hi all, hope someone can help please.
My daughters staff has just given birth on sunday evening, after four hours of labour she had 8 pups, all well except the last one which we did not really notice for the first couple of days,she is so tiny and when i picked her up to my astonishment she has no top lip and not much nose. More than likely if i take her to the vet they will put her to sleep but i want to give her a chance at life first, she does not suckle on mum so i syringe feed her but the problem is i dont know how many mls to give her so i feed her till she stops, she is on my grandaughters baby milk at the moment which i read on the net to use. I am feeding her every two hours and she is taking it well even though she cannot suckle, i have tried her on the mums teat but she cant attatch as much as i try. mum is good with her and lets me pick her up and then cleans her when i give her back. she seems to be thriving but is still a lot smaller than the others, only half the size, she is five days old now. Am i doing the right thing or is she going to suffer later in life. She breathes ok even when her mouth is closed, how i dont know but she does. has anyone else had similar problems and how did they cope with such a young pup.

tre_cani

Sounds like cleft lip (hare lip) and/or palate. Try these links and check with your vet. They won't euthanize it without your consent. You should consider that it may not have a good quality of life with such a problem. Then again, it could be a healthy, happy animal with proper surgery and care!
Good luck!

http://www.staffordworld.50megs.com/...eftPalates.htm
http://www.training-dog-breeds.com/cleft-palate.html

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/cleft.htm

Melinda

it does sound like a cleft pallet, they can repair it, your pup should be fed every two hours and kept warm, there are sites that will direct you to the proper temp to keep her/him at, if the mom doesn't feed or look after her, you will have to stimulate her to pee etc...