It’s always exciting when an animal gives birth — there’s few things cuter than a newborn baby animal. But one Dalmatian mom’s huge new litter really has people stunned… and making references to a certain Disney movie.
Luna the Dalmatian was pregnant with a litter, and her owners, from Fredricksburg, Texas, brought her to Fredericksburg Veterinary Center on June 24 for an emergency C-section.
According to KSAT, five puppies had been born naturally, but a sixth was unable to come out on its own. Veterinarian Brittni Turner performed the surgery, helping Luna give birth to the rest of her litter.
But it was the size of the litter that shocked everyone: she gave birth to 16 puppies!
“I was so focused on the surgery preparation, I didn’t even check the number of puppies left inside,” Turner told KSAT. “When we got into surgery, I was just pulling out puppy after puppy and we ended up needing to call in all of our receptionists and staff for an all hands on deck to help clean and revive puppies.”
The vet said it was the biggest dog litter she has ever performed a C-section on. “The staff kept saying. ‘surely there can’t be anymore and then I would pull out two more. It was absolute chaos.”
Thankfully, the birth was a success, and proud mom Luna is also doing well — though we imagine pretty beat after delivering so many pups. A photo shows her looking admiringly at her babies:
Of course, the whole scene is something straight out of the Disney classic 101 Dalmatians, and Turner says the vet staff made plenty of jokes.
While it’s not quite 101, Luna actually gave birth to an even bigger litter than seen in the cartoon (Pongo and Perdita give birth to 15, the rest are adopted later.)
Just keep them away from Cruella DeVil.
The litter of 16 is stunning, but it’s actually shy of the all-time record: a Dalmatian in Australia called Melody gave birth to 19 pups back in 2019.
Still, it’s an incredible sight to see. None of the vets had ever experienced anything like it. Dalmatians typically only give birth to six to nine puppies per litter.
“There were puppies everywhere!” Fredericksburg Veterinary Center wrote on Facebook. “It wasn’t 101 Dalmatians, but it was enough for us to have our hands full this morning!”
In other good news, KSAT reports that all the puppies have already found forever homes once they’re old enough to leave their mother.
Wow, so many adorable puppies! Congrats to Luna and the veterinary team on a successful birth.
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