Saving these special fur kids takes a lot of time, patience and money.
Most vets and breeders will tell you to euthanise at birth, and that's not without good reason, as they do not want the puppy to suffer, people do not realise how much dedication, time, costs and sleeplessness it is to get to surgery size and age.
So when people try to save a cleft puppy without support and massive dedication, the puppy will suffer a slow death by starving to death as they simply cannot form and hold a suction to draw the milk down no matter how hard they try, Another risk is anything going into there mouth can get into the nasal passages as the roof of the mouth hasn't closed properly in utero when milk gets into the open roof of mouth sinusitis and pneumonia occur and pup will die.
This is unfair for the pup and why euthanasia is often the kinder option unless there is a dedicated rescue like us willing to take them into care
We feed via a stomach tube every 2 hours 24/7 until they reach approx. 5-6 weeks of age that's correct they cannot eat solids as a normal pup either as food can get into the cleft, so we make special meals for them that can go down the tube and we teach to drink water from a rabbit water dropped bottle .
Once we hit that magic milestone, we have yet another vet assessment this time a pre-surgical check for anaesthetic suitability and the operation to change there life!!
Operation is really life-changing!!! There faces when they taste and get to eat food and lap water from a bowl
They seem to recover extremely quickly after surgery and go on to live a totally normal happy and long life.
We have a amazing vets behind us that help with the surgeries we couldn't be more blessed
We always need financial help to support these special pups get a chance at life, without support we cannot afford as volunteers to pay for these expensive surgeries they require on top we have lots of running costs veterinary bills, Humicrib, incubators, formula sooooo much formula... stomach tubes, transport heating the list never seems to stop
