Puppies Story

Hello! This is a story about a little puppy with a grim future. His mom was very sick when she went into labor, and we did not know she had caught a cold. She gave birth to four puppies, and only two survived. The Vet told us the mother was near pneumonia and was put on stronger medication. Within two days, she had no milk, but she still wanted her babies but had left them, and she went and laid down somewhere else. I knew then she was seriously ill to leave her babies like that. The vet had told us it was a good thing we had taken the puppies away from her. We had another mother who accepted them. In three days, one puppy started crying and did not want to nurse. We took her to the vet and were told the puppy was border line to pneumonia. We put her and the adoptive mom in the nursery we used to hand-feed our baby birds. Well, sad to say, she never made it. When the other sibling seemed to be thriving, he, too, started not to want to nurse.

I started to hand-feed him with an eye dropper. He would swallow but did not want to suck as he should. I tried this for five days, and he started to blow milk out of his nose. I then took him to the vet, as he thought he had gotten milk in his lungs. GOOD NEWS!!! He didn't. The vet said he didn't know what was wrong with the puppy. He told us it looked very grim for our little guy. When I went home, I walked over to a picture of JESUS that my mother had given me before she died. I had always wanted it as a child, and it was the only thing I wanted from my mothers. This picture of Jesus, his eyes would follow you where ever you were in that room. I looked at Jesus, and I said a prayer. I asked him to please tell me what to do and help my precious little puppy. Please save his life. It is hard to describe the feeling that came over me at that moment. I knew then what I had to do. I had to remove the mother from the nursery and raise the temperature. Now the puppy and I were on our own. I knew this puppy had to fight and had never hand-fed a puppy before. This last vet told me I had to tube feed this puppy. The first vet told me it was near impossible to tube feed such a small puppy of his size: two vets, two conflicting stories.PLEASE get a second opinion.

I knew how to tube feed baby birds, but they would pump the tube down, where sick puppies, you had to force it down. Well, I will be happy to tell you I only had to do this three times. Not three feedings but three times. I told my husband if he made it through the week end he would have a chance, and I believed he would make it. This was on Friday, OCTOBER 17,2008. After two days, he held his head up, stuck his tail up, and moved around by Tuesday. I kept him on Clavamox for a week just in case he was getting a cold.

I was also putting fluids under his skin several times a day. One week later, Friday the 31 st., he was eating up to 5cc of milk. He only weighed 2 oz. on the vet's scale and 4 oz. on my scale. Today November 16, 2008, my husband named him Beetle Bug, and he is 6 weeks old Monday, November 17, 2008, and only weighs 5 oz. He walks, plays, pees, and poops on his own. Why he even has his teeth coming in? I took him to show the vet, and I saw a huge smile on his face.

I just wanted to thank him for taking the time to show me how to tube feed a puppy his size, as I felt more at ease now doing it. I was just afraid to try it. He told me he didn't think the puppy would make it and told me I was the one who saved him, not him. I believe Jesus sent me to him that day for the vet to show me how to tube feed, for if I ever was in that situation again. And I believe it was Jesus working through me that saved that puppy. The part of this story, and hopefully, it might save a puppy out there someday, is Never give up. Remember, Heat is the most important factor. Get your puppy warm, and it might save their life.