Today is the first birthday of Holly and Kallen’s 2013 litter!  This is the litter that included Chance, so we thought a would be good to tell the story of “Our Journey with Chance”.   This is a timeline of events showing the courageous and remarkable fight of a tiny puppy with not only an incredible will to live, but also his playful spirit despite his circumstances. 

Chance is a beautiful husky, born on 3/18/2013, 1 of 10 puppies.  While this was a very large litter, all puppies seemed normal and healthy.  Chance (early on, he was simply called “male #2”) progressed along with his siblings; smaller but still growing.  As days went by, most of his siblings found new owners but Chance was not yet chosen.  It wasn’t until later that we found out God had a much larger purpose for him.  At the age of 4 weeks, only 2 puppies remained unsold from this litter.  Male #2 (Chance) was one of them. 

It was time to start the weaning process.  His first solid food was chopped, cooked chicken breast with the broth.  There was no doubt he had an appetite.  Moreso than most of the others.  He gobbled up the entire meal in a hurry!  It was at this point we knew something was wrong.  As he walked away, he stopped and made a very awkward noise.  Basically, a “squaw”, as if to be gasping for air.  He then turned and vomited up his entire meal. 

Our first thought was that his appetite was so voracious that he either simply ate way too much, or ate so fast that he inhaled some and was choking.  We had never encountered this before and became concerned. Over the next couple days we watched over him and he seemed to nurse and have no trouble.  A few days later we decided to try feeding him again and gave him some canned dog food.  The  same thing happened.  He loved the food, but shortly after eating it call came back up.  Becoming more and more concerned, we called the vet and made an appointment.

4/17/2013:  The Vet looked him over and said a barium swallow Xray was needed to see what was going on with him. They performed the Xray on him, and discovered that he had a "persistent right aortic arch".  In layman's terms, he was born with a ligament from his aorta wrapped around his esophagus and it was pinching it off.  It had an opening just large enough for a liquid diet, and therefore had no trouble feeding on mother's milk.  Anything solid got trapped there and swelled to ultimately cut off his air supply.

Unfortunately, the only fix was surgery.  It was a very risky surgery, but if successful would give him a full, healthy life.  Without the surgery, he would have to be on puppy formula possibly his entire life.  In addition to that, it could have completely closed and killed him. 

We decided it was well worth the cost to have the surgery done.  As mentioned, there was risk involved. It was possible that he might not make it through, but this was the only way to give him the life he deserved.

 4/18/2013:  We decided that we needed to find a name for the puppy, “Male #2”.   It didn't seem fitting to continue calling him “Male #2”.   At that point, we hadn’t decided if we would keep him or find a good home for him once the surgery was successfully completed and he recovered.   He was such a sweet boy and we wanted him to have a name before his surgery.

4/19/2013:  After many good names were contributed from our group on Facebook, we decided to go with “Chance”.  We felt the name was ideal because he is getting a second chance at life.  

4/24/2013:  The day of surgery, we were were nervous and worried that he would not make it through.  The operation consisted of opening the chest and removing the ligament ring constricting his esophagus.  We were praying for this little guy to make it through the surgery.  At 3:26pm, we called the Vet and were told Chance made it through surgery, and that he is in recovery.  We picked him up later that day, and the doctor told us that he made it through like a trooper, with no complications.  The surgery took 2 ½ hours. 

The unfortunate part was that a pouch had formed in his esophagus that would continue to collect food and could ultimately need repaired.  At that point, the pouch could not be corrected.  The vet told us it would have to wait until he was older.  As long as he had this pouch, his liquid diet would need to continue.

4/26/2013:  The second day after the surgery, he had off and on vomiting.  He was not tolerating the antibiotic and we figured the Vet would change it. The Vet decided another day of daycare was needed for close observation.  While at the Vet’s office, he made it known that he did NOT like being in a kennel and would howl and cry until they got him out.  He was held by the staff all day!  What a spoiled boy he was, and still is!  He was such a sweet and playful puppy.   He had some congestion and the Vet thought that during one of his vomiting episodes he aspirated (fluid into the lungs) and it will heal on its own in time.  The vet decided to water down his puppy formula and give more frequent feedings (every two hours).

4/27/2013: Chance started doing much better! The Vet stopped his antibiotic and gave him an antibiotic shot.  After that, he stopped the vomiting and started keeping his formula down.  No more daycare while we were at work.   (I think the Vet employees missed him!)  He was up running around playing and enjoying life.  We started to feed him small amounts of soft food, hoping he would tolerate it.  He was also wanting formula every hour.  We started to realize how much of an appetite this little guy had!  We knew we had to watch him closely so he didn’t eat things he wasn’t supposed to.  He would still regurgitate if he ate too much, too fast. 

We realized that he would likely need another surgery down the road to fix the pouch that formed in his esophagus.  Until then, his diet would be mostly liquid, with only small amounts of soft food.  It was time for him to start sleeping in his crate.

5/6/2013:  Chance went back at the Vet for another procedure. He choked on his food and we rushed him to the Vet.  An X-ray was done and shows that he was holding food in his esophagus. The Vet flushed his esophagus to remove the food and we had to start all over with puppy formula. 

5/7/2013:  We had to put him on a strictly formula diet.  He had another procedure done to insert a tube in his stomach so his esophagus can rest. He had 2 large pouches  and the vet thought it would be too risky to fix so soon after his first surgery.  It was possible that he would have to have the feeding tube for about 4 weeks!  He also had pneumonia, but it didn’t seem to bother him so the vet kept an eye on it. Since he didn’t tolerate antibiotics and vomited whenever he took them, that’s about all we could do.  

5/9/2013:  After only 2 days with a feeding tube, Chance was taking the formula and keeping it down so the Vet said there was no more need for a stomach tube!  He was on formula only for another month or so, but things were finally going his way. 

5/23/2013:  Another near miss…During a normal early morning, Chance got into the bag of dog food.  It all went straight into his esophagus pouch until it filled up and cut off most of air supply.  Luckily, we heard the rustling, and caught him in time.  We rushed him off to the vet for another extraction.  It was at this time that the vet helped us learn the rescue procedure for ourselves so that in the future it wouldn’t be necessary to bring him in every time.  This was a very necessary step because he had a huge appetite and was continuously trying to eat anything not nailed down!  We all learned the best ways to help him, and since that time he hasn’t had to go into the vet for any emergencies. 

5/26/2013:  Chance was finally sleeping through the night.  It was like having an infant baby all over again!  He has doubled his weight and at this point weighed 6lb 2oz. His diet was still formula and baby food only.  Putting it in perspective, at the age of 10 weeks, we weighed what his brothers and sisters weighed at 6 weeks.  It seemed though, that he had turned the corner and would consistently gain weight.  He still had instances of eating what he’s not supposed to and choking.  However, by this point we could quickly help him without the assistance of the vet.

6/24/2013:  A month later, he doubled his weight again, and weighed 13 lbs.  He was as feisty as ever, and really started to play rough with Nadia.  They became best buds. 

7/6/2013:  Now 16.4 lbs, he had his first nights away from us since the vet’s office at the beginning.  He stayed with my sister Lori while we were away on vacation.  She said he was a joy to have, and she helped out in the continuing potty training.  He was a lot more difficult than most, and Lori was instrumental in helping us out.  By this time, gradually we were starting to give him food in the consistency of a milkshake.  It was food ranging from soft canned food to kibble, to human food mixed with a little formula and blended with water in a “Magic Bullet”.  The key was it always had to be a “thin milkshake” consistency.

8/16/2013:  Now 25 lbs, he acts like a normal husky puppy.  At this point, the intent was still to have another surgery.  The vet wanted to wait a couple more months, to be certain he could handle it.  She was continuously amazed at how well he was doing!  Everyone at her office loved it when we would stop in for a visit.  We have been grateful and overwhelmed at times to have Chance but we would do it all over again.

9/18/2013:  At 6 mo old, Chance was over 30 pounds.   He acted like a normal puppy, running around enjoying life.

9/24/2013:  Chance went to the Vet and it was determined that no future surgery was needed!  He was up to 38.8 pounds and was a healthy 6 month old puppy. The vet said he is doing so well she didn't want to risk another surgery.  He would always live on milkshake diet of dog food with some small amounts of hard food mixed in, but we were happy he was healthy and no more surgery was needed. 

3/18/2014:  Chance turned 1 year old today.  He now is well over 40 lbs., and is as healthy as can be.  We did a lot of  research along the way to determine whether or not Chance’s condition was hereditary or not, and then ultimately decide whether he should ever have pups of his own.  We spoke to our vet about it, and she said there is no proof, but it was possible.  When Nadia’s heat cycle came along, we decided the two of them would have puppies together.  By and large, they grew up together, and we felt it would be worth the risk to let them have just one litter.  After that, we would fix Chance.  If the condition was passed down to any of them, we would assume the responsibility. 

They all turned out well!  Six happy puppies, all in their new homes. 

Chance has been a joy to have in our lives, and while he has been a challenge and a handful, he has been worth it!