" And Then There Were Two "

I discovered a few days ago that my precious little Curly not only had the harelip which I discovered at his birth but also a cleft palate. After speaking with the Vet, I took Sadie and the pups in yesterday for a check. Usually a new mother and pups are not checked until 6 weeks but since there was a still birth and cleft palette in the litter they wanted to check them all. Curly was 1/3 the size of his two brothers whom the Vet said were the two healthiest week old puppies he'd ever seen! Sadie also was given an excellent health rating for being a new mother. The Vet explained that a cleft palette puppy requires extensive care such as tube feeding every 2 hours for at least 4 weeks, then every 4 hours for another 4-8 weeks then if it survives, extensive and VERY expensive surgery is sometimes done. However on small breed dogs it is often not successful and on Pekingese, whom have a flat face and nose, it is not recommended at all. The Vet said that the most humane thing to do for Curly, Sadie and me was to euthanize the puppy. My heart was broke and I just could not do it then. After prayer, thought, and conversations with family and friends, I took Curly back to the Vet Clinic this morning. So Curly is in puppy heaven and now there are two. Please forgive me if I'm quite for a day or two and don't make it by your blog to view and comment, if I do, you know I'm in need of a laugh or escape from my anguish. I had been bottle feeding him for several days along with helping him do what little nursing he could, and I had already decided when he was born and I saw his harelip, that he would stay here forever. I did not think his forever would come so soon. :(
You can see in this picture from last night how small he was compared to his brothers.