Great Dane delivers a litter of 19 healthy puppies

KINGMAN, Ariz. (KTVU) - An animal hospital in Arizona is celebrating the successful delivery of 19 Great Dane puppies all from one litter.

A team of 11 medical staff members and technicians helped deliver the litter by cesarian on Saturday.

Kingman Animal Hospital took to social media and excitedly shared the news, along with sweet photos of the newborns. On Facebook, the hospital wrote, "All live and healthy! Mom doing great!" (The hospital noted that the photos were taken before and after the procedure, which was performed in a sterile surgical room.) 

"The unusual part is the amount of puppies in this litter. Generally 13 is a pretty big litter, so to have 19!" the hospital's office manager, Cassie McEuen told KTVU.

The dog's owners are breeders. McEuen said they could tell something wasn't right with the mom, so they brought her into the hospital to get checked.

"The mom holding the babies for so long, she was just tired," McEuen said.

The delivery took about 40 minutes, there were no complications, and mom and all 19 of her babies are doing very well. 

"It was exciting to see that," McEuen recalled. "The puppies screaming and moving around. It was a heartwarming moment," she added.

C-section deliveries among larger dogs are not very common, as larger breeds deliver litters pretty easily, according to the hospital. 

"We do see a large number of C-sections on smaller dogs, but not large dogs, and not of this magnitude," Mceuen explained.

Mceuen said the owners are looking into whether any records were broken with this delivery.

According to Guinness World Records, the largest known litter of puppies is 24, born to a Neapolitan Mastiff in England in 2004.