Thank you for all your support here! You are great! I had such a hard time with this decision. I've always been a fighter & like to look at the brighter side & hope fot the best in any situation. To put him to sleep was so out of character for me & something I was fortunate to not have to do, until now.
YorkieNewbie22... thanks for posting pictures. From the looks alone, that's EXACTLY what my little guy looked like. I had such a hard time finding pictures to see what to compare to. Your little one looks so cute! It adds character. I was excited to feed the little one with the dropper/bottles until he got old enough to get to more solids & was SO attached because of doing it. I had talked to my husband about keeping him too, so that was the plan. I read so much about the complications that come though with pnemonia, liquid in their lungs & the surgeries. Many with minor clefts seem to have in grow in as older pups & do just fine. It was so encouraging to find success stories & see cute pictures of dogs that made it through. It also seemed that the hardest part was just getting them through the first 6-8 weeks. I was fine with the sacrifice for that long if it meant saving a life & having a little guy who wouldn't suffer. I told myself that as long as the vet didn't say that it was severe, I would work through it no matter what. From what I read, the sever pallats can still be correctable through surgeries, but it seemed to me to be a very risky surgery that had a complication rate; especially if it was severe. Plus, I realy thought it was just a cleft lip & not the pallate at all. Boy was I wrong. Now I know better what to look for though. With the vet saying it was very severe, it just broke my heart. I have so much more appreciation for those of you who have been breeding for a long time & even those who haven't, but have to make theses tough calls when something goes wrong with a puppy. I really do look up to you all so much more now & think that anyone thinking about getting into breeding needs to take a look at these situations & ask how they might handle them. For me, I don't think I have it in me to do it again. It's not worth the risk. I absolutely LOVE my Yorkies to pieces & couldn't image losing a mommy or another puppy. (Maybe this is all just in my current sorrows, we'll see). Anyway, sorry to ramble... thanks again to all of you who have been following our story. I hope it helps someone else sometime too. I wish the best for all of you!
P.S. Sonya & Debbie both PMd me offering to post pictures for me, so you should see them sometime soon. (Thanks ladies)! |