11/29/22 – We are asking for your prayers for two of Nova’s babies. You might remember that Nova was rescued as she was chained behind a vacant house. She tested positive for heart worm and shortly after, it became evident that she was pregnant. Over Thanksgiving she had 9 puppies over a number of hours and at the time, they all appeared to be doing well. Thankfully, an appointment had already been made for Nova to be seen at one of our favorite clinics, Orion Animal Hospital on November 28.
Yesterday, I received a call from the clinic — two of the puppies were not doing well. The rescuer was very distraught. One puppy was trying to nurse from the mom but was being turned away; the other was having a difficult time. Courtney, from the clinic, called and offered to bottle feed and tube feed the puppies if we could back their medical. One puppy was very dehydrated and appeared to have a cleft palate. The other puppy needed to be bottle fed. After some discussion, it was decided that our friend and very expert caretaker, Emily K., would be contacted to see if she could take the two in. Emily did and here is her report with the photos of Bogo and Doorbuster.
“Hi – I believe Courtney at Orion let you know today that I took the cleft puppy and the sibling. Just wanted to let you know they are tucked in to my nursery in an incubator and doing ok tonight. We’ve named them BOGO and Doorbuster since they were born on Black Friday
BOGO is the cleft baby – he’s very dehydrated and had a low blood sugar and low temp. I gave him dextrose and some fluids and he’s had his first tube feeding. He’s very underweight, I can see every rib, poor guy. 298 grams.
Doorbuster is doing better than BOGO but does not want to eat by nipple. I’m hoping it’s just an adjustment for him and not actually something wrong. He’s nice and active and not dehydrated like his brother. I tube fed him also and will keep trying with the nipple. I have a few different nipples here to offer him so will see what he likes. He is 366 grams so quite a lot larger than BOGO.-Emily”
Of course, Nova can’t be treated for the heart worm until her remaining puppies have been weaned and we’re not sure when BOGO can have her surgery, if she survives. They all need our prayers and support and that is why your donations and these two contests and our fundraisers are so very important. Melina, the rescuer, was crying and so very grateful for all of our help and, unfortunately, felt so alone and overwhelmed before she walked into that clinic. She told Courtney that she thought she was saving one dog and now there were 10!! – diana
