HELP BRING CLEO HOME
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Dear Funders,
Cleo's story started on the 18th of February 2018. She was born among a litter of 8 Blue English Staffy pups. As soon as she was born, the vets explained that she had a cleft lip and cleft palate. Her owner was advised that it would be very difficult for Cleo to survive as she would not be able to latch on to her mother properly for lactation due to the birth defect. Vets advised that Cleo would never be able to catch up to her sibling's rate of growth due to the lack of nourishment. And that this would lead to a slow and painful death for her, caused by starvation. We were advised to give her a few days, to see if she could suckle on her own and if she did not, we should take her back to the vet for euthanasia.
I took one look at Cleo and fell in love with her instantly. She was the smallest of all the pups, but she was not weak or less than them in any way. This started our mission to making sure Cleo survives. We read every article on the internet about cleft lips and cleft palates. Neither of us knew anything about this birth defect. I started to watch videos of people who had success stories with cleft palate puppies and found a very thorough guide on the internet about hand feeding puppies with cleft palates. We noticed that Cleo would go up to her mum to suckle like the rest of the puppies but could not latch on to her properly, so as soon as there was movement she would latch off.
Fortunately, Cleo's cleft palate does not go all the way through her mouth, so it does not split the entire roof of her mouth. Which means that she could be bottle fed and did not need to be tube fed. We bottle fed her every few hours however we soon noticed that she would never catch up to her sibling’s rate of growth. This did not discourage us, as long as she was drinking milk and growing at her own rate, we were happy.
The biggest surprise came on March 3rd when Cleo opened her eyes. She was the first of the litter to open her eyes and a few days later she was the first one to start to find her balance and walk. Her little accomplishments made us proud, and the fact that she was so keen on living gave us courage.
Cleo soon realized that her food supply was not coming from her mum, but rather from her owner. So, although she was still with her mum and siblings, she developed a great bond with her owner. When the other puppies would be sleeping, she would be running towards her owner so that she could be fed.
As soon as the puppies turned four weeks old, Cleo was introduced to solid foods, and this is when she started to thrive.
And after all the time we put into making sure Cleo survives and leads a normal life like the rest, we knew we/she had finally succeeded.
At the time Cleo was born I (Astrid - 23-year-old from Malta) was on holiday in Australia visiting relatives. This is when I developed a bond with Cleo. Since then I have had to return back to Malta and was absolutely heartbroken to leave this little one behind. Unfortunately, due to the fact that a flight from Australia to Malta is minimum of 24 hours - Cleo at 2 months old would not have been able/or allowed to make the trip.
Therefore I would like to bring Cleo to Malta as soon as she turns 4 months old, but I cannot do this without YOUR help! Please, if you believe in this little sweetheart, donate towards re-uniting her with her owner.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story!
If you cannot donate, please share.
Thank you from Cleo, thank you from us all.
Cleo's story started on the 18th of February 2018. She was born among a litter of 8 Blue English Staffy pups. As soon as she was born, the vets explained that she had a cleft lip and cleft palate. Her owner was advised that it would be very difficult for Cleo to survive as she would not be able to latch on to her mother properly for lactation due to the birth defect. Vets advised that Cleo would never be able to catch up to her sibling's rate of growth due to the lack of nourishment. And that this would lead to a slow and painful death for her, caused by starvation. We were advised to give her a few days, to see if she could suckle on her own and if she did not, we should take her back to the vet for euthanasia.
I took one look at Cleo and fell in love with her instantly. She was the smallest of all the pups, but she was not weak or less than them in any way. This started our mission to making sure Cleo survives. We read every article on the internet about cleft lips and cleft palates. Neither of us knew anything about this birth defect. I started to watch videos of people who had success stories with cleft palate puppies and found a very thorough guide on the internet about hand feeding puppies with cleft palates. We noticed that Cleo would go up to her mum to suckle like the rest of the puppies but could not latch on to her properly, so as soon as there was movement she would latch off.
Fortunately, Cleo's cleft palate does not go all the way through her mouth, so it does not split the entire roof of her mouth. Which means that she could be bottle fed and did not need to be tube fed. We bottle fed her every few hours however we soon noticed that she would never catch up to her sibling’s rate of growth. This did not discourage us, as long as she was drinking milk and growing at her own rate, we were happy.
The biggest surprise came on March 3rd when Cleo opened her eyes. She was the first of the litter to open her eyes and a few days later she was the first one to start to find her balance and walk. Her little accomplishments made us proud, and the fact that she was so keen on living gave us courage.
Cleo soon realized that her food supply was not coming from her mum, but rather from her owner. So, although she was still with her mum and siblings, she developed a great bond with her owner. When the other puppies would be sleeping, she would be running towards her owner so that she could be fed.
As soon as the puppies turned four weeks old, Cleo was introduced to solid foods, and this is when she started to thrive.
And after all the time we put into making sure Cleo survives and leads a normal life like the rest, we knew we/she had finally succeeded.
At the time Cleo was born I (Astrid - 23-year-old from Malta) was on holiday in Australia visiting relatives. This is when I developed a bond with Cleo. Since then I have had to return back to Malta and was absolutely heartbroken to leave this little one behind. Unfortunately, due to the fact that a flight from Australia to Malta is minimum of 24 hours - Cleo at 2 months old would not have been able/or allowed to make the trip.
Therefore I would like to bring Cleo to Malta as soon as she turns 4 months old, but I cannot do this without YOUR help! Please, if you believe in this little sweetheart, donate towards re-uniting her with her owner.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story!
If you cannot donate, please share.
Thank you from Cleo, thank you from us all.
Organizer
Astrid Micallef
Organizer
