When a 3-year-old Irish Setter became pregnant with her first ever litter of pups, veterinarian and co-owner, Natasha White, was prepared to help. She thought she knew what to expect at the end of Romy’s pregnancy… but she had no idea Romy had a big surprise in store!
“We did a scan when Romy was just four weeks pregnant and we thought we saw eight or nine [pups],”said Natasha, who is both a veterinarian and a breeder and who co-owns the Irish Setter with her roommate, Alicia Copping.
“So you can imagine our shock when she carried on giving birth to more,”she added. “We were in shock when she kept going. We thought, ‘Oh crikey, how is she going to get the last few out?’ But she did it.”
BPM Media
Fifteen, to be exact. That’s a big step up from nine, the average litter size for Irish Setters.
BPM Media
And with so many mouths to feed, Natasha and Alicia worked a 24-hour feeding cycle to ensure the 10 girls and five boys received all the nourishment their little bodies needed.
“We’re helping feed them with special puppy milk because obviously Romy’s milk will run out,”Natasha said.
BPM Media
Romy’s brood was exceptionally large and certainly nothing to sneeze at. But the world record for the largest litter of puppies is held by Tia, a Neopolitan mastiff, who bore a whopping 24 babies in 2004.
Caters News Agency
Watch the video below for more of Romy’s near-record-setting birth.
Share to let others know about Romy the super Irish Setter mama!
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