East Bendigo, Australia - The Bendigo Animal Relief Centre (BARC) recently received 15 puppies at once after a man found the animals on a popular hiking trail. When the staff saw the young dogs, however, they were faced with a puzzle...
Apart from minor differences in size, the 7-week-old dogs looked so similar that they all appeared to come from the same litter.
It would have been very unusual, although it is possible in extreme cases.
This was one of the reasons why the animal shelter staff tried to find out where the mother of the little pups was.
"We estimated the puppies to be about 7 weeks old – too young to be off their mum, especially for the smaller ones from the litter," Fra Atyeo explained in an interview with The Dodo this week.
"When they arrived in our care, the puppies were typical puppies – all scrambling for attention, wanting to chew on everything they could and wagging their stubby little tails," she added.
Eventually, the shelter put out an appeal to the community to find the puppies' mother – and were surprised.
Facebook post shows the story of the 15 puppies
In fact, the search revealed that the little rascals had two mothers who had given birth just a few days apart.
One of them was a dog named Mumma Sue, who came straight to BARC.
The other mother stayed with her owner, who was at least persuaded to have her spayed to prevent further "accidents."
In the meantime, the puppies – one of which unfortunately did not make it – have been placed with various foster families.
Mumma Sue is also currently living with a foster family where she feels very much at home, according to Atyeo.