Inspiring Dog Story - Cleft Palate Chihuahua

by Sue Rogers
(Hilton, NY)

When Juliet went into heat in April of 2010, I was careful to keep Romeo away from her. I didn't’ want Juliet getting pregnant. Around the beginning of June I noticed Juliet was a little “round” so I gave her a quick ultrasound and confirmed that she was pregnant. I assumed that one of my family members must have let all of the dogs together while I was out of town for the weekend back in April.

Romeo got his appointment to be neutered on June 25th and on June 26th Juliet started with labor.

It was a Saturday morning and by 10am the first pup was born. I was shocked when I picked up the little male to dry him off. He was a blue merle! There was no way that Romeo was the sire to this litter. It was Pee Wee, a little young male that I didn't even think was ready or big enough to breed! Pee Wee had gone to his new home in May and wasn’t even here to see what he had done!

At 10:30 the second little male was born. Another blue merle. Both males were healthy and vigorous. Juliet started pushing again and I could feel one more pup inside. She pushed for two hours without producing the final baby so off to emergency we went.

After two shots to get labor moving there was still no baby. I couldn’t even feel the baby moving any longer. At 10pm the vet performed a fetal ultrasound and found a very weak heart rate on the last pup. An emergency C-section was ordered and they told me not to expect a live puppy.

Two hours later I received a phone call saying that Juliet was fine and in recovery and the baby did make it through the surgery. It was a tiny female that weighed 3 ounces.

There was a problem.

They told me that she was born with a cleft palate and did I want them to euthanize her. I told them not to and went and picked up Juliet and her newborn puppies at 3:30am. At that point I felt so alone and helpless. I researched her condition online and learned that surgery could be performed to repair the defect. I returned to the emergency clinic at 7am with Mia and they taught me how to tube-feed her. This was to be done every two hours around the clock. One wrong move and she would die in my hands.



At two days old Mia develop aspiration pneumonia from being allowed to nurse from mom after birth. Again I was told not to expect a miracle. There was no dosage of antibiotics for such a tiny puppy. I found a pharmacy that made a compounded prescription for her and I hoped for the best. She spent another night at the animal emergency to receive oxygen therapy. I picked her up the next day and brought her home. I couldn’t even find a veterinarian to see her. They all said to euthanize her! For several weeks I stayed up around the clock tending to this tiny little baby. She slowly started to grow and gain strength. How do I give up on her now? She had beaten every odd the professionals said she wouldn’t. As long as she was willing to fight, I was willing to dedicate myself to helping her.



Fast forward……I have to bring Mia everywhere I go. If she burps and brings up some formula, I needed to be there to suction her out. She won another round of pneumonia at 8 weeks. This time I got my own oxygen tank and gave her oxygen therapy from home along with a vaporizer tent and constant supervision. We saw the vet every two weeks but I always felt like they thought I was crazy for the extreme measures I was taking for a dog! I would ask about surgery and told that Mia would have to get to two pounds before they would even point me in that direction.



We found an awesome vet in Buffalo, NY. She took on Mia's case and never made me feel like I was crazy. I drive Mia to Buffalo every week to see Dr. Minner. It's about an hour and a half drive in good weather. Mia has received her Parvo and Distemper vaccines (given separately, on two different days)and once she is finished with her series of vaccines we will talk about surgery to repair her defect.



Mia has finished her series of vaccinations and has a consultation with the surgeon on Tuesday November 19th.



Surgery date is set for November 30th, 2010 ~ {please keep her in your thoughts and prayers}

after surgery there was a small break in the repair. Mia had another surgery on January 4th, 2011 that too broke down and a 3rd surgery was done on Jan. 27th. Mia almost died after that surgery. That surgery broke down as well. We have a consult at Cornell on 2-10-2011

We are looking for a new vet to take on Mia!!

She has had 5 surgeries and you can read more on her website www.loveformia.com