The dog in Germany that gave birth to 17 puppies will soon be spayed.
Owner Ramon Wegemann, who fed the puppies with a bottle for several weeks because their mother's nipples couldn't cope with the demand, made the announcement Thursday.
Wegemann says the 26-hour labor of the eight female and nine male puppies was very tiresome for the purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback and she does not want to endanger the animal's health with another pregnancy.
Wegemann added caring for the puppies in her living room "turned out to be a full-time job."
Big birth
Etana gave birth to the puppies on Sept. 28 in Wegemann's house in Ebereschenhof near Berlin. The owner says "all the puppies are well" and that "we play with them in the snow and start teaching them how to sit still."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, Wegemann said.
"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.
The females 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.