Pregnant Mastiff Surprises Owners by Giving Birth to 21 Puppies, Breaking Record for Largest Litter

(Illustration - Vershinin89/Shutterstock)

A 4-year-old mamma dog named Shadow has broken Australia’s record for biggest litter by delivering 21 puppies on Monday, April 20, 2020.

The Neapolitan mastiff’s human mother, Stacey Raw told News 7 that the family would have been happy with 10 little mastiffs. When the litter finally arrived, she recalled asking herself, “How are we going to do all of this?”

Shadow gave birth to three of her puppies naturally at home, while the others needed to be delivered via C-section at the animal emergency service. Sarah West, an emergency vet and one of the 10 veterinary staff who assisted the birth, said, “We just pulled out puppy after puppy after puppy after puppy. And finally all the puppies were out!”

While owner Stacey Raw had no idea how many puppies she should have been expecting, she knew something was off when Shadow stopped giving birth after the third puppy. Her partner, Luke Berry, told ABC Radio that the labor started around midnight Monday [April 20], and that “she couldn’t sit down or lay down, she was so big.”

Veterinarian Patrycja Zimmermann, who also took part in the record birth, told News 7, “After four hours of no activity and a puppy that didn’t make it, her owner brought her into us expecting the worst.” Both Stacey and the veterinary personnel were shocked when they did a radiograph of Shadow’s belly. That was when they “made the amazing discovery of 10-plus puppies inside,” Zimmerman said.

After discovering a large amount internal bleeding, the vets had to perform a hysterectomy to get the remaining 18 puppies out. Zimmerman explained, “We quickly checked the fetal heartbeats, and were praying for the best outcome for her.”

While the vets could not resuscitate three of the puppies, they managed to save the other 18, of which 12 were boys and 6 were girls. Somewhat surprisingly, given the ordeal of the birthing process for Shadow and the sheer size of the litter, West said the survivors “were really fat, chunky, healthy-looking puppies.”

The hysterectomy that Shadow had to undergo didn’t harm her health, although it does mean that she won’t be able to get pregnant in the future. “I think she’s probably going to have enough off of puppies after this ordeal,” West said. Shadow’s owner Luke Berry told ABC Radio, “She’s recovered really well. I’m super proud of her.”

Now that Shadow has done all the heavy lifting, it’s been her family’s turn to help take care of the oversized litter. Luke said, “I’m lucky to have a special family and team behind us. We’ve [divided] into shifts and we’re 24 hours around the clock helping with the feeding process, with bottles, to save time on mom.”

Of course, feeding is the most complicated aspect of nursing. The family has split the litter into batches of six puppies, which feed every six hours. Some of the puppies are receiving formula from bottles to help take the pressure off Shadow.

“We’ve spent hundreds already just on feeding and sustaining Shadow, just to make sure she can produce the milk for the babies,” Stacey said. Luke says that “the feed bill is going to be the hardest thing.”

When asked about the future, Berry said that he’s “got a few good friends that are very interested, because they know the nature of the parents ... and the parents are really good-natured.”

Berry, who runs a car dealership, said that some of the clients who have bought automobiles from him are also intrigued. “We’ve had a good response [on] our Facebook page with people showing interest,” he said. “They know Shadow, they’ve seen her, and they’ve interacted with her.”