A Miracle Was Born
Nov 5th, 2004, my husband and I were getting excited about the arrival of a litter of 4 puppies from our beloved Rikku and Ch. Beefeaters Brass Knuckles. Little did we know, this day was going to be the arrival day. Rikku went into premature labor at noon, 56 days gestation. I just knew we were losing all the puppies. We rushed her to the vet for an emergency c-section.
When the vet came out to talk to us, we found out Rikku had an infection inside the cervix area of the uterus that had affected the 3 puppies there. But there was one more. Way at the tip top of the right horn was a puppy that didn’t appear to be affected by the infection and was crying and vital. However, this puppy had a cleft palate and cleft lip. I knew immediately I had my work cut out for me. Home we went, mama Rikku doing fine, and baby Bailey Big Foot.
I started tube feedings as soon as we got home. Every 2 hours around the clock. Bailey Big Foot came to work with me the very next morning as I wasn’t going to allow him out of my site. He would be coming with me for the next 8 weeks.
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At first, Bailey gained a little weight and then seemed to stop growing. I knew that if I could just get him big enough, he could have corrective surgery done on his cleft palate. Days passed, and then weeks. At 4 weeks old I took Bailey to my vet for a check up. He weighed only 1 pound 7 ounces. As many of us know, that’s very close to a birth weight. My vet was very concerned about the shape of Baileys head and his gait. I wasn’t concerned about his gait at all, being he was so tiny and able to walk and play was amazing to me. It was decided by my vet, he would give us a few more weeks and then look at euthanasia if there was no improvement. He was considering it that day. Maybe because Christmas was just a few weeks away, he agreed to let me keep trying. It was also recommended that I have an ultra sound done on Baileys brain. When I left the office, I was bound and determined that I would not euthanize him. I got on the cell phone immediately and got the number for my vet tech instructor, Dr. D. whom I knew was a specialist in the ultra sound field. He was very interested in Baileys alleged condition and we set up the appointment for a few days later.
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| First Christmas, 2 months old. |
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| Hey Mama, I'm bigger than you! |
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First, Dr. D. did some tests on Bailey to see if his brain was actually functioning. He found it was. Quite well too. The ultra sound, done through the large fontanel opening of his coned shape head, confirmed my fears that Bailey had hydrocephalus. (Spinal fluid on the brain). Bailey had so much fluid that his brain was being, for lack of a better term, squished, to less than ½ centimeter thick. Dr. D gave Bailey just days to live. I was told he would start going downhill suddenly and quickly and that is when I should let him go. So, feeling now like I was going to lose that battle for him, I wrapped him up in his blanket and brought him home. We were just hoping we would have him for Christmas. We did.
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I decided to start adding more nutrients to Bailey’s tube feedings. I used Pet Tinic and Hill’s A/D canned food. The days went by and then a few more weeks. Bailey continued to thrive. He was such a normal puppy in every way. I just couldn’t see how he could act so normal and yet have such a horrible disease. Word spread quickly across the Bulldog community and many people started sending prayers for him. This gave us new found hope. Bailey started gaining a little bit more weight, a few ounces at a time, but I was still concerned about his low weight so I started grinding up puppy chow to mix in his tube feedings with goats milk. I don’t know if anyone has done this but if you have, you’ll know it’s incredibly difficult to push the syringe.
In January, I was lucky enough to get the flu. Yes, I said Lucky. I got up one morning, so weak, I couldn’t get the syringe pushed to feed Bailey. The tube popped off the syringe and the gruel shot out of the syringe all over my vaulted ceiling! I started crying and thinking that there has got to be a better way. I opened Baileys mouth to look at the cleft and to my amazement, it was closed! Front to back, all the way sealed shut. I grabbed the phone and called my vet. He gave me the okay to try him on slightly wetted kibble. Wouldn’t you know it, Bailey ate out of that dish like he had been doing it his whole 8 week life!
I was so amazed. I laughed, I cried, I was amazed beyond words. Every day thereafter, he started putting on the weight like crazy. As he grew more and more, his head seemed to become normal in shape again. No cone shape, no fluid. His fontanel closed as quickly as the cleft palate. He still has his hair lip, but I think that is there just to remind us of what this guy has endured.
At 10 weeks old, Bailey weighed in at 6 ½ pounds
At 14 weeks old, 9 ¾ pounds. He’s playing catch up now and has received a clean bill of health from the vet. Of course we can’t be certain as to what his future holds for him, giving his rough start. But I’m pretty confident, as hard as this little boy fought for life and healing his own little body without the help of any surgery, he will do just fine.
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I would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to everyone in the Bulldog Club of Greater Seattle for your support and e-mails and most of all, prayers. I believe it was those prayers that helped Bailey and I get through this and we will never forget that. Bully kisses and nibbles from Bailey Big Foot!
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