12 in a litter - Page 1

Its been sometime since I posted. So busy with my girls preganacy.

She was due on the 31/12/2008 and finally gave birth on the 1/1/2009 to 12 healthy puppies. I have 7 girls and 5 boys.

Its a whole heap of puppies and I have now split them to 3 lots of 4 each to give them all a fighting chance. So far they are all equal in size. I had there extra dew claws removed when they were 4 days old.

The mother did not eat thus was rushed to the vet hospital on the 5th day and she had made a come back but she still eats a little - something is better than noting.

I am also bottle feeding as there are too many pups. The pre scanning at 28 days showed only 6 pups so 12 was a supprise.

Oh my goodness- I guess you do have your hands full!  I'm really surprised you stuck with a scan at only 28 days because they can be on top of each other at that time- as you obviously know now!  :) 

Is this your first litter?  Do you always have the dew claws removed?  Just curious...  Good luck with all of them- I will say a puppy prayer!

The pre scanning at 28 days showed only 6 pups so 12 was a supprise.

[wipes splurted coffee off monitor...]

Wow, no kidding!  

same thing happened to me.  I had a female x-rayed 1/2 way thru and saw 5 puppies, and come whelping day, we had 11!  they just kept coming!

 My female had 14 no problem all healthy.

I've had several litter of of 12 in my years of breeding, and as long as there were no pups much smaller than the others they all did fine, I just watched them like a hawk to make sure they all got their fill, but never had to split them up. Farm dogs around me (I live rural) have that many all the time and raise them all just fine, so don't worry yourself to death!  And yes, you should remove the dewclaws as long as you are referring to rear dewclaws and not front ones. Good luck!

  12 puppies Congratulations

 I havn't seen hind dew claws on a GSD for a long time.

I had about 3 with hind dew claws so I had them removed. This is my first litter. My phone alarm goes off every hour including the night to remind me that I have to swap puppies.

each lot gets about an hour to drink milk. I also supplement them with lactol (bottle feeding) which I prefer because its faster.

first 2 days it was a nightmare. i couldnt even stand straight without holding somethimg, my eyes were red and my voice was sore. i guess it is still there to some extent but more likley that I am used to it.

I missed my good friend's wedding because of them and I have been sleeping in her room since 3 days before she was due & still do sleep there. My dog has her own room, not kennel. No bars, no door, it has windows, heating lamps, electricity, 3 lights

Overall I really enjoy it, but I must remind, if you are not committed or having the time, breeding is not for you. In terms of expenditure, its a financial disaster. So many expensive things that must be done and I am only half way thru.

One thing that may be helpful for mom is to feed her goats milk, like a quart a day.  This goes right through her and really helps her to feed that many pups!  She'll appreciate the extra oomph!