The Napolitan Mastiff Shadow set an Australian record after miraculously giving birth to 21 pups via cesarean section on 20 April. Shadow gave birth to three puppies at her home, but after four hours of inactivity and unfortunately her puppies did not survive, her owners took her to Animal Emergency Services in Underwood.
They took x-rays to make sure she still had puppies and immediately started an emergency cesarean section when they found out that she still had more than 10 puppies. Shadow had a lot of blood inside and his blood pressure was dropping, so the vet had to perform a life-saving oophorectomy (removal of the reproductive organs).
Ten veterinarians and nurses worked together to remove 18 more puppies from Shadow, for a total of 21 puppies (18 of them survived). While Shadow was recovering from surgery, ICU nurses took care of the 18 puppies all day, taking turns feeding them from the mother, one at a time.
Fortunately, Shadow is doing well and is currently resting at home with his newborn baby. Shadow gave birth to four puppies, which set the record for the largest litter in Australia, but failed to break the world record set by the Neapolitan Mastiff of 24 puppies in 2004.