DO YOU NEED HOPE?
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( INSTRUCTIONS:
How to raise a cleft palate puppy link :) http://hennwood.tripod.com/id88.htm More info on cleft palate puppies: http://hennwood.tripod.com/cleft_pup_info.htm# |
GIMLI 'S STORY ... a story of God's mercy
GIMLI was born at a spunky 1 lb. 3 ounces. Pretty good size for an Airedale puppy! He was squirmy, shiny and full of life! We weigh our pups often on a kitchen scale to gauge how they are nursing. Normally our pups always gain and never lose.
Within 24 hrs. however, Gimli had lost 6 ounces, at which point I began to bottle feed him to supplement his nursing. Within 36 hrs. he had lost half of his birth weight. Upon close scrutiny it was found that GIMLI had a cleft palate.
I have never seen a cleft in an Airedale in all the years I have known the breed. Come to find out it is more common in pug nose breeds.
I called 3 different vet offices before I found one who would teach me how to feed him. You see the odds of survival are SO BAD, no one would help me. The 4th office I called agreed to show me how to stomach tube feed GIMLI. He could not suck. He looked like he was nursing, but was getting nothing from Momma, and very little from the bottle. He now weighed just 8.5 ounces.
We were losing him.
An awesome vet Dr. Moira Norris (now one of our 2 primary vets) taught us how to feed him and care for him.
Dr. Norris told us to feed him every 2 hours around the clock. We correlated the number of cc's to feed him with his current weight in ounces when he was tiny. We mixed 'puppy formula' with raw organic goat milk, warmed it to 101 degrees and used a tiny dosing syringe with a rubbery tube attached. We measured the tube for how long his body was from mouth to his last rib and marked it with medical tape. Then we had to feed the tube through his mouth, down his throat to his stomach. Administer the milk, and quickly pinch off and pull the tube before he gagged.
Sometimes he would choke and milk would come out his nose. He would squeak and gasp for breath. We were on pins and needles ... every 2 hours.
Within 24 hrs. however, Gimli had lost 6 ounces, at which point I began to bottle feed him to supplement his nursing. Within 36 hrs. he had lost half of his birth weight. Upon close scrutiny it was found that GIMLI had a cleft palate.
I have never seen a cleft in an Airedale in all the years I have known the breed. Come to find out it is more common in pug nose breeds.
I called 3 different vet offices before I found one who would teach me how to feed him. You see the odds of survival are SO BAD, no one would help me. The 4th office I called agreed to show me how to stomach tube feed GIMLI. He could not suck. He looked like he was nursing, but was getting nothing from Momma, and very little from the bottle. He now weighed just 8.5 ounces.
We were losing him.
An awesome vet Dr. Moira Norris (now one of our 2 primary vets) taught us how to feed him and care for him.
Dr. Norris told us to feed him every 2 hours around the clock. We correlated the number of cc's to feed him with his current weight in ounces when he was tiny. We mixed 'puppy formula' with raw organic goat milk, warmed it to 101 degrees and used a tiny dosing syringe with a rubbery tube attached. We measured the tube for how long his body was from mouth to his last rib and marked it with medical tape. Then we had to feed the tube through his mouth, down his throat to his stomach. Administer the milk, and quickly pinch off and pull the tube before he gagged.
Sometimes he would choke and milk would come out his nose. He would squeak and gasp for breath. We were on pins and needles ... every 2 hours.
IN MY VEST to stay WARM.
3 DAYS OLD ....... CLEFT PALATE
SO TINY
Gimli grew very, very slowly. Painful. We did not know what to expect and neither did our vet. Honestly, I don't think anyone expected him to live.
But Live he did! God gave us unimaginable power to keep going though we were seriously lacking sleep. About this time we were able to go to feedings every 3 hours. I found if I fed him at midnight I only had to get up once at 3 and the next feeding was at 6 a.m. when I would normally be up anyway. Remember, I still had the rest of his litter mates and his Momma to care for! The brunt of the work with Gimli fell on Leah. About this time there was another pup in this litter who was not doing well. We had never had problems with our litters before! This litter we had used a new stud dog, from a few hours away. This dog's parents were AKC Champions. His father actually held multiple titles as did his grandfather. This was the stud dog's first litter. His owners never bred him again. It was the Pink collar girl who was not growing well and the others were picking on her, so we moved her in with Gimli. This was a blessing! She and he did so well together! We named her Cassie. She was Gimli's Angel. 
At 4 weeks old the other pups moved to the play pen downstairs, so Cassie and Gimli had the whelping box and attached kennel (bed) to themselves for a while. We are now tube feeding him every 4 hours. He still looks like a toy compared to the other pups.
In the gallery of photos below, Gimli is 5 weeks old. A friend of mine sent me a link to a website all about raising cleft palate puppies... now I had looked for help online before and NEVER seen this site! WE HAD NO IDEA how long we needed to feed Gimli this way.... Never even questioned. As far as we knew, it would be months. (INSTRUCTIONS:
How to raise cleft palate puppy link:) http://hennwood.tripod.com/id88.htm More info on cleft palate puppies: http://hennwood.tripod.com/cleft_pup_info.htm# God sent this site to us at just the perfect time... it taught us Gimli had enough teeth and was ready to learn to eat dry kibble and drink water! First Leah taught him to drink out of a rabbit waterer... the kind with the ball in the bottom of a tube? After he knew water was for drinking she gave him a tiny bit in a bowl without fear of him drowning in it. The water would go up the cleft and out his nose until he got the hang of it! Then we got just the right size kibble that was too large to fit in the cleft yet small enough he could swallow whole without choking if he was voracious. And THAT is exactly what he did! The kibble had to be DRY not smushy as any soft food would get up in the cleft and could cause him sinus trouble. We still gave him supplemental milk up to 6 weeks old with the stomach tube to be sure he had enough nutrition (he will never be able to lap anything but water.) The cleft did close some, but the opening in the rear of his mouth between the soft palate and the hard palate will never close. The website explained that surgery is actually a real bad option, because as the pup grows the graft splits and usually results in more surgery and scar tissue and more times than not - euthanasia. |
WE PRAYED CONSTANTLY.
Without God, and my daughter Leah's willingness, Gimli would not have had a chance. Leah just REFUSED to give up. She took the day shift and I took the night. In matter-of-fact manner she just did what needed doing. Nearly every day I would say to her "Honey, you know he might not live no matter what we do" and she would just say quietly "I know Mommy". Now usually the Momma dog keeps the pups warm and fed and clean. My poor Momma dog couldn't do any of these things for Gimli. He was now so much smaller than the other pups in his litter that they would squish him just crawling around although I did let him in there sometimes. When he was with Mom, he just wore himself out trying to nurse. And, so we had to be the Mom. 
Dk. Green - GIMLI WITH HIS FAMILY - 10 Days old
GIMLI lived in a box, and then a laundry basket next to my bed, on a heating pad for warmth. We would rub his body to help circulation, use a wet paper towel to stimulate him to potty, keep him clean and allow him to suckle on our finger or a paper towel (his favorite) to aid digestion of the meal we just deposited into his stomach. We found that was the key to helping him not regurgitate milk out his nose.
To the left you see him "eating" and padding the air with his paws as if Momma were there. He had to be warm in order to digest. Often times we just stuck him down our shirt when we were done with his feeding. I felt like I lived in my robe for weeks, we didn't go anywhere, or even get dressed. It took nearly 2 weeks for him to regain his birth weight. When he hit this age and his eyes opened we were hooked. Until then we were just going through the motions.... SO SLEEP DEPRIVED. When we saw him look at us it renewed our strength and resolve. 
2.5 WEEKS ..... EYES OPEN !
Everyone helped out with holding Gimli. He needed lots of attention to socialize correctly, not just food! He also needed to be with his family. By 3.5 weeks old he stopped trying to nurse on Mom so we could let him spend some time with her and his siblings.
GIMLI AND MOMMA
Leah and Gimli became synonymous. At this point he looks for her and calls her! She is "MOMMA" to him. You can see how sleep deprived she is... look at the darkness around her eyes. And Yet, there is a PEACE that only GOD can give my darling daughter.
At 6 weeks old, Gimli weighed 2.5 pounds. His siblings weighed 7 pounds. We started calling him "Little Hairy Dwarf Man."
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Click any photo in the 'gallery' view to see larger :
This next set of gallery photos makes my heart sing. Gimli ...... Outside ....... Playing ....... GOD is so Awesome!
Gimli is about 10 weeks old in these.
Gimli is about 10 weeks old in these.
Most breeders would have had him euthanized at birth or just left him to die of starvation on his own.
Gimli and Cassie - - inseparable! They go everywhere together. God sent us Gimli's angel, with her wings on the inside.
(L) GIMLI - (R) CASSIE
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(L) CASSIE - (R) GIMLI
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GOD'S WILL BE DONE. - Amen.
THIS you are just not going to BELIEVE ! Gimli at 4 months old ..... first grooming and photo shoot !
THIS you are just not going to BELIEVE ! Gimli at 4 months old ..... first grooming and photo shoot !
Leah and her 'shadow' Gimli. A match made in Heaven.
Gimli was adopted by a loving young couple in Lancaster PA area who fell in love with his story and with him. He now lives on a mint farm the gentleman owns and operates to manufacture his mint tea which he bottles and sells. She is a journalist.
DEDICATED to those who have gone on before us...
We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves,
but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour.
If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which
they should break, so be it. - C.S. Lewis
We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves,
but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour.
If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which
they should break, so be it. - C.S. Lewis
CASSIE
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RAINIE
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NANNA
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