PupsMomma's Journal

I don't know if it is inappropriate for me to be apart of the forum. Then again I reasoned with myself and it's true that I am affected by a cleft palate. It may be in a dog, but not just any dog. My 1 year old baby boy. He put me on the road of saving cleft babies. In my field of work, cleft babies are euthanized at birth. Do not pass go, Do not collect $200. At least most of the time.

On January 24the 2007 Dozer was born via scheduled c-section. Upon the babies coming to the rubbing table, 2 of them were found to have cleft palates. The breeder was devestated, instead of rubbing them in to life, she placed them in a bowl, hoping they wouldn't wake up so she wouldn't have to put them down. I asked her if she would ever give someone else the chance to try and raise one. She jumped on the opportunity, and handed me the bowl with the two newly born babies. 1 male and 1 female. Little Dozer's cleft was miniscule. His sisters however encompassed the entire roof of her mouth. She also had a touch of a condition called "water baby". So I made the decision that I could save the little male but not his sister. This was my first attempt at raising a puppy that everyone said couldn't be raised. And I felt that trying to raise both would cause both to die. So I took Dozer and woke him up. I was holding him for his first lusty cry, and have never let him go. It was hard the first 5 weeks. Tube  feedings every 2 hours from midnight to 6 am and every 1 hour during the day. A normal puppy gains up to a couple ounces a day. Dozer started out by losing 3 ounces, and stayed at that weight until week 2. Then slowly gained a 1/2 ouce every couple of days. Also his tummy couldn't handel any of the formula on the market, so we were constantly dealing with vomiting (very dangerous for these guys) constipation and dehydration. At 5 weeks old he weighed 14.5 ounces. Tiny considering his littermates were 5lbs or more. But he was alive. We weaned him and off he went. He was caught up to his litter by 10 weeks old, and has grown to his full potential. No stunted growth and no permanent damage in any way. 

    He turns a year old this month. I'll show him to clients and they love his spunky personality, and beautiful face. When I tell them his story I get one of two reactions, the first is to say "Wow that sounds like hardwork, good for you" the other is to say "Why would you do that" they however do not ask in a nice way, it usually has a touch of loathing along with it. I like to respond with, "because I could, and any creature deserves a chance".

Dozer is a wonderful attentive boy, he spends his days playing with my other dogs, cats, foster pups and of course lovin on my mothers foster children, or any children that can find the time for a game of peek-a-boo. So a side note is that Dozer has changed many peoples point of view on what is to be done with these babies. They may not be able to raise their babies, if they end up having any in a litter, but a few of them have come to me and asked if I would save it for them.