On April 4,2014 our precious little miracle, german shepherd puppy "mini" was born in a beautiful litter of 11 pups. Although the litter was full term, mini was born premature, and not fully developed. We quickly discovered that he had a cleft palate of the hard and soft palet in his mouth. Because of this he was unable to latch on to mom and nurse. He started to decline very quickly, and was actively dying. This was breaking my heart because I was already so in love with this little fur baby. We quickly rushed him to the vet, I had already decided I would do what ever it took to give him a fighting chance. The vet confirmed the cleft palat and because mini was in such a weakened state, the outlook was not good. He was very small, his core temperature was down, as well as his heart rate and resperations. The vet said over all he was in good health, meaning nothing was wrong with his vital organs, but he would need to be tube fed and rehydrated. I was in tears thinking that I might lose him, but I stayed positive and agreed to do what ever nessasary for him. We rehydrated him and started to tube feed him.  Like clock work every two hours, day or night.!  Within the first day we started to notice vast improvement from him. He started to come back to life, and we couldn't have been more happy.  As the days went on, we continued to nurture and care for him, just like I did with my own children. At 4 weeks we returned to the vet and mini was thriving. The vet and all the staff were so happy to see that he pulled through. He was gaining weight and acting like a little german shepherd puppy should. The vet office actually did a feature on him as a miracle puppy naming him pet of the week.

The vet re examined his cleft and to our surprise the majority of the hard palate had fused together, with exception of a very little hole at the front if his mouth. The soft palate on the other hand still had a very large split in the palate, which makes it difficult for him to eat and drink on his own.  He was still being tube fed every 4 hours, but when he tried to lap up water he would begin to sneeze and cough. The soft palate is suppose to be a solid flap of skin that sits over the airway blocking any foreign material and moisture from going into the lungs when the dogs eat or drink, to insure that there is no aspiration which can lead to chocking, pneumonia and or death. Because minis has a split in the middle, his airway is not protected like it should be. With the vets advice we would hold off on introducing any type of solid foods for another 1-2 weeks. Mini is now just over 6 weeks old and is doing great, very active, loving, and a perfect little miracle.!  We tried to introduce solid foods and he can very slowly nibble on them, but still coughs and sneezes. We went back to the vet for our follow up, and unfortunately the soft palate is still very split. We talked about options and surgery will be needed to correct this, so he can eat and drink on his own without the constant concern of chocking or aspirating. We were hoping it would be a simple procedure but our vet did some research on the surgery, and it is quite complicated and needs to be done by a specialist. Because of how small and tedious of an area that is getting corrected. We are now waiting to find out if the surgery can be done locally or if we need to travel to have it completed for him. The recommended time for the sugary to take place is between 6-9 weeks old.  Getting this done for him is not even a question, he was knocking on deaths door and with our help and love and his strength he pulled through and is growing into a beautiful healthy dog. He truly is the light of my life, and is already a member of our family and I will do what ever I can to help him continue to grow up a healthy dog. 

The surgery cost is not cheap, but there is no way I can't do this for him, he's come so far and I would be devistated to see something happen to him at this point. The procedure is required to mini can have the ability to eat and drink on his own, without all the risks. If anyone would like to extend their kindness to our little miracle, it will go directly to funding little minis surgery cost, and recovery. 

Thank you you for reading our story about our precious miracle puppy, we are looking to many years with him as part of our family. Xoxo