A SHIH TZU STRUGGLE TO LIVE- Luna's Story

Luna was born to this world just as any other puppy. She was a little small but seemed healthy and wanted to nurse. Born to a litter of six it did not take long before Luna was being pushed from nursing and began to starve. She was so tiny that she did not have the strength to fight for food like the other Shih Tzu babies. Within a day she started to decline and if we did not step in her life was surely in danger. Knowing how important it is for a new baby to get the first milk from her mother we forced her mother to lay on the couch and nurse her declining baby. We discovered, that not only was she being pushed away by her brothers and sisters, her own mother had decided it was not worth her milk and time to save this tiny little life. Luna's mother knew she was small and weak and fought us to give her the life saving milk.

HOW LUNA GOT HER NAME
After several battles to get her mother to let her nurse, I decided to take over and feed Luna every two hours. I was now Luna's mother. I have a rule that I never name the puppies while they are here. If I personally name the puppies before they leave I feel some attachment to them and it makes it very hard when they go to their new homes. At feeding time who ever was closer to the whelping box would be the one I would ask to get her while I prepared her milk. I would say "Go get the puppy with the moon on her head." Finally my husband said she needed a name and that is when the name Luna was born. As you can see by the photo below she has a moon on the top of her head.


Luna did not want to take the bottle at first but after much encouraging she began to nurse and it was not long before she knew when she smelled me that she was going to eat. She quickly identified me as her mommy.
Luna grew into a precious little girl. Always so tiny and way behind the others in development. Once we offered her real food she took no time in diving in. She was so much smaller than the others that could get all the way into the bowl and just lay there and eat. She was even known to fall asleep in the middle of the bowl. Below is a photo of her first meal.


After interviewing MANY potential parents for Luna, I found the perfect family and decided Luna was well enough to be with her new family. Luna has grown into a beautiful young lady. Luna was renamed Jewel. Her new mommy thought she reminded her of a precious Jewel.

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