Baggy
Born with Cleft Palatte
When Baggy made his entrance into the world we all immediately cooed. He was the most adorable if tiny, wrinkly, little chap I've ever seen. However, for Baggy, his arrival was the beginning of his problems.
From the minute he was born, he couldn't feed. Now I've had pups before now that are either born dopey and don't feed for a couple of days or cannot suck and have to be helped through the first weeks until they get onto solids. All have gone on to be normal pups and healthy adults. I'm a past master at tube feeding and have brought pups back from the brink of death before now armed with just Liquid Lifeaid, evaported milk, a length of tube and a syringe.
I really didn't think Baggy would be any different. After all, I check all my pups when they are born and all seemed normal. He just couldn't feed. So began the twenty-four hour tube feeding and toileting and winding and weighing to get him to the solid food stage. We were doing quite well until he got to two weeks and I wormed them all.
Then he nearly died! We rushed him to the vets where we discovered he now had a cold on top of everything else. He went down with a bang and I battled hard to bring him back. Then he just seemed to stop. He didn't grown, he didn't thrive. At four weeks, now the size of a normal newborn pup and able to sit in the palm of your hand, I seriously considered having him put to sleep.
Exhausted mentally and physically, a friend offered to help and take him for a few days so I could get some rest. She promised to do her best but on taking one look at him cautioned, if he dies, he dies but I do promise to try my best. I went home and went to bed. For the first time in almost five weeks I slept for more than two hours at a stretch. Then when I woke...... I needed him back. Still holding his own, I rushed round to get him and bring him back home. It wasn't that I didn't trust my friend, not at all, I couldn't leave him. I had to look after him myself.
Whilst feeding him my friend had noticed a slit at the back of his palette. Both the vet and I had checked all the palettes when the pups were born and all looked fine. I took him back to the vet and yes, Baggy had a cleft palette. It was in the soft palette at the back of his throat and the vet was confident he could operate when he was older and close it.
Armed with this new information we went home, me again vowing that if he hadn't improved in another week, I would let him go. I couldn't keep putting him through this if he wasn't meant to make it. He was a really sweet little man who bore all his tube feeding mostly with good grace. He had grown to know me as his surrogate mother and would only look to be fed when I walked into the room.
During that next week he slowly but surely started to turn the corner. At last we were making progress. He went onto solids and we held our breath in case he began to bring food out of his nose or get it in his lungs. Remarkably he coped brilliantly with solids and not once did he have problems.
He grew but was now a good three weeks behind his six brothers and sisters. And when time came for the pups to go to their new homes, everyone wanted Baggy. Even with his cleft palate and the spectre of an operation he stole everyone's heart.
I needed a special home for Baggy and whilst I had the pick of prospective owners, I wanted him to stay close. If he had problems in his new home, I needed to be able to get to him quickly. I needed to be on hand to support whoever did take this little lad on.
Then I got a phone call from a local lad called Steve. Steve had wanted a Shar Pei for years and Steve lived just four miles up the road from me. I explained to Steve that I needed a special home for one of my pups and he was here within the hour. It was love at first sight. And I knew instantly that Steve and Baggy were right for each other. I explained that Baggy may never make full size and that he would need an operation which I would pay for in a few months time.
Steve was adamant, Baggy was for him so off they went.
Baggy is now nine months old and still goes to my vet. Steve brings him to visit me regularly. As he has grown, the soft palette has grown too and the slit has closed up. The operation wasn't necessary in the end and Baggy has never had a problem with eating. With Steve he has thrived and whilst still smaller than your average Shar Pei, is one of the most typey I've seen.
The only downside is that he was spoilt rotten here, and Steve is faring no better on that front!
