Six Puppies and an Egg

It has been sixty-four days since the second mating with Connor (see photo – Connor is on the right; Lexi on the left). At 8:30 AM this morning, after a long night of hearing Lexi breathing heavily, the first puppy dropped out. When I mean "dropped out", that is what happened. We had covered our entire bedroom floor with dozens of beach towels hoping to spare the carpet, but in the middle of the night, Lexi made a series of little nests with them.

She was standing and you could see a large contraction and the first puppy landed on the floor, along with the afterbirth. Of course, she missed the towels. She ran to the other side of the room and just stared at the puppy. I removed the sac and made sure the puppy was breathing. I picked the puppy up and moved her close to Lexi. For the next few minutes, she stared in disbelief. Then she started to lick her puppy, chew off the umbilical cord, and eat the placenta.

Within the next ten minutes, two more puppies quickly emerged. They came out so fast that she was not able to tear open the sac on number three, so I did it for her. Based on the x-ray last week, we knew there were three (or four) more to go.

She moved to a semi-inaccessible area under my desk, where I am typing at the moment. We put the three pups next to her and they immediately started nursing. She happily licked all three of them. About 15 minutes elapsed before puppy number four emerged – a tiny little boy. Up until this time, we didn’t even check on the sex of the other ones. They other three were girls.

Sadly, puppy number five was stillborn. Attempts to stimulate her to breathe were not successful. Puppy number six made her debut in about a half hour, so we thought it was finally over. Lexi quieted down and allowed her puppies to nurse. Knowing that there could be an extra puppy in there, we kept careful watch. Suddenly, about thirty minutes later, Puppy number seven surprised us.

This last puppy was in trouble. The umbilical was so short and tight it was preventing the puppy from being born. I took a pair of hemostats, clamped the cord, and cut the puppy free. I clipped it a bit too close to the belly and I got a little "Yip" when it was cut. There was some minor bleeding which really concerned me, but Lexi was able to stop the bleeding by licking her tummy. Now, that was way too close for comfort. I have participated in several human births over the years, but this caused me twice the anxiety.

So, there you have it: six healthy puppies; five girls and one tiny male about half the size of the others. Despite his size, he is as healthy and active as the girls.

For size comparison, I put one of the puppies on my favorite magazine. My apologies to Jimmy Fallon, but please assure him that the puppy was removed before there were any accidents.

Call it a coincidence, or call it cry for attention, but on the same day of the puppies arrival, my 33 year old African Grey parrot, Dorian, decided to lay an egg. Dorian, an assumed male for nearly two decades, started laying eggs on a regular basis about ten years ago. I guess I should call her Dory Ann.