I had a puppy born today with no cleft palete, but one nostril not attached?
Anyone can email pictures to help my concern, should I but this little guy down, he is eating so far, only 12 hours old.
can email picture of him my email is reble@wightman.ca for information concerning this problem.
Thanks

What has your vet said about the pup?

Haven't asked, waiting to make sure he survives on his own, Vets not always best information? Anyone have this problem in a puppy, first time for me, Mom was not eating good this time around. Last litter no problems.

If he makes it throught this stage you could be setting yourself up for a lot of heartache when it comes to feeding solids. I'd go to your vet and see what they have to say.  How are the others?

Others are fine, this is her second litter, they were all fine.
why will solids give a problem, he has no cleft mouth,  just lip on one side.

One of my girls never eats properly when she is pregnant, so I don't think that's the problem, she's always gone on to have a healthy litter,  usually these sort of problems are hereiditary or sadly just a fluke of nature :-(

They say sometimes Vitamin B and B 12 missing can cause this problem! I have been doing nothing about reading on this problem, any one else have this situation? She was loosing weight instead of gaining. Very riby now, will not be breeding her again, I believe they should increase their appetete to have healthy puppies.

They say they can only stitch it up, and I am afraid Mom will just lick the stitches, just like they keep licking the umbilical cord, which could cause more problems. I guess I will have to see how he does in the next week, if he does survive, nature sometimes can be cruel. If someone else has had this happen please reply? Would like more information on this situation (hands on.)

Hi
Sorry to hear about your baby its rare they make it pass 4 days or so as they just cant draw the milk as the others hog it. You can but see and let nature do the rest.
Personally I wouldnt go there as would hate to see it go wrong. Hare lips can survive but not cleft pallets which can develope later. They say its breeding but I believe its carried in certain lines that just doesnt click with the suiter.
What breed are they?

Shih Tzu Puppies !!!  Not breeding her again. Don't want to take any changes on any other problems!!!

I met a 16 week old puppy with exactly the same.

I must say its pretty unsightly, you can see her teeth through her nose.

If you do decide to keep this puppy alive, have you considered what will happen when it is older? Trying to find a home could be difficult, and in todays litigation lifestyle i would be VERY wary about selling such a puppy.

Speak to the vet though, as if the condition is going to mean lots of surgery, painful veterinary treatments etc is it really fair to put a pup through that?

Sorry i am not any help, but i was just so gobsmacked seeing this puppy last week i wanted to share. (I cant beleive it actually survived!)

Hannah

Hi, I agree, I will not let him suffer either, but he just has a harelip on one side, inside his mouth is normal, and you wouldn't no unless you moved the skin, they say a few stitches could make a difference, but I want to wait and see if mother nature has to say. If he does get to the surviving stage, I will have to decide once I see how bad it looks, His inside mouth is fine, its a minimum harelip on one side. But I agree, No I do not want to have any trouble down the road. Cannot find any pics on this, to see how he will look?
Thanks

Mary,
I am new here. I was searching using Google to find any information I could on cleft lips (hare lip) in puppies.
My black cocker spaniel had puppies today. Four are black and four are buff. Unfortunately one of the black
little girls has a cleft lip on both sides of her nose. She can not latch on correctly and I did take her to the vet
today. He didn't know if it would be repairable and said we needed to see how she developed if I wanted
to go that route, rather than putting her down. He let me take her home to think about it. A girlfriend of mine
begged me to keep her and said that she would love to have her when the pup is old enough. My female
cocker is a great mother and she takes very good care of the baby. She's a very strong little baby and quite the
fighter. I wish I could find *someone* out there who has experience with a cleft lip who can give me advice.
So far I have been feeding her with formula and milking the mother a little bit. I want the baby to get some
of the first milk from her mother. Anyway, if you have found anymore information that you think could help me
I would really appriciate it.
Thanks,
Corrina

They say they can survive, mine did not, too small, but can or do not have to have operation, seen pics of 1 year old dog which have been hand fed and survived.
Wish you the best, keep trying, not too much information out there, people don't have the time to look after sick puppies, human babies have cleft palete often and survive.

It isn't a question of time.  In my and many other peoples opinons unhealthy pups shoudl not be reared.  there apleny of healthy dogs destroyed daily so why rear ones that may have problems. 

A freind of mine had a little girls with a /Hair lip and cleft and the poor mite did very badly and was undessized for her age until she could be operated on.  She has a speach impediment, and was far more prone to chest infections.

Is it fair to rear a puppy that my go on to have problems or not develop to it's full potential.

such pups should be humanely Put to slepp at or soon after birht.  After all teh healthy ones are entitled to the breeders time and attention.

This lady has already decided to help the puppy or would not be asking for information, yes I believe also the humane thing is the right thing, but sometimes we have to just let people find out on their own, and learn just what is best, as breeders we all have tried at sometime to help the helpless ones.
I had a goat at one time, got the circling disease the Vet told me a down goat is a dead goat. Not willing to give up, I  got information from a goat breeder down in Texas.
She is as well and normal as any pygmy goat. Did not end up blind or deaf which everyone told me would happen.
Now the information on helping this disease is been in a write up about Listeriosis ( Known as the circling disease.)
Yes, I guess I was lucky, but I never gave up on her.
I did everything the women said and it worked. The information did help this time.
Sometimes we always don't know whats best, but would like to try.
This is only my opinion, not something to argue about.

Mary, thank you for your support and words of encouragment.
I would just like to say to the others, that my first instinct was to have the puppy
put down. When I took her to the vet I had already decided
it was my most likely course of action. But a very good friend of mine
begged me to try with the puppy.This friend owns a cat and in the past has had
dogs but not for quite some time. In fact she had no desire in the near
future to have a dog. When I told her about this little pup she felt very strongly
that if she survied my friend wanted her. She discussed this with her husband and he
told her to go with her heart. We are nearing 48 hours and this pup is still just as
strong as her litter mates. She will eat her formula with gusto as long as the temp
is right. I understand that in the next week we could still lose her. Or even
later down the road. And I know to look for the cleft palet formation.
I appriciate everyone elses advice too. It helps us to not get our hopes up.
But for those of you who think I am doing wrong because there are so many
dogs out there who need homes. Please think of it like this. The home this little
one will be getting didn't want a dog until she was born. Lets just say that if she
does live, she was born to be their dog.

Glad I could help, this is really what this forum is for I hope. Take care and good luck with what ever you decide. God Bless

hi i have emailed you

Not sure if you will still be reading posts. Sorry about your little pup the affliction your puppy has is a double hare lip a cleft pallet involves the roof of the mouth which unfortunately can still develope in a few days.
The gum line where the front teeth will develope will also be affected and sometimes they have a tiny hole there as well. The thing is as cruel it is might seem a double one is a none starter often they do come out fighting bless them but 3 to 4 days down the road they fade away as they just cant suckle. Either your vet already knows this and is just saving you the heart ache of you actually saying yes to having the pup put to sleep or he isnt up on such abnormalities. Dont bank on the puppy's future as it will be a sad outcome and if by some remote chance it survived the expence of the repair is pretty high.
Had it with two pup's and didnt hesitate on doing what was right there are enough poor doggies out there needing homes with out putting young puppies through operations and discomfort to everyone involved

MaryK and Coriandrich.
How are your puppies doing? Please keep us posted as to their welfare. I do hope they are doing well and surviving, and continue to survive :)
Anne

Anne, Well, my puppies are doing great. My little double hare lip pup is still doing well. She continues to be very
strong and eats well. Sometimes I think she's stronger than the others. I will keep everyone posted on her progress, good
or bad. Thanks for asking.

corrina

i hope your little one makes it ,but i myself have had this happen twice ,the first time this was of course something we had not come across and we decided to try and raise the puppy we went through a lot of heartache with the little one and eventually had her put to sleep at 12 days,which of course was very upsetting,when it happened the second time we decided not to try and save him and felt it was best for us and the puppy to have him put to sleep straight away.i do hope you can save your little one but as someone has already said you have to think what will happen to her/him in the future will the puppys condition bring other problems.

Angel1, What were the conditions the pup came down with that made you decide to put her down? I just want to
know what I should expect in the up coming weeks. Perhaps if I had an idea of what can happen with these
pups it might help me make a final decision. At this point, the only issue is that her litter mates push her off
the nipple because she can't latch on as strongly. She is able to nurse for awhile as long as the others leave her
alone. I am feeding her every two hours too. So far there has been little difficulty in her care. What was it that
came up the days before you decided to put your 12 day old pup down?

thanks,
Corrina

we decided after 12 days to have the little one put to sleep due to fluid on her lungs she rattled terribly when breathing and was screaming like a seagull,it was absoulutley horrendous to hear her cry,the vet said even though there was no visable  signs of a cleft palate she most probably had a tiny hole which we could not see,that was enabling milk to pass to her lungs ,he also said with her having this condition she would more than likely have other problems that where at that time naked to the human eye.when this happened again (from another bitch of a different breed),we decided not to even try it was so hard the first time,and the stress was terrible,we decide to let him go peacefully within hrs of being born.

Hiya, we av just ad a litter of pups, one as a cleft lip, i av never seen it in a pup b4 and dont no what do, the mother is looking after her bt the others are hogging the teets, i av been told to set myself up for death bt been upset. Does ne1 no ow i can see if she as a cleft palate and how much sergury will cost?

Mark K
just make sure pup is eating properly
be around at feed times to make sure it does
not get pushed off, if you have someone who is
willing to  take  pup on, and they know what they
are in for fair enough
ask  the vet about repairing it, if its only a hare lip!
cleft pallets are another matter though! 

I think this original post is quite old now, but it would be interesting to hear how things went with the little pup.

A cleft palate will usually be pretty obvious if you look in the puppy's mouth. The roof of the mouth will have a hole in the middle. Depending on how bad it is, the puppy may die of pneumonia or starvation in a few days as it won't be able to suck properly or it may make it if it's only a very tiny split. However, the chances are that even with a very small cleft, you will have to tube feed the pup. Most pups with a cleft palate can't suckle no matter how hard they try, so will starve to death if not fed by you. You may be setting yourself up for a lot of heartache if you spend a month feeding this puppy and closely bonding with it, then it dies on you. But you can only go with your heart.

I think surgey is quite expensive (over £500) and not really an option till at least 12 weeks or later depending on the breed and size of the puppy.

Here you go Jimbobboy - this link has a photo:

http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/cleftpalate.htm

Thank you very much, think i will look for the cleft palat the vet is coming today so i will fnd out more xxx

hi there .. we had a litter of pups 4 wks ago ..... five born with cleft palate and hair lip..... on the vets advice all the puppies were pts ...cant tell you how devastated we all were the three remaining pups are ok but 2 developed swimmer syndrome .... i have been scouring the internet for information about cleft palate and came upon this forum ..... we were initially told it was a gentic problem but further info tells me it could be enviromental .. the fact that such a large percentage of the litter had this problem points more to this than genetics. Our girl developed a nasty skin infection early into her pregnancy and was prescribed malaseb and anitbiotics by the vet and unbeknowing to us at the time we supplemented her with cod liver oil which we have since found out is not advised to be given to pregnant bitches ... she then got kennel cough .. where from we havent a clue .. later into her pregnanacy so its been a disaster form start to finish ... because of all these problems we have thought about spaying her.... dont think we could go through the heart ache again .... the dog we used has sired us two outstanding litters in the past with another bitch so didnt think he could be the problem ..... but after reading some of these replies is it possible to breed from her again or are we doing the right thing in having her spayed .. i would  be grateful for any views on this subject ..... we think the swimmer problem arose form the fact mum had so much milk and over feed the pups .... they were a kilo overweight at 3 wks ..... we put them on a diet and they have come on .. they are both walking now .. a bit unsteady but they are getting there .... there chests have stared to drop as well so we have great hopes they will get thro this

Wwith all the problems during the pregnancy with infections which could well ahve affected the pups I would view this as a one off, but just to be extra careful would use a different dog on ehr next time, assuming that she has qualities you really want to perpetuate.

I am not educated about our doggy friend so this is only a comparision from the human fields . Cleft palate can be caused by a lack folic acid in humans , it comes within the category of neural tube disorders , which forms vey early on in th epregnancy , hence why mothers planning to concieve are told to prepare themselves by taking folic acid three months prior to conception. However genetics do contribute to this factor difference , as do the drugs and some external factors causing birth defects. Spina bifida is another neural tube defect and i am sure you are aware this can be reproduced in another pregnancy . Taking folic acid at the correct time has proved to be very successful.

as i said i don't know about the doggy world ,

jox

I have a son that was born in 1996 with a cleft palate,unfortunatly little knowlege is avalible on what actually causes it,folic acid can play a part but it can also be heredity.neither were true in our case and it is just one of those things.

It hasn't been easy and at times very stressful especially on other family members.
We have had hospital appointments week in week out,speech and language therapy,feeding difficulties,hearing problems linked to the cleft,two major operations lasting 4 hours at a time,which is a big deal for a 13 month old baby,but my baby is now 9 years old and doing very well.We are very proud of him and the way he has took everything in his stride.
He is also proud of his repair and will show it off,if  you ask to have a look.

I know this is a dog board but i thought i would share our experiences with you.

In humans i know the only way to correct it is surgery,but in pups i would have thought the same would apply.
Sorry if i've bored you
Sal

I am sure you have had a terrible time of it and i am pleased you have managed to bring up a balanced young man despite the problems you have had to face ...........keep up the good work.

the cleft palate on my pups was very severe ..... their little tongues were through to their nostrils ...... repair would have been out of the question .... they wudnt have been able to suckle at all ... but its good news for your son .. u must be very proud of the way he has coped with his problems .... good wishes to him for  the future

Thank you Jo,
Thank you keepers,

Hopefully no more ops are needed.

Thanks again both of you for your kind words

Sally