My girl whelped a litter of 14 puppies a week ago!  She was scanned for 6/7 so it was a bit of a shock!!  So far she has been amazing and is feeding them all herself.  It is a real hands-on event as I have to remove a few of them to stop the mad scrabble for a teat and then swap them once 4 others have fed - finally leaving them all to gently suck until they are all content and full. They are putting on weight and are quiet and content.  Mum is now no longer spending all day in the box but is feeding them very few hours.  My question is - has anyone reared a litter of 14!  No one in my breed has hear of a 14!  Any tips gratefully accepted about topping up with formula, feeding my bitch (eating every two hours at moment - good quality puppy kibble soaked with chicken or fish to make it more interesting) etc.  She has the runs a bit (not surprising cleaning that many pups) but seems fit and well but very tired. What age should I wean them? Thanks

Wow...14!! I only have experience of 12 (large gundog breed) but I did wean them as soon as their eyes opened and they were on their feet....around 2 to 2and a half weeks. I also found Lansinoh cream for cracked nipples a godsend as she got quite sore. I didn't top up with formula,just kept ploughing the food into Mum and weaned early...good luck!

Ali

My cocker had 11 and reared 10 start of the year and a friend of mine had a litter of 16 cockers and reared 13, which is an enormous litter for a show type cocker spaniel.  It's amazing what these girls are capable of.

My first litter was 15 Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies. We ended up feeding each puppy as an orphan every 2 hours (day and night) and then letting them top up from mum. We started weaning at 3 weeks. They were beautiful, chunky babies.

I'm currently helping out with a litter of eight large breed pups and the bitch is getting quite cracked nipples and needs cream applying quite often.. can't imagine 14!!! Good luck.

Has ben known in my breed.  Keep a careful eye on weight gain, and start offering sloppy solids as soon as eyes are open if the rate of weight gain slows.

As long as your making sure all get to feed with special attention to the smallest, and bitch is fed enough you should not have to supplement with top up milk feeds, which is best avoided unless really neccesary.

Even if Mum does them well I'd start weaning around 2 1/2 weeks to take the pressure off her, though she will still be their main food source until at least 4 weeks.

When I got my IS many, many years ago, he came from a litter of eighteen. Three died shortly after birth, but the remaining fifteen did fantastically well. The breeders had to some supplementary feeding, but the bitch coped and did most of it herself. Watching fifteen puppies, all exactly the same, running around and trying to choose one was a bit tricky.

I had 15 ( 14 survived one stillborn) in my litter before last. Have one of the 14 here.
I didn't chance and supplemented feeding right from the word go. Didn't seem to affect them in any way although it was a mad scrabble at times as swapping pups over wasn't easy as they of course wanted just to lie with Mum and hang on. I don't believe in leaving it all to Mum and hate to see them finishing up under par. My Heather came through unscathed and was more than happy for us to help so perhaps to some extent it depends on Mum's attitude to you interfering.
The thing was I was somehow confident those pups meant to survive. I never had one worry with them as I have had with other smaller litters.
JUst make sure everyone is getting regular liquid and not under or overheating. Too much heat can be an issue as they can snuggle together and keep warm and they can as I found, here and there get thrown away from the pack.
It was certainly a full time job for a few weeks, not much sleep, and they were weaned early. I always say it was the litter that nearly killed us off.
6 survived in my litter earlier this year and it was a real pleasure.
Good luck!

I had a litter of 13 in 2009. The mum has a C section for the last 5. I didn't supplement and began weaning at 17 days to help her and managed all the way through with just her milk. I did split them into 2 teams and was with her every 2 hrs day and night putting team A and then team B onto the milk bar.

Diane

my girl had 15 puppies in march this year....we lost 2 that were tiny tiny, but she reared the rest herself and I started weaning as soon as their eyes were open. good luck its hard work ensuring all are getting their fair share but as long as you do and she has plenty of milk she will cope amazingly well...they are amazing