FluffnStuff's Special Doods
Let me tell you an uplifting story! A while back, I posted an adorable puppy that looked like he had Angel wings on his chest. One of my employees commented on the post that this pup was going to do wonderful things! Someone from Central Funeral Home saw that post, filled out my application, and joined the litter. There were four boys and they were 3rd pick. When it was their turn, he was one of the two pups they got to choose between! It was a no-brainer, as they already knew he was the right pup!!! His name is Nico, short for Nicodemus. I have always wanted one of my doodles to be a grief therapy/service dog at a funeral home, and I am so proud of Nico!!
"Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them." Thom Jones
Neville’s story:
On Saturday, July 17th we had our first (and hopefully our last) extremely premature litter. A pup was born in the middle of the night at the guardian’s home at least 10 days early. Once she got to our house, she delivered several more puppies. Her labor stalled and we ended up at the vets office for a c-section. Gestation for a dog is only 63 days, so 10 days early, is like a human delivering 2-3 months early.
Lilo had a total of 14 puppies. 6 were born asleep. So, here we were. 8 premature puppies. Momma dog with no milk. They had no fur. Their skin was tacky/sticky. We had no choice and needed to tube feed these pups, which I had never done before. They needed to be tube fed and stimulated to potty every 2-3 hours for the first two weeks. Yes, every two to three hours. Their lives were literally in our hands. We have amazing friends and employees that helped any way they could. We tried so hard to keep Lilo with her puppies but because she didn’t have any milk and it was stressing her that she couldn’t do anything for them, I decided to send Lilo back home to her guardian family. By this point we were down to two puppies. Each loss was devastating. Allen built an incubator for our tiny little babies. They weighed 4-5 ounces. We tube fed every 3-4 hours. I cannot even describe the volume of tears I have cried. I was so worried all the time. One of the two puppies seemed to be doing well, the other didn’t seem to be thriving. I was preparing my heart to lose him. He had a sunken chest, a sore on his paw from sucking on it and he was tinier then the girl pup. He fought the tube feedings. I just knew he would pass, in fact, at one time, I thought he had. Then one time I went to check on them and the girl had passed. They were just too premature, too, too premature. We did everything we possibly could. That tiny 5 ounce boy that was suddenly a singleton, was whispered his name. I refused to share it with anyone. I needed it to be just between the two of us. I told him that as long as he fought to live, I would fight for him, too. And fight, he did! We switched to the bottle/burping every 4 hours for several weeks. We took him to see Doc Renee several times and each time she was just so pleased and in shock that he was surviving. At one point, part of his tail fell off. (One of my poor employees found that). I suppose Lilo had stepped on it and it lost blood supply. Doc checked it out and cauterized it. His paw was still yucky from it being sucked on and his chest was still sunken (from laying flat on his belly). We kept neosporin on his paw and propped him on his sides to help his chest reshape. All of a sudden, He turned a corner and really started to thrive! He loved his bottles and his fur started to come in soft and beautiful! He started to get a feisty personality. Lilo’s guardian told me that’s what made him survive. I know she’s right. Once doc said, “I think he will make it”, Allen finally told me how much he loved him. So I shared his name with Allen and everyone else.
Neville is the most underrated character in Harry Potter, in my opinion. Neville saved Harry’s life several times, too! I thought it was the perfect name. My Neville still had ups and downs. He became intolerant/allergic to his milk and we had to make big changes. Again, I worried all the time. His paw healed, his chest filled out, he started wagging his little tail! It seemed that it took forever for him to make it to 1 pound and we celebrated every time he made it to the next pound! Once he transitioned to puppy mush, no more middle of the night feedings! Things got easier! He was steadily gaining and building confidence. He finally got to meet other puppies!
Fast forward to now. LilyRose is one of his best friends. We got him his very own puppy, Fawn, our youngest Irish Setter. He will be a year old in July 22. He weighs about 50 pounds.
So, without further ado, we would like the world to know that our little boy, Neville, will be staying with us forever. Thank you so much for being with us on this journey. We will always share his pictures!