11/28/20: Please welcome Thelma. She and her litter mate, Louise, were abandoned at a veterinary clinic by a breeder because they both have cleft palates. They were then surrendered to GEBR, where our one of dedicated volunteers will help nurse them back to health.
She was born 11/28/20 and only weighs 4 ounces ( a typical English bulldog weighs closer to 11 ounces when born). The next three days are critical to her survival. She will be tube fed every two hours for now.
12/5/20: Thelma is one week old and weighs almost 11 ounces now. She is getting tube fed every two hours.
12/12/20: Thelma weighs 15 ounces and her eyes are open.
12/24/20: Thelma weighs 1.9 pounds. She is a little small for her age. She is handling the tube feeding well but we will be giving her a little more each feeding to stretch her stomach a bit. She is walking, standing and sitting.
1/2/21: Thelma weighs 3 pounds and is now eating kibble soaked in goat milk; she is not longer needing to be tube fed.
1/13/21: Thelma had her first set of puppy shots.
1/23/21: Thelma has moved out of her special care foster home and into her regular foster home.
2/3/21: Thelma has her second set of puppy shots today. She weighs seven pounds. She is scheduled to see the specialist for cleft pallet surgery on 3/10. She will have a feeding tube for two week following surgery. Once the tube is removed she will transition from wet food back to hard kibble over a six week period while her cleft palate heals.
3/5/21: Thelma had her cleft palate surgery today and all went well. She will have a feeding tube for two week following surgery. Once the tube is removed she will transition from wet food back to hard kibble over a six week period while her cleft palate heals. We are hopeful that her first surgery is a total success and that she will not need additional revision surgeries down the road.
3/19/21: Thelma got her feeding tube removed today and has been cleared to drink water and eat canned food. She is still not allowed to put anything else in her mouth for the time being; not even soft toys. We hope her mouth heals completely but if not she will need a revision surgery in the future. We will be updating the surgeon weekly with photos of the roof of her mouth and move forward as instructed by her. We are hopeful that after two weeks of eating canned food that she will be able to transition to the next steps which will be hard kibble soaked in water.
4/2/21- Thelma has been cleared by the surgeon to transition from canned food to hard food soaked in water. And she is allowed to chew on soft toys. If all goes well she should be able to start eating hard kibble again in two weeks.
5/28/21 – Thelma has been adopted by her foster family. Congrats Thelma and Russell family!
Name That Bully Sponsor: Melissa Brown
