A sausage dog has defied the odds to give birth to an incredible litter of 10 puppies, shocking its owner.
Two-year-old Cheesecake, the dachshund, surprised Stacey Whiteley, 42, as she gave birth to almost double the average amount of puppies on Sept. 8.
Stacey, a mother-of-two who works as a planner in the water industry, expected eight puppies but said that they just “kept on coming.”
“Sausage dogs usually have a litter of six,” Stacey from Lincoln, England, said. “I knew Cheesecake was going to have a couple more because of the scan she had, but I didn’t think 10 was possible.”
Cheesecake, Stacey said, had given birth to six puppies within an hour but had slowed down after that because she was tired.
“I am an experienced mom so I could relate, I felt her uterus to see if there is any more,” Stacey said. “She wasn’t a textbook case at all. I gave her food and then within five minutes she gave birth to the 10th.
“I was gobsmacked.”
Stacey decided to name all the puppies after cheeses. The five boys were named Edame, Manchego, Cheddar, Blue, and Wensleydale; and the girls were called Philly, Brie, Feta, Pepper, and Babybel.
For a couple of months after the puppy’s birth, Stacey’s house was in chaos.
“I decided to alleviate some of the pressure and bottle feed the puppies at the start so Cheesecake could have a break,” Stacey said. “She is such a great mom, she was so attentive and gentle.”
In November, all the puppies moved, apart from Babybel, who stayed with the family.
“It was a whirlwind looking after them all and I was sad to see them go,” Stacey said. “Babybel fitted in with my other dogs so we decided to keep her.”
