She hasn't quite expanded her family to 101, but Button has still produced a pretty impressive number of little dalmatians.



The three-year-old dog has given birth to a litter of 18, just a year after having 16 pups.



Her litter is thought to be the largest born to a dalmatian in the UK. The average is about eight or nine.



Button's bumper litter: Her 18 pups jostle for a feed

Button's father was in the Disney film 102 Dalmatians and the acting talent appears to run in the family.

Two of the pups from her first set already have TV contracts, with one appearing in Taggart.

For the moment, though, all Button's time is taken up with the 18 newborns. Her total brood is now 34.

There are so many pups she needs the assistance of owners Adam and Nicola Morley, and their three sons, to feed them.

Button and the Morleys work in shifts 24-hours a day: Button feeds one group of pups, while the family feeds the other two, then an hour later they swap.

Button's litter is the largest ever born to a dalmatian in Britain and she has now had 34 pups



'We're bottle feeding them and it's very tiring, especially as I have to work, but it's also very nice,' said Mrs Morley, 31.

'We thought she would have a standard size litter of eight or nine but we had a scan at the vets the day before and they said there were too many to count.

'We were shocked when 18 were born and they were all alive and healthy.'

Mr Morley, 40, added: 'We feed all the pups several times a day because Button can't feed them all constantly. We all take it in turns - mine's at 3 o'clock in the morning.'

Give us a lift: One of the pups hitches a ride on the head of Thomas Morley, 7, while a sibling looks on and, right, he comes nose to nose with one of the 18-strong litter

Each pup weighed about 2lb when they were born by Cesarean section at the Chine House Veterinary Hospital in Sileby.

Veterinarian Con Hassett, who performed the operation, said: 'I delivered all 18 puppies in about nine to 12 minutes as the surgery itself is reasonably straightforward, but it's the aftercare that's harder. We had to have five or six nurses there to revive and tend to the puppies afterwards.'

'I never heard of any breed of dog giving birth to 18. The real miracle is that they've survived this long because it's so hard to rear that many pups.'

British Dalmatian Club chairman Pat Wilson added a litter of 18 was very rare. 'I bred Dalmatians for 25 years and my largest litter ever was 11,' she said.

Despite the round-the-clock care, the Morleys, from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, won't have to keep it up for long as they only plan to keep one puppy.

The rest will be sold or give to family and friends who had dalmatians from the previous litter.

'We will have to sell some as the cost of looking after the pups is astronomical,' said Mrs Morley.

Acting pedigree: Stars of the 1996 Walt Disney film 101 Dalmations. Button is the daughter of one of the dogs who appeared in the sequel 102 Dalmations

