Photo credit: Julia Loftus
At the end of January, a miniature schnauzer arrived at the Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue Centre, having escaped life as a breeder in a puppy farm. It’s unknown how many litters in her long, unhappy years she would have produced before being discarded by the breeder, but judging by the poor state of her, it was many.
However, unlike the other dogs who arrived with her, she seemed a good weight, if anything, plump. She spent a few days settling in at DBARC. Her journey from being an unloved, nameless commodity to a loved and cherished dog, got underway.
Within a few days, it became clear that something was seriously amiss. Not only was she plump, she was visibly getting rounder by the day. This could mean several things, from pregnancy to tumours and a range of other things, none of them good. Clara was whisked off to the vet for investigations.
The shocking news came back - Clara was pregnant! She was too far gone for anything to be done except to support her the best way possible. It was a bitter sweet moment for those caring for her to realise that if the puppy farmer had known she was pregnant there was no way she’d have been given up; so although it was bad news she was pregnant, the good news was that she was free of the puppy farmer’s clutches. And even better they would not have her puppies to sell. Her previous value in the world would only have been the puppies she produced. All that, now changed for Clara and determination set in to give her everything she needed to get through this, her last ever pregnancy.
As she was clearly not in good health, pregnancy, whelping and raising a litter would make severe demands on her already weakened, drained body. But at least she was in a place of safety and everything would be done that could be done. The brightest spot on a day of difficult news was that for Clara, when the time came, she wouldn’t be delivering puppies scared and alone in a filthy, grim, puppy farm.
Clara, heavily pregnant
It was impossible to know for sure how many pups she was expecting, or when they would arrive; scans suggested around 4 puppies but as they often hide behind each other, Janet, DBARC’s manager knew this could at best be just an estimate. A couple of weeks later, as Clara’s belly grew and grew, delivery seemed imminent; as date of mating was unknown everyone was on tenterhooks for days and serious concerns for Clara’s health increased. Janet took her every day for the final week to be scanned and when the puppies heartbeats dropped, delivery by caesarean section was immediately scheduled.
Clara’s puppies arrived into the world: an astonishingly large litter of 10 puppies - 6 girls, 4 boys. Her breeding days were emphatically over!
Sadly her troubles were far from behind her as Clara suffered serious post-operative complications. She was rushed in as an emergency, to save her life further surgery was required and it was touch and go whether she would pull through.
Her puppies were just days old and Janet and her team of volunteers put in place a complex regime of 24 hour feeding and care for the 10 vulnerable puppies. For them to stand any chance of surviving, feeds initially had to be given every 2 hours, and with so many puppies to feed, this was a mammoth task for a small team to undertake. For a single person, each feed took at least 2 hours. In the small hours of many mornings, there were understandable dips in morale as ten fragile lives hung in the balance.
A dedicated group of volunteers worked day and night and as each 24 hours passed, and the puppies fed and grew, and pulled through each crisis, it was clear that Clara’s family was determined to live.
While the puppies took up huge amounts of time and resources, the usual work of DBARC had to continue. This was a big demand on a small animal rescue, but not once did anyone flinch from what was needed for Clara and her puppies. We’re proud that among others, Schnauzerfest volunteers made themselves available to help at this critical time, to give a hand feeding, cleaning and doing what they could to help ease the pressure on DBARC.
While her puppies were being hand reared, Clara herself was recovering from everything she had been through and as soon as she was well enough, she was reunited with her family. Before the post-op complications and her emergency surgery, she’d shown herself to be a dedicated mother, but there was no guarantee she wouldn’t reject them now.
She wouldn’t be able to feed her puppies and their intensive care by the DBARC team continued.
To the great relief of everyone involved, when Clara and her ten puppies were reunited, she immediately set about caring for her puppies.
All ten of Clara’s puppies, together and about to be reunited with mum.
All 10 puppies are now thriving and at 4 weeks old, are developing at a rapid and healthy rate. They’re beginning to move around independently, their individual characters are showing through and play is very much in the minds of each of them. Eat, play, sleep, the life every puppy should have!
In their remaining time under the care of DBARC they’ll be given everything that healthy, normal puppies should have in order to head off to their new lives.
The puppies are currently enjoying time with their mum in a foster home, they all almost certainly have homes lined up and we look forward to sharing news of their lives in future.
Clara will stay with DBARC for a good while, she needs to recover her health, and be properly assessed as to what her full needs are. Not only post pregnancy, but as a dog who has been neglected for years whilst being forced to produce litters for the puppy farmer, who would be kicking themselves black and blue if they knew the story of the ten little pups who got away.
The demands on a small rescue like DBARC for caring for any litter of puppies are always high. They were multiplied in Clara’s case many times over:
larger than average litter, 10 is a lot of puppies!
multiple scans and blood tests
c-section
post-operative complications with life-saving surgery required
the time, resources and manpower needed to handrear 10 puppies is mind boggling, with each feed taking around 2 hours and feeding required every 2 hours initially, then dropping down to 4 hours
The total financial cost of care won’t be known for some while. But an indication of why fundraising for veterinary bills is so important is that the costs of Clara’s c-section and life-saving post-op surgery amount to almost £5000 alone.
UPDATE - December 2019
Clara recovered well from her ordeal and in May she was adopted and went off to live her retirement on the south coast of England. Living by the sea obviously suits Clara down to the ground as she is thriving in her home and living as a regular, much loved dog. She has 2 canine sisters, Dora and Cilla and has settled into their routine of beautiful walks across the South Downs. Her health is reasonably good, she does have dry eye and cataracts but the decision has been made that her best option for now is to leave them and monitor.
In October, her family hosted a Schnauzerfest Walk and some of Clara’s puppies travelled all the way to Friston Forest to reunite with mum. Unfortunately, the excitement proved a little too much for Clara and she had an off-day with her health. She was soon back to normal after a day or two of resting up. But, the incident did show that robust as she appears to be, it really takes a long time for solid health to be recovered by some dogs. And Clara has had a lot going on in 2019.
Her days are now peaceful, and her past is behind her. Her health will continue to strengthen and we all wish her many happy years ahead.
Cilla, Dora and Clara.
UPDATE - February 2020
A year on from giving birth to 10 puppies and almost losing her life in the process, Clara is thriving with her adopted family. Her health is much improved, her fitness continues to strengthen and she enjoys daily coastal and countryside walks across the South Downs where she lives. As her recovery from her ordeal last year progressed, Clara’s bright and social character steadily shone brighter.
“Clara is confident in the main. She managed to walk past a recycling truck with noise, flashing lights and men crashing around, which was very impressive. She was scared but she managed it. The bin men always try to say hello to the dogs but walking past is enough for her!”
Kathleen speaks of her complete love of life, an enthusiasm and alertness about each day. Clara thrives on being outdoors, more often than not she’s leading the way on walks, eager to experience everything each one has to offer. For a dog who spent years trapped in a puppy farm, she has a lot of stolen time to make up and Clara’s wasting none of it.
It’s a marvellous thing to know that our charity has played a part in enabling this. Every donation you make to Schnauzerfest helps dogs like Clara get the lives they deserve.