When your beloved dog is pregnant with puppies, you want to know exactly how many puppies they are having. After all, the amount could affect if you’re going to keep them or give them up for adoption, and how much work will need to go into caring for the young pups.
Cecilia Langton-Bunkergot was the human guardian to her female Dalmatian Miley. Cecilia and her husband believed that Miley was having more than three puppies, as the veterinarian had previously estimated.
As Miley went into labor, her stomach was huge. But still, the vet believed that Miley’s scans only revealed three identifiable puppies in her womb.
Now, I don’t want to knock down on this veterinarian. Becoming a vet can take a total of seven to nine years, with three to five being undergraduate training and then four years of veterinary school.
But when it turned out that Miley the dalmatian gave birth to 18 puppies instead of the predicted 3, well, someone’s math was off.
Maybe the veterinarian’s scan was faulty, or they needed a second pair of eyes to look at the scans.
Not only was Miley’s litter a remarkable 18 puppies, but her litter actually set a world record and earned it’s place in Australian history as the biggest litter ever birthed!
Just look at that proud Mama!
The 18-pup litter has 12 girls and 6 boys.
Does this remind you of the classic Dalmatian movie, 101 Dalmatians? Well, you’re not alone. Miley and her puppies are receiving constant comparisons to the famous film.
Typically, Dalmatians have litters of eight or ten puppies, but first time moms have even less than the average.
Cecilia, Miley’s guardian and a dog breeder, estimated around 15 to 16 puppies, just like Pongo and Perdita in 101 Dalmatians. But Miley and Astro, the puppies’ father, beat the fictional record.
Talk about fact being stranger than fiction!
The 18 puppies were born on May 18 (what a happy coincidence!). After 13 hours of strenuous labor, mom Miley and her puppies are healthy and happy.
With the heavy puppy load, Cecilia and her husband are helping Miley nurse the puppies with round-the-clock care. At any hour of the day, there is a fresh supply of warm milk available.
To tell the puppies apart (because that’s an awful lot of spots to distinguish), the puppies have a temporarily dyed color on their neck until their collars arrive. Just thinking about how adorably tiny the collars are going to be brings a smile to my face!
In the meantime, Miley’s record-breaking achievement has been documented by the Australian National Kennel Council as the largest in Australian history, which records more than 40,000 Dalmatian births.
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