Teeny Turner was born 4/15/23 at 2:30 pm. She only weighed 5.5 Oz and was already the smallest in her litter. She had an unusual umbilical hernia from the start that sat higher on her chest than they normally are located. It was perfectly round and clear! The vet checked it the day she was born and assured us that it would likely hard up like an umbilical stump, and we agreed to just monitor her progress.

Sure enough, he was right. For the first four weeks of her life it hardened, and developed like smooth “scarred” skin. We were very pleased, but continue to monitor her because she was so small. She received extra feedings every day and grew daily, on her own growth track.

Around five weeks old when softened puppy food was introduced, her hernia ballooned out to be about the size of a small egg. This was extremely large, considering her body was so tiny. None of our local vets wanted to tackle the surgery bc the umbilical hernia sat so close to her diaphragm and the risk of needing a ventilator was too great. We reached out to "The Cove" in Delaware and Dr Dave Mathes agreed to take the case.

We took her in at six weeks old for an evaluation and was told that she would definitely need to have it repaired, but they wanted to wait until she weighed closer to 5 lbs.

We ended up, waiting until she was almost 12 weeks old for her surgery. The ultrasound the day of the surgery revealed that she actually had another internal hernia that allowed the lobe of her kidney to protrude into the pericardial lining of her heart. This was not going to be a normal surgery, and the price tag was extremely high at $3500. Compared to a typical umbilical surgery of around $500.

We stepped out on faith, started a go fund me for her, but agreed to surgery. She did better than anybody could’ve expected. She didn’t even need to get on a ventilator! They were able to tuck her kidney back into place, which allows the lining of her heart to heal on its own. They fix the internal hernia as well as removed her umbilical hernia. Her bladder was also attached to something which was pulling it higher than it should be so they amended that as well!

She came home with staples in her belly that needed to be removed after a month. She’s acted like nothing happened!! Teeny is full of life and energy, and brings joy to anybody who watches her play.

Now that she is healed from her surgery, and her staples have been removed, she is ready to start her new adventure as a pet for somebody who is looking to add spark into their life. Her adoption fee won’t even cover all the finances that we have spent to give her the best chance, but anything we receive from the go fund me will be applied to her adoption fee!

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If you would like to give $5-$10 toward her adoption, you can do so here : Go Fund Me for Teeny

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