newborn Pup with cleft palate

[ann]

Hey all, 'newbie' here
Just wondered what everyones views are on this matter i have....
My cocker bitch gave birth to 5 beautiful pups between 11.30 pm on wed through to 6.30 am thurday,(both her/me could hardly keep are eyes open at the end of it!)
sadly the last born girl has a cleft palate, we took her to the vets today to have her pts and he seemed very reluctant, saying that he had seen worse and that it was a very mild case, he said to try hand feeding her with a proper milk replacer and have her operated on when 3 months old to correct it , saying it was a fairly simple op.
I thought at first it would be irresponsible of me to raise her as she is not a good example of her breed, but surely if re homed her strictly as a pet only and treated her for it all this would be worth while? what does everyone think I should do?
I managed to give her a few drops of mothers milk at birth but she is now on the milk replacer.

[PennyB]

If your vet thinks so then I'd go with what he thinks especially if she has a chance (I help out with rescue so we get dogs in with all sorts of disabilities that have a good chance of a good life)

[Magic Star]

I thought at first it would be irresponsible of me to raise her as she is not a good example of her breed, but surely if re homed her strictly as a pet only and treated her for it all this would be worth while? what does everyone think I should do?

Firstly, welcome to the forum

TBH speaking only as a pet owner, I would think it would be far more irresponsible to have the pup put to sleep, just because its not a good example of the breed   Nature is not something that we can interfere with too much, ok I accept that show people want to produce the finest example of the breed, but a dog can happily get by with a cleft pallette surely    If your vet feels this pup can lead a normal happy healthy life, than if I were you I would do my upmost to secure this pups future, as the breeder its your responsiblity to give this pup every chance

I am sure there is a member of COL who has a dog with a cleft pallette, can't think who atm though, but maybe they can come forward and advise you

Best of luck

[ann]

Well, thats what i thought at first  , then i read in one of my whelping books that a pup with cleft palate should be culled as soon as its born but i couldn't bring my self to do it
I will try and hand rear her, she only weighed 6 oz at birth- the other pups were 8 oz so she is very small, weak but fingers croosed she will make it.
 hopefully if she makes it to adult hood she shouldn't have a problem after the operation has been done.

[suzysu]

..no advice sorry ..but hope the little one makes it x

[mad 4 cockers]

Hope she makes it

[Pammy]

Jasper's sister was born with the same defect - she was not culled! She has had several operations to close the clefts and can be susceptable to nasal infections but other than that she's a fiesty ittle thing. She is small - again last born but she is 7 in August - so draw your own opinion. They came from good breeding stock and a good breeder. She went to a pet home and I see no problem with that.

No pup with such a defect sould enter the gene pool so should only go to a pet home and I would recommend speying too to prevent any unwanted litters.

[Sharon]

We had a pup born with CP 2 years ago, which wasn't picked up until he was 6 weeks old.  He was smaller than the rest of the litter,  so I took over hand rearing him.  To cut a long story short, we found him a wonderful family, who already had another cocker, he was fine until he reached around 18 months old, then started suffering nose bleeds, this was down to infection in his nasal cavities.

He was taken to Langford, where his new owners paid to have the CP repaired.  We were also told that it is common for there to be a secondary problem associated with CP and this is cataracts.  We took the pup to Thornbury, where he was checked out and yes he does have cataracts, but only out the outside of the nucleous, so whatever sight he was born with, probably won't get any worse and he will cope.

He's just coming up 2 years old now and a picture of health.

This was him at a week old, next to his sibling:


This is him now  fighting fit


No more infections, no more 'snotty nose' just a happy healthy cocker!

[suzysu]

aww thats great Sharon ..he is lovely 

[ann]

if she survives thats raised my hopes for her so much
he's lovely by the way!

[Magic Star]

I'm so glad you are going to try with her Ann, sending lots of positive thoughts to this little girl, really hoping she pulls through

[Sharon]

Good luck with her, at times you'll wonder if you're doing the right thing, when you're tired and bottle feeding every hour or so 24/7, but when I see the pictures of 'Charlie' I know it was the right thing to do and we couldn't of asked for a better family than Adam and Steph who have taken such good care of him.

Keep us updated with her progress!

[Luvly]

 

[ann]

I proberly would keep her but have already got my eye on a beautiful black and tan girl, knowing me i will end up with both!

[Jane S]

I would think it would be far more irresponsible to have the pup put to sleep, just because its not a good example of the breed   Nature is not something that we can interfere with too much, ok I accept that show people want to produce the finest example of the breed, but a dog can happily get by with a cleft pallette surely  

But that's not the reason cleft palate puppies are sometimes PTS - it's because it can be a serious debilitating defect. If the cleft is not too serious, then yes there's every chance this pup can survive with a lot of care and surgery but sometimes the defect is so serious there is no choice, speaking as someone who has had to PTS a puppy for this very reason (some years ago now) and it certainly wasn't because the pup was not a good example of the breed I agree this pup should be given every chance and hopefully the outcome will be good for this little one but sometimes no matter how hard you try, you cannot save every pup born with this defect.