After our experience with Summer's last litter Kate was keen to find out the reason why four of the seven pups were stillborn yet perfectly formed. Pauline Tolhurst is a friend of Kate's and a vet at the White Hills Surgery in Hook Norton. Pauline attended a seminar where a condition that would explain the problems with the last litter was described. With this condition one of the two horns of the uterus receives the hormonal instruction for the placentas to detach too early, which is why we had a roughly alternating succession of healthly and stillborn pups. This condition can repeat itself so we took no chances and asked Pauline to deliver this litter by Ceasarian.

Everything went smoothly, and aside from some initial groggyness from the anaesthetic Summer has come through really well. The scar is almost invisible with no external stitches, and the pups are all feeding well.

As with the last litter we will update this page at roughly weekly intervals until the pups are about seven or eight weeks old.

Two days old

One week old

Two weeks old

Three weeks old

Four weeks old

Five weeks old

Six weeks old

Seven weeks old

Eight weeks old

And then they were gone

All the puppies will be settling into their new homes this weekend. It is strangely quiet and a lot less hectic now, and we get to have our dining room back. We've already started receiving reports and photos from the early departures which is always very welcome. Now the rest of our Labradors can start to get the attention they deserve again!