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Dog who gave birth to 17 puppies to be neutered because mother and owner can't cope with food demands

The dog in Germany that gave birth to 17 puppies will soon be neutered, owner Ramon Wegemann has announced.
The puppies have been bottle-fed for several weeks because their mother's nipples couldn't cope with the demand, leading to the announcement today.

Please mum, can we ALL have some more! These Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies make up around half of the 17-strong litter that 4-year-old bitch Etana gave birth to. Thanks to the help of exhausted owner Ramona Wegemann, all of the pups have survived

Wegemann says the 26-hour labour of the eight female and nine male puppies was very tiresome for the purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback and she does not want to endanger the animal's health with another pregnancy.
Wegemann added caring for the puppies in her living room 'turned out to be a full-time job'.

Etana gave birth to the puppies on September 28 in Wegemann's house in Ebereschenhof near Berlin.

The owner says all the puppies are well and that we play with them in the snow and start teaching them how to sit still.

Who's the cutest of them all? Dog owner Ramona Wegemann is delighted that all of the 17-strong litter have survived. The animal psychiatrist said when dogs give birth to so many puppies several of them usually die within the first week

A dog's life: Animal psychologist Ramona Wegemann poses with the 17 puppies she helped to raise in Ebereschenhof, Germany