I've raised £2500 to Help fund the cleft palate operation for Twiglet AKA Tiny Tim
Organised by AylinBreeze Working Dogs
Story
Twiglet, AKA Tiny Tim was born with a hard & soft cleft palate defect.
Cleft palate is a relatively common condition in dogs (up to 25% incidence). It occurs due to a failure of the roof of the mouth to close during development in the womb. This results in a hole between the mouth and the nasal cavity. - Animal Trust
Despite being the smallest of the litter and unable to feed from mum naturally, he was a little fighter and refused to give up. With mixed advice on whether to help him survive or PTS from various vets & research, Matt and Karina decided to give him every chance. He was nicknamed Tiny Tim and tube feeding began from 2 days old.
Fortunately with Karina being a former veterinary nurse she was on hand to teach Matt how to tube feed Tiny Tim. This meant they could take it in turns to feed him every 2 hours, 24 hours a day! This was required until he was 3-4 weeks old when his puppy weaning paste was frozen & diced into tiny cubes to make it safe for him to swallow and learn to eat independently.
When you approached the whelping box at 2am Tim would wake up and come towards you knowing it was time for another feed! Seeing that fight and character certainly made it easier getting up through the night. - Matt (AylinBreeze Working Dogs)
Having made it through this period and weaning onto kibble, Tiny Tim met his new local family 'The Wells' and he was named Twiglet!
He has gone from strength to strength and he is a beautiful, solid looking spaniel now weighing over 11kg! Seeing him now you would never know the cleft palate issue was there. However, it is still there, and as he's gotten older it has become more of a problem. Sadly as he has grown the defect has become larger & widened meaning that it is necessary to do a corrective surgery to ensure he can continue to live a happy and healthy life. If left he is prone to recurring infections that can lead to other serious complications.
Sadly as he was born with the cleft palate it is not covered under pet insurance so we are aiming to fund raise towards this life changing surgery for him as soon as possible.
Strongly recommend a complete repair of the hard and soft palate based on the very likely complications of a hard palate defect we are likely to see as Twiglet gets older. - Farnham Veterinary Hospital
The amazing team at Farnham Veterinary Hospital have looked closely at the issue, and whilst referral to a specialist will cost upwards of £6k they have agreed to assist. It's one of the largest defects seen and Kevin at Farnham Vet Hospital has said they will operate in house with assistance from a surgical colleague. This comes with an estimated cost of £2500-£3000 so we are hoping to raise as much money as possible to help make this possible for Twiglet.
Thank you!
Photos below of his palate now at 8 months old vs 4 days old
