An Aberdeenshire woman has spent the last eight weeks raising a phenomenal litter of 12 Dalmatian puppies before they head off to their forever homes.
Heather Macpherson, from Westhill, said looking after the unexpectedly large litter of puppies has been a lot of work – not just for her, but also their mother.
“It has been worse than 101 Dalmatians,” she joked.
“The puppies are great, they’re really lovely, but it’s hard to keep them alive. It’s definitely a big commitment, not something just anyone can do.”
‘We were only expecting seven’
Mrs Macpherson’s dog, Lilly, was in labour for 24 hours giving birth to 15 puppies in total. Sadly, two were stillborn and another only survived a week.
“I thought Lilly would make a great mother, and I had the space and time to look after the puppies. I’d seen lots of others do it during lockdown,” she said.
“We were only expecting around seven puppies, I think the vet didn’t want to scare us.”
Since having her large litter, Lilly is “keeping well” and is still feeding the puppies that remain at the family home.
They are fed at least five times a day, which has been gradually cut down over the weeks. At five weeks old, they started on raw food before moving on to dry food, and are also able to drink goat milk.
How do you look after 12 newborn pups?
Mrs Macpherson had a box and heated mat set up in her home for all the puppies to stay in. She has spent the last couple of months sleeping downstairs so she can keep an eye on all of them and give Lilly a break during the night.
“They love small spaces – the smaller the better. Three or four of them will hide under the sofa at a time or get stuck in a drawer while exploring,” she added.
“They play Jenga, cuddling down and twisting into each other. It’s so cute.”
She also has to help keep them clean and cut their nails twice a week.
When the weather is good, the litter is able to go outside and explore in a fenced off area in the garden.
“They’re always trying to escape, all they look for is trouble.”
A healthy litter
All dog breeds have their own weaknesses, so The Kennel Club dictates what genetic tests need to be done for each.
Dalmatians must have their hearing checked and Mrs Machpherson also had her puppies tested for Hyperuricosuria (HUU) – a disease which causes uric acid to not easily dissolve in urine.
Luckily, a testing service was able to visit her home in the north-east to save her travelling to Glasgow with the 12 puppies, and found that they all have “perfect” hearing.
“They have changed so fast in eight weeks. For the first week or two, they’re just kind of swimming across and then, all of a sudden, they’re walking,” Mrs Macpherson continued.
“Some had little markings when they were born, but not too much. The darkest one would have had just a few markings on his body, but most of them were white, and then they develop. It takes a couple of weeks to a month for them to really come out.”
Finding forever homes
After spending the first eight weeks of their lives in the north-east, some of the puppies were ready to head off to their new homes on Friday.
Mrs Macpherson has had people come to her home for bonding visits and carried out interviews over video call to find the perfect pet owners.
“I only want the best for them,” she said.
“Often the puppy will pick who they want to live with. If they made a fuss over the people visiting, we took it from there.
“It will be difficult to see them go as I’ve become close to all of them. There’s always a team running behind me, attached to my legs.”
She has made up puppy backpacks for each of the dogs, with pieces of their blankets and her clothing to help them settle into their new surroundings.