'Stitch'

The puppy with a deformed limb

Being born by Caesarean section, Stitch had everything going against him but we decided to give him a chance.  At birth he had 2 deformities present, his first was a wound type cut on the top of his head, and the second was a deformed limb (shown in the photo).  We had the vet stitch his wound up after checking for any heart abnormalities. Within 3 days his stitches had came out from his mothers constant licking and cleaning. Stitch was taken to the vet to be re-sewn under local anaesthetic.  Within 24 hours, these sutures had also came apart, so after consultation with the vet we decided to let the wound heal naturally.

In the early days, Stitch was going great and the only obstacle we encountered was having to hold him at the milk bar as sometimes he had trouble treading the teats to make the milk flow (we got around this by placing his older brother on first so he could bring the milk down).

 At around 3 weeks old (after his eyes had opened), things just didn't look right.  Where Stitches wound was, there was much tension and his skin was pulling up making his eye an unusual shape.  Only a week before this, we had bonded closely and we would crawl over when I sat near the box to be picked up and cuddled.

We made an appointment to see the vet, and luckily we had 3 opinions at the consult due to many vets being on and wanting to see the little boy.  They were all drawn to the conclusion that Stitch had no elasticity in his skin on his head, we then made the very hard decision to put Stitch to sleep.  This was very heartbreaking, and not an easy decision but one I made for him to keep him free from pain, as he would have had to undergo surgery constantly to slice the skin while his head was broadening.  In this area, his hair would never have grown, and it would have been very painful.

We will miss you "Stitch", sleep well little man.

Music:
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother – The Hollies

© Braydnvale Cavaliers 2004