bruk, Bundu, Bayo, Bukekayo, Biton and Bulus.

Wegemann gave them all African names because the Rhodesian Ridgeback is an African hunting dog. Wegeman and her husband now plan to give most of the puppies away.

A price of €800 per puppy would only cover the expenses for the veterinary, vaccinations, food and the mandatory paperwork, Wegemann said. She hopes to get about €1,000 per dog, but said they would only give them to families with children, not breeders.

Four of the puppies have been sold, two more are already paid for and will leave their siblings shortly.