French bulldog gives birth to extremely rare litter of 13 puppies: ‘Unheard of’

It’s always exciting when a dog gives birth to a litter of puppies — there are few things cuter than a newborn little dog.

But after one French Bulldog gave birth to a litter recently, her owner was stunned by how many pups were born, in what could be a record.

Jamie Walker, from northern Kentucky, is the owner of a female French bulldog who became pregnant with a litter of puppies.

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As the dog came along in her pregnancy and was soon to go into labor, Walker noticed that the dog was larger than the usual pregnant dog, but didn’t think anything extraordinary was about to happen.

“We went to the vet, and he said, ‘ah she might have six or seven [puppies],” Walker told WXIX.

Six or seven puppies would’ve been a surprise on its own — French bulldogs normally only give birth to three puppies at a time on average, and giving birth to seven is very rare.

So everyone was stunned when this mama bulldog gave birth to a whopping 13 puppies!

“That’s just unheard of,” Walker said.

That far exceeds the normal litter size for the breed. Walker says he searched online, and could find only one other French bulldog that gave birth to 13 puppies, in Britain.

He believes that his dog’s newborn litter has “got to be a US record.”

Despite the extreme circumstances, both the mom and her 13 babies are reportedly doing well, and all the puppies will reportedly go to new homes soon.

While most dogs give birth to a handful of puppies at a time, rare and extreme exceptions happen from time to time with dogs giving birth to more than a dozen pups.

Last year, a Dalmatian mom made headlines after giving birth to a whopping 16 puppies. Both the mom and the puppies were safe and healthy afterwards.  “It wasn’t 101 Dalmatians, but it was enough for us to have our hands full this morning!” the vets wrote.

It was all hands on deck this morning at Fredericksburg Veterinary Center for an Emergency C-section! We always hope…

Posted by Fredericksburg Veterinary Center Neal Eckert, DVM on Thursday, June 24, 2021

Wow, that is a lot of puppies! We are glad that the mom and her pups are doing well after this record birth!

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