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That is such a touching thing you are doing.:p And, Breny, it brings back memories for me, too. I used to follow your threads.:) |
There are angels on earth:angel2dl: Praying for little Emma. Bless you both.:animal-pa |
Congratulations you are truly a life saver. We need more people like you on this earth. You are a true blessing and obviously being blessed. |
Any more Emma updates for us????? I fell asleep thinking about you and Emma, and the first thing I did this morning is look for updates!:D Hope all is going well, and in your pictures she looks comfortable!:animal36 |
What an angel you are....bless your giving heart!! I am always thrilled at the love that is expressed for little furry babies on this board............it's so touching. I hope the little cherub thrives and finds a forever home :) :) :) |
bless your heart (((Hugs))) i'm still trying ot take care of a baby squirrel that was kicked out of his nest and it's a job in itself! what a loving person you are :) |
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Any updates on baby Emma? |
Hi Dena, I just read all the posts in this thread and wanted to say that it is a wonderful thing that you are doing for baby Emma! I wish you the best of luck!! |
You are a wonderful person to take in this little dog. It encourages my heart that there are still really good people out there who really care about the well-being of others (whether that be a person or a helpless little puppy). I think you are great! |
What a story. May God bless you Dena for your caring heart. I just know little Emma is going to make it. What a little fighter she is. It takes a very special person do do what your doing. Prayer's coming your way that all be work out perfectly for the two of you. I will so watch for continued updates on your new precious one. Bless you little Emma. Stay strong so we can watch you grow up on YT. You have lot's of Aunties here who are praying for you. Hugs, |
aw poor lil baby girl.. you are really saving her :) |
wat a wonderful thing u are doin!!! prayers that everything will turn out fine at the end. please update us wen u get back from the vet... |
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Baby Emma - Update 4 Attachment(s) Okay.... Whatta' day already! First off.... you guys are the absolute BEST!! Thank you SO much for your continued show of support and concern for this precious girl.... :ghug: Breny - I am in awe of your accomplishments with baby Tia... yours and little Joker's stories gave me such inspiration .... I felt as though I was right there holding your hand through it all!!! (OH, and I can't forget little Zaccheus, who instantly brings a smile to my face!!) Thank you all so much for posting your journey - - it is so very calming to have such a wealth of information and have been able to watch these babies thrive and do so well in the face of all of their obstacles!! Now... as for little Miss Sunshine over here.... ;) Baby Emma is 40 hours old now.... and she and I had a busy, yet uneventful night together... She's taking the formula pretty well.... she's already decided that it's "not worth the effort" to try and suckle, so she just opens her tiny little mouth wide like a baby bird, and waits for me to give her tiny droplets of formula with the med dropper. I don't want her to "give up" on being able to retain what little suction she's able to muster - so every feeding I start off giving her the bottle.... trying to help her form her tongue and back part of the palate to increase some strength so hopefully, she'll be able to nurse eventually. When she gets frustrated with that, I switch to the dropper and she happily swallows down at least 1 cc every time. (I know, it's not much, but she's so tiny it seems to satisfy her). First thing this morning we were off to the vet... arrived before they even opened and was able to get her right in for an examination. Three hours and two surgical consults later :nursing: - I'm told that........... SHE HAS A CHANCE!!!! :happyboun As slim as it may be.... she has a "fair chance" at growing into a happy healthy little girl!! Number one obstacle .... she's an orphan ... she's COMPLETELY missed out on the "holy grail" of prevention - - her mama's milk.... While "puppy formula" does carry the benefit of SOME colostrum - we all know that there is NOTHING more sacred to the general health of a newborn, than her mother's milk...... and there's no way at this point, they say - to "go back" and regain those lost antibodies ... and no way to instill new ones.... so Emma is essentially in constant danger, just breathing the air around her! :( That alone, keeps me a little ill at my stomach... not to mention overly OCD about her. "Situation" number two..... it's obvious that Emma has a primary cleft to the lip and nostril.... unfortunately, she also has a secondary cleft to the hard palate. (in the pictures below, I tried to let you see the "split" in the front of the roof of her mouth....) So.... this means of course, more dangers.... the main concern being, aspiration pneumonia. We have a little bit more of a deterrence against this though, since the cleft is of the hard palate rather than the soft palate at the back of her mouth.... in a good instance, we can bypass the cleft by dropping the formula directly down to the back of her tongue and throat. As long as she cooperates and swallows rather than spitting or bubbling, we can pretty much keep the majority of the liquids away from the frontal opening - and out of her sinus cavity, airway and lungs. The downside to this, is that as mentioned above, she doesn't use those muscles and never learns to properly "work" her mouth and tongue. (so in addition to trying the nipple at feeding times, I also have a preemie "binky" / pacifier - that I'm using regularly to encourage suckling... it's a little big for her though, so it's tough going... ) The vet says that, while it's still awfully early on to tell, she seems otherwise healthy at this point. They all let me know right up front that I "maybe shouldn't get too terribly attached to Emma".... ummm, hello..... too late!! :p But that the fight is certainly worth every effort as long as she shows some positive milestones over the next few days to weeks. The surgeons want to repair the deformity at 4 - 6 weeks of age.... but they doubt very much that she'll be at a "suitable weight" by then to risk the procedure. So... we just wait... watch... pray… and help her to thrive. I’ve read through all of the “cleft palate puppy instructions” on the Hennwood website and found much of it helpful….. Emma’s vet though, is very hesitant about using antibiotics as a preventative for pneumonia, so I’m not quite sure yet how I’m going to handle that, seeing as how the use of Cephalexin is so highly recommended by the site owner, experienced in cleft pups. The vet read a long list of risks related to the prolonged use of Cephalexin – some of which involve a decrease in both red and white blood cells, kidney problems and a compromised immune system - - - which, considering she already has relatively NO immune system to speak of …. I’m not sure how to go with that… What I didn’t see on the website, is at what age is recommended to begin the preventative antibiotic therapy if I did decide to proceed? Immediately? As well, the dosage for such a tiny girl of 96 grams…. (I know the method to decipher it is there, but I think lack of sleep has me a little ditzy right now). According to the vet… she can “pull Emma back” from pneumonia …. But she has no chance of bringing her back from some of the other “adverse reactions” of long term use of the antibiotic…. In the website owner’s opinion, most cleft palate puppies do not survive once pneumonia sets in…. and I for one, having battled pneumonia with my Natalie – am utterly terrified at the idea of watching another little one endure the same thing... So, this is where we are at the moment…. The vet wants to see her back in two weeks. (evidently she has a bit of faith that Emma will make it to two weeks, which is a welcome ray of hope!) Thank you all once more!!! |
thanks for the update. its comforting that the vet believes she will be around 2 weeks time. thank u for taking time to save this little girl. sending many prayers that she will get better and gain enough weight to get the surgery... :thumbup: |
You are so wonderful to save this baby. Emma is so lucky. She looks so content and well feed. Her little tummy is too cute for words. Please keep us posted. |
Uh oh... Emma's vet just called.... says the surgeon wants to see her tomorrow... she didn't say why. I asked, but she just said that he wants to do the surgery as early as possible and wanted to get another good look at her. Wow... they can't POSSIBLY be considering doing surgery on a newborn, could they??? Surely he's just "checking out his options", right? Now I'm nervous.... extra prayers please! Thanks everyone!! Oh, by the way... she's 99 grams today! YAY! |
MORE prayers coming ur way.... hugs |
There is hope for Emma and I so enjoy reading the updates. I'm sure we're all going to be saying tons of prayers for this special little girl that you have taken in to save.:) |
That is so wonderful what you are doing for that baby!!! Praying they can help her and with your TLC she can livea long life. |
I wouldn't worry right now about the vet wanting to see her again (think positive), I am glad your vets are putting so much thought into your little girl. I will continue to pray for her and watch this thread for more updates. Good Luck:animal-pa |
My heart has been totally and completely stolen by Lil Emma!!! What a true testament to the love of Gods creatures you are. Thank you so very much for taking this sweetheart in and giving her a chance at life, love and all the good in this world, she is truly blessed to have been placed into your loving, caring and gentle arms. I for one wold LOVE to read updates about her every poo, pee, feeding, burps, rolls, noises, milestones, etc., etc., etc., lol. I'm praying so hard for not only Emma, but for you as well. Having a lil part chi/yorkie or pappilion (Lil Miss Maggy May) placed into our lives at a very, very young age and her being so sick and losing her brother to the same things she had, I know your fears, worries, frustrations and how tired your getting. She is depending on you totally and completely and for a long time, everything you do will center around Lil Emma. Just for the record, I don't believe you'll be able to give her up to any other forever home in the future;) She's done stole your heart and I just can't see you letting her go, maybe I'm wrong but with a heart like yours, nah, I don't see you handing her over to anyone, ever;) Is there anyone there with you who is able to keep an eye on Emma while you get some needed sleep? You have to take care of yourself so you can take care of her. I wished I lived close to you, I'd puppysit for you so you could sleep or just do whatever I could to help take the load off of you. You had asked in a prior post about Bean Bak (sp) Did you talk to the vet about this? The only experience I've had with this is when I gave it to a pet rat I had some years ago. Huck got sick with pnemonia at a pet store I had purchased him at, and when I got him home and settled and seen he was sick, I got online, did research and went to the vet. He put Huck on antibiotics and I asked him about the Bean Bak (sp) from reading online about it and what it was for. he said to go ahead and use it, it was a great idea because it would help to put the good antibodies back into him that the antibiotics were taking out while trying to get rid of the bad things. I'm not sure about using it with Emma though, specially since she's not on antibiotics to begin with, plus it's a bit greasy if I remember correctly, not sure what that would do to her digestive system. I'd talk to the vet about it and see what he says. I do know that plain yogurt with live cultures does the same thing though, but again, I would give her ANYTHING different without speaking to your vet, she's doing great now and I wouldn't want to recommend doing anything differently unless you ran it by your vet and got his or her thoughts on it. I look forward to hearing more updates about Emma, please let us know how the next appointment with the surgeon goes tomorrow. I can't imagine them doing surgery on such a lil one either, but I'm no expert, I haven't studied things the way they have. Again, many, many thoughts and prayers going up for you and Emma, you're doing a wonderful job, keep it up! Gentle hugs to the both of you. |
How sweet of you to take Emma in!! Wish you and Emma the best!! I'm glad she's in better hands now:) What a touching story!! Please keep us updated and prayers coming your way :hands::hands::hands::hands::hands: |
Kiss that crazy little nose for me. Good wishes for tomorrow's consult. |
Wishing you all the luck in the world with little Emma.:) |
Im so happy she has you. best of luck w. the surgeons. keep us updated. im sending my prayers for baby emma |
Could you tube feed her for a few weeks to lessen the chance of her aspirating? I had to do that to an orphaned puppy once. It was scary I was afraid I would insert it wrong. But the vet wanted me to do it for a few days until she got stronger to eat on her own. Also is there a way for you to get some milk from a momma dog right after she has puppies and give her some of that? That way she could get some antibodies. Or does it not help after she is this old? Just wondering. |
Oh my we need more people like you in this world:hug: sending prayers for you and precious Emma:hands::hands::hands: |
:):):) God bless you for going to get her, even though I'm still reading this post, it's a wonderful thing that you did.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: |
Thank you for taking little Emma in. Prayers coming your way. |
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