2006K Litter

The rest of the story.

In December 2005, our goal was to breed both KC and Martini for spring litters.  As it happened, both of them came into heat towards the end of December and were bred.  The expected litters were to be 1 week apart.  But, Martini's breeding did not result in puppies and KC whelped 11.

When KC was taken in for pre-whelp x-rays, the "head" count was at least 8 and maybe 10.  The vet was asked if there would be any chance that Martini would produce milk, if puppies were put with her.  The answer was it depended on how high the hormone which helps with milk production was.  It could be high (like it would be with a false pregnancy) or it could be normal or low.  It would not hurt to try to see if a nursing puppy could stimulate Martini into producing milk.  The caution was to make sure the puppies all got adequate drinking time on KC so that they would get the colestrum from her milk because even if Martini produced milk, there would be no colestrum in it.

This was KC's first litter and the size of the litter made the time she started labor till the time she had the last puppy well over 24 hours.  She was pretty whipped and sore and now she had 11 squirming bodies suckling constantly.

When a litter is whelped, the puppies that are already born are moved out of the whelping box when the next puppy comes along.  This helps keep the puppies clean and dry.  About half way through the whelp, a puppy was placed with Martini.  She accepted the puppy and it began to suckle.  At the end of the whelp, all of the puppies were placed on KC for the night.

The next morning, KC was a little frazzled and she was having a hard time trying to keep 11 puppies clean.  Also, a weight check showed that there may be a puppy that did not get any or much of any milk overnight due to the crowded conditions.  A check of Martini's nipple that the day before puppy had suckled on showed signs of a little milk production.  So the 5 puppies who had gained the most weight since birth were moved over to Martini.  Martini had had two prior litters and was an old pro at having a litter of puppies.  She cleaned the puppies up and they suckled long and hard.

The next day, Martini was showing more signs of milk production and the milk was becoming thicker and less watery.  The puppies were weighed and the 5 puppies that had gained the most weight were placed with Martini.  These were puppies that had been on KC.  But both KC and Martini had no problem accepting the puppies they were given, even though the puppies had the smell of the other one.

This daily weighing and switching puppies has continued into the 3rd week with no ill effects whatsoever.  Who would have thought that using Martini as a surrogate mother would have gone so well.  The most that had been hoped for was that Martini would be able to clean up the puppies and keep some of them warm while tube or bottle feeding was done to make sure all of the puppies were getting the proper nutrition.