Congenital cleft palates are a developmental abnormality where the two halves of the skull don’t fuse properly, leading to a defect in the middle of the skull. These clefts can be primary clefts, which affect the nose and lip, or secondary clefts that affect the hard and soft palates (roof of the mouth). Some puppies and kittens are born with cleft palates, and unfortunately, many of them don’t survive long after birth. Certain breeds – in particular, brachycephalic breeds like French bulldogs and pugs – are more commonly affected by cleft palates. Cleft palates prevent normal nursing and neonatal behavior, and puppies and kittens with clefts must be hand reared. There are rare occasions in which puppies or kittens with very small clefts will survive with their clefts undetected until later.
For many years, puppies and kittens with cleft palates were typically euthanized immediately after birth, because there was little awareness that these defects could be repaired, and raising cleft puppies and kittens requires a lot of time and financial resources. There are still some clefts that are too severe that even with repair the animals’ quality of life would not be good, but many puppies and kittens have their clefts repaired and can go on to live symptom-free lives!
Feline and canine cleft palate surgery
The first big hurdle for puppies and kittens with clefts is surviving to surgery. This always takes many hours of hard work by people dedicated to raising these very fragile, very small patients. These puppies and kittens have to be tube fed, because any milk they try to drink will come out their nose and may be aspirated into their lungs. The first month can be very touch and go, especially because these babies need to be fed every two to three hours, even throughout the night.
Once they can be transitioned to food, they need to be closely watched to make sure they are gaining weight appropriately. They often tolerate meatball-type food better than the canned food that most puppies and kittens start eating, because less of that will come out of their cute little noses.
At as early as eight weeks of age, we start planning for surgical repair of an animal’s cleft, and surgery can happen as early as 12 weeks depending on the size of the patient. While we can’t make new bone form in areas where there isn’t any, we use tissue from the palate to cover the large defects. Our goal is to make these puppies and kittens as symptom-free as possible.
After surgery, the hardest part of recovery is preventing puppies from chewing on anything from softened food for a month while the delicate surgical sites heal. This can be a big challenge. Our goal with surgery is to allow these precious puppies and kittens to start a life free from cleft-related symptoms (chronic nasal infections, risk of aspiration of food and liquids, limitations on what they can eat or chew).
If your puppy or kitten was born with a cleft palate, our Small Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery service can help! Contact us to schedule a consultation to see whether repair surgery is a good fit for your pet.