Poor Little Pollie

I took the girls to the vet on Saturday 1-26-2008 to consult with him about their second round of booster shots. He checked them both for worms and fever. Both girls were worm-free but he immediately told me that Pollie was not a normal pup. He said she is hydrocephalic. He said there's no way to tell if she will live or die and there's nothing you can do about it. I left with my heart in my shoes. I called the breeder and she made me feel a lot better and said she'd replace Pollie if something happened, but I told her that's not the point. The point is that I just wanted to know if she was familiar with what he was talking about. She said she's never had anyone call back and say their puppy was sick or had died from this. I got home and stayed on Google all day. I also called a breeder in Searcy who said that I have had one vet who has not mentioned this to me and has said she is just tiny and then one vet that said she has this illness and to just think positive and take good care of Pollie and keep her head from getting bumped and she'd probably be just fine. I did find many good links that stated that most vets who are not familiar with the toy breed of Chihuahuas tend to misdiagnose them with hydrocephalus. Pollie does have some of the symptoms, but she is growing and she's certainly not slow to learn. I am feeding her a recipe from Dr. Michael Fox's Holistic Vet site... They love to eat it up. It has safflower oil, real meat, wheat germ, Brewer's yeast, apple cider vinegar, calcium citrate and kelp in it to give them nutrients they so desperately need as tiny 9 week old puppies.