This is our "miracle" puppy.  Dogs can conceive over several days, so there can be a size difference between the ones conceived first and last.  Gidget was literally half the size of the next smallest pup in this litter - she was only 7 oz at birth and the other pups in the litter ranged from 14 oz to 1 pound 6 oz.  But she was full of spunk and beat the odds - she's doing wonderfully!  She has truly touched our hearts.

We've had a lot of interest in Gidget's story - so here is a brief description of her journey.

She was born via c-section and was so tiny that the vet didn't expect her to even make it home.  Due to her extremely small size and fraility, we put her in a bowl lined with a towel and placed it right next to the heater to help keep her body temperature up.  Every 1 - 1.5 hours, she was fed corn syrup and formula, then held so she could nurse from her mom.  After a few days of this schedule, we extended her feedings to every 2 hours and we started calling her TINY.  She was kept on this schedule until 2 weeks and was steadily gaining 1/2 ounce each day (which is a LOT considering she was only 7 oz at birth!).

Since she seemed to be doing so well, we decided she needed a proper name, so we started calling her Gidget.  It was around this time (2 weeks) that she started to "complain" when we'd put her back in her bowl.  She wanted to remain with the litter.  We were monitoring the litter 24/7 anyway, so we held our breath and put her with her littermates.  She was SOOO tiny next to everyone else!  It was remarkable to watch her with the rest of the litter.  Even though she was outweighed by 2x and even 3x in some cases, she would fight to get a position for nursing.  She'd often burrow down and get a spot under everyone else.  And once she latched on, she held her spot firmly (until one of the biggest puppies decided to push her off).

From 2-4 weeks, we continued to supplement her feeding every 3 hours.  By 4 weeks of age, even though she was gaining weight very nicely, she was still outweighed by 2x/3x and since the rest of the litter was getting SO big and were beginning to get playful and active, they would often overpower her and we started getting concerned about her.  We decided to separate her from the litter for her own safety so we put her in a small cage along with one other puppy (one of her littermates who we noticed often snuggled with Gidget).  From 4-6 weeks, she was fed every 4 hours and twice a day, she spent an hour with her mother.  It was so touching to see them interact - Amber would nuzzle her and play with her and Gidget would climb all over her.  From 6-8 weeks, she was fed every 6 hours and by 8 weeks, she was finally eating kibble on her own, so her supplemental feedings were reduced to twice a day and eventually stopped.

Through it all, Gidget never gave up.  Her drive was truly inspirational.