After 12 grueling hours, a pregnant dog gave birth to seven puppies, thanks to the foster family who took her in.
Magnolia, more fondly known as Maggie, was found in the streets of Fredericksburg, Texas. The homeless dog was wandering and was very pregnant at that time. Fortunately, the local animal control took her in, but being an expectant mother, she was transferred to Hill County SPCA.
Luckily for Maggie, it didn’t take too long for her to end up in an amazing foster family.
Aubrey Morgan, Maggie’s foster mom, was a bit nervous but was more than willing to support the dog through the pregnancy. It was her first time taking in an expectant mother so she did a lot of research so she’d know what to do when the time comes.
“I had read so many resources, watched so many whelping YouTube videos, and collected hundreds of dollars worth of whelping and emergency supplies to have on hand,” Morgan shared her preparations with The Dodo. “One thing I had read was the importance of puppies staying warm after being born. If they aren’t warm, they can’t digest food and will start fading.”
It was in the middle of winter back then.
And as Maggie’s day was getting closer and closer, Morgan’s family did what they can to be ready – or so they thought.
While they’ve bought post-natal items and researched what they needed to do, no one told them that Texas was about to experience one of their worst winters to date.
A huge winter storm swept across Texas and shut down the power grid.
Right when the electricity went out, Maggie was showing signs that she’s about to give birth. The family was anxious but not panicky. They hoped the power will be restored when Maggie started her labor.
It was 12:30 a.m. when the first puppy arrived.
The household still has no power and the temperature was slowly plummeting.
“Our house was in the 50s and dropping (it was 1 degree outside that night),” Morgan said to The Dodo. “We moved her into our guest bathroom where we had the shower steaming to try and warm the room and my husband was boiling water to put into bags to also try and keep the room warm.”
As one puppy followed another, the winter winds just kept on getting worse. When the fourth one came out, the situation was not improving. At that point, they moved Maggie into their car. It’s was already 2 a.m. when they settled her in.
Maggie gave birth to her last three puppies in the cozy space and ended the whole process 12 hours later.
Morgan and her family took Maggie in with the promise of taking care of her no matter what. And even in challenging circumstances, their family succeeded in keeping that promise.
They spent the remainder of the power outage at Morgan’s parents so they could look after the kids and the puppies better.
The power eventually came back on and the family was able to settle back into their house. Maggie, meanwhile, has been doing well in taking care of her puppies. Despite the crazy labor, the puppies are growing and developing well.
“She really is an amazing dog … we will miss having her around when she finds her forever home,” Morgan said to The Dodo.
Her placement might be temporary, but Maggie will surely remember what this family did for her and her puppies.
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