Bell and her newborn puppies

Bell, a Rhodesian Ridgeback,  came in to see Dr Bek last Thursday morning after struggling to pass her large litter of pups. She had had 7 puppies naturally at home but was very tired after 14 hours of labour. After trying an oxytocin injection to help her contractions without success, it was decided to go to caesarean as there were still 5 pups in utero.

Dr Merryl performed a caesarean on Bell and 5 healthy puppies were delivered. Unfortunately 2 of the 12 were very small and weak and passed away over the subsequent two days.  Bell and her 10 pups came back for a check up on Saturday and all were doing very well. These will be the last litter for Bell as she was speyed and she will now go into a lovely retirement (after raising her current family) with lots of cuddles and walks from her doting parents.