Remember this? Ines looking rather more like a giant tick than a french bulldog with two CC's?

[ursula wilby]

Well this was the result...7 puppies...2 males and 5 females...Ines just loves them, and so do we! Ok, they are not setters, but who cares? :-)

[Elizabeth Ball]

Those little pink tongues poking out of those inky little faces - so gorgeous. Well done mum.

[Carmen Lorenzi]

Ohhh...they are tooooo sweet !!!!!
Curious how they will look at 4-6 weeks:-)
Big congratulations !!

[Dee Rance]

Wow Ursula such a litter for such a tiny girl, good luck with them, she has done you proud....Such lovely fat babies....Congratulations to you all...;o))

[Angela Roberts]

Beautiful puppies and I hope Ines is back on her silk cushion.

[Dixie Cruise]

Congratulations and I hope mamma is resting comfortably!

[Marta Magi]

Congrats on such a huge litter! Has Ines got her top model shape back already?? :-)

[Carmel Murphy]

OH!!!! So So Sweet;o))) Well done Ines and Ursula;o))

[Weera Karlsson]

Åh, dom ser ut som små lakritskarameller!! Piratpengar.

[ursula wilby]

A quick reply to some of the questions...
No it was unfortunatly not a natural birth. We x-rayed Ines a week before the birth to see how many puppies.
Had there been one or two the vet and I agreed that it would be better to operate without even letting her try.
Two puppies, with her being sooo huge would have ment HUGE puppies and as the breed has difficulty giving birth anyhow it would seem stupid to risk Ines life.
(Only 50% of french bullgogs give birth naturally)

Turned out it was the oposite, a very large litter for the breed.
I thought this was good, but the vet was not so certain. And of course I know that too big a litter can make giving birth more difficult as the uterous is too expanded for contractions.

But we tried.
63 days after the first mating Ines temperature dropped to 36.1 when it was at its lowest.
But then nothing...she was going through all the panting and shivering that I am familiar with but not a single contraction. After 15 hours of low temperature and shivering the vet asked us to come in and she did not want Ines to stay at such a low temperature any longer.
So she operated.
All well and good.
Puppies well, and Ines well...
But I am used to EASY births...a bit of panting, digging and away we go...
This was hard work!

Ines has skipped her silk-pillow and is concentrating 100% on her puppies!
She turned out to be a great mum...but I must say that I am not certain I have the nerves for more of this!

Thank you all for your great comments and your support!
You are brilliant!
Every one of you...

[Cheryl Gorey]

Hi Ursula, just read your blog! Excellent news. I am so pleased that Ines had a lovely litter and that she and the puppies are all doing so well. Congratulations!!