My neighbors small breed dog had puppies last week by c section, and one was found to have a cleft pallet,  the Vet said that IF she can get it to 6/7 weeks, they may be able to repair it. The puppy is well smaller than the others, she is bottle feeding it. Might get the occasional tiny splash come out of its nose but when it gets to solids and lapping, might it not inhale the food??? Anyone any experience with this?. Also, one of the other pups has milk pouring out of its nose and it dosnt have a cleft pallet at all...could there be something else wrong. Vet didnt seem to think anything was wrong with it. I was always under the impression that cleft pallet puppies should be put to sleep. I have lent her my book of the bitch but has only found in it that the kindest thing is euthanasia. She is very worried about this pup. The mum has now been spayed. Anything I can pass on??

There are varying degrees of cleft palate and not all are very obvious, with one definite diagnosis I would think the other pup has a smaller defect farther back

Someone in the US in my breed raised a pup without surgery for cleft lip and palate till she was 2yrs old when she died of something unrelated.

Till presented with the situation I am not sure what I would do.

Any signs of aspiration then the pup/s need antibiotics to fight off pneumonia

Hi,

I had a puppy born with a cleft palate a couple of years.  It may sound harsh to some people but I honestly believe (although some people may beg to differ) that the kindest thing to do is to take them to the vets for PTS.  It makes no sense to try to bring a puppy up that is never going to be a healthy example of it's breed and will have to ultimately go through surgery at a later date to correct the fault.  It's a horrible and upsetting decision to have to make but it's the right thing to do. x

Agree

Always a difficult subject - putting a puppy to sleep without the opportunity to give it a chance.

A few years back now we had a pup who struggled for the first few days - after many trips to the vet a cleft palate was diagnosed in the soft tissue further back.  She managed better as she went onto solid food and at 10 weeks had surgery to repair it - successfully.  Suddenly at around 18 months she developed major heart problems and was given peace - I still find it hard to believe this wasn't picked up during surgery - but as in Rodach's post, there may be other underlying problems. 

Even after going through it once, I think I would find it hard not to give pup a chance though.

My thoughts are with you...

Thanks everyone for your reply. She has started tube feeding the puppy. The puppy is lower in weight than when it was born and it is now about 9 days old. She is taking him to the vets today to get more information  and is going to make the decision right there and then on options. The puppy seems lively enough, although it often gets cold. The sweet thing is, the mum seems to know something is wrong, and when its around time to feed it, she brings him to the owner by one foot, and stands there looking at her, like, time to feed please. I hope never to have to make this decision :(

Its a hard one isn't it, I loath to put down a puppy and I suppose it does depend on the severity of the cleft, I know of a breeder who produced a cleft pallet puppy and she got the puppy operated on and homed into a pet home, and didn't breed the bitch that produced the cleft again. But equally as others have said do you keep pup with a deformity going? Humm I think your neighbor is right in getting more info from the vet, the question is will the puppy live a happy and healthy life after the operation and to what quality? If the quality will be good then keep the pup going if the answer is unsure or No then have the pup PTS.

> The puppy is lower in weight than when it was born and it is now about 9 days old.

Happened to me years ago, and still breaks my heart to think about it.  It was a breed with a low birth weight anyway, so losing weight was so awful to see.  I had to have him put to sleep at 9 days.  I am sure it would have been kinder to PTS at birth.

It still torments me that I did the wrong thing, and made him wait for peace.

I have a more positive story - 3 years ago my oldest pug bitches final litter ending up being by C section (stuck pup) resulting in 3 pups and  a very poorly Mum.  One of the dog pups had a cleft palate, quite small.  As I knew I was going to have to bottle feed I decided to give him a go.  they all took to the bottle without trouble, and although Pipsqueak gained weight much slower than his siblings he did gain and grow.  Had a bit of a problem with him at 4 weeks as he steadfastly refused to wean - eventually got him on solid food at 12 weeks! He loved his bottle so much!  Checked out by vet at 7 weeks we could find no sign of the cleft, however it is still there, as when he has certain food we get it down his nose (he likes a very eclectic diet - ice cream and strawberries and cream are 2 of his favourites) .  At 6 months old he was small for a dog, but perfectly in proportion, by 12 months was noticeably bigger than his sister, and at 18 months he had made full size and is at the small end of acceptable size for dogs in the breed.  He is a very handsome dog, has won well at  open shows (including several group wins and places) has been a wonderful junior handling dog for my nephew (his is his pug), is a very fit, hard muscled dog who has just started agility training.  HE is also a spoiled brat (in the nicest way) due to the extra attention and handling he had as a baby.

Surgery was never necessary.  I hope this gives a least a little glimmer of hope of a positive outcome.  Because of the success with Pipsqueak one of the vet nurses at the practice I used decided to try hand rearing a pup from her bitch who was born with a cleft.  This was a much bigger breed than mine, but was again successful, although this pup did need surgery at about 10 weeks.  Again, he was smaller than expected at 6 months, but when mature was a handsome, healthy representative of his breed.

With reference to the pups with milk coming down the noses - this often happens in perfectly healthy pug pups who are very enthusiastic feeders, I just wipe the noses and let them carry on.  Are they a flat faced breed?