Puppies with cleft palates need donations

[mrsbnatural]

Click here to read their story and make a donation for their surgeries

http://www.littleshelter.com/homepagestories/medicalmiracles/medicalmiracles.htm

[Mikki]

This is nothing but out and out animal cruelty. The prospect of putting those puppies through the misery of tube feeding until they're 8 to 12 weeks old is horrifying. The poor little pups should have been put down at birth. :eek: :mad:

[k9krazee]

This is nothing but out and out animal cruelty. The prospect of putting those puppies through the misery of tube feeding until they're 8 to 12 weeks old is horrifying. The poor little pups should have been put down at birth. :eek: :mad:

These pups, if they make it through puppyhood can lead a long, normal life, I think it's worth putting up with the tube feeding for a few weeks.

I have a dog who was born with a full length cleft palate. The vet urged us to put her down immediately but we decided not to. We didn't tube feed her, we actually considered it but after researching it and discussing it with our vet we decided it may not be the best option. We bottle fed her until she was 9-10 weeks old (risking the possibility of pneumonia) and started her on dry kitten chow when she was 5 weeks.

The only thing I'm weary about is that it says these pups have severe cleft palates, I wonder how severe they actually are. In the first picture it appears that the pup may have a cleft lip too? Or am I seeing things? The surgery is very costly (about $2300 a piece!) and there is a high probability that it won't even be successful, especially with severe clefts; hairline clefts are much more operatable. Some are even actually made worse by doing the surgery.

Many vets suggest surgery because they believe it's the only option but I know for a FACT that some dogs can do just fine without it. Cleft palates aren't necessarily a life threatening condition like they state. I know of a lady who has sucessfully raised many, many dogs with cleft palates surgery free. Some even grow together a bit as they get older, Kyra's did.

That being said, If I wasn't so tight on money I would donate, but I just can't right now.