New poor foster baby with problem I've never faced - need help!

Thought I'd "seen it all" as a long-time foster mom (although posts about Zander by @kntrygrl256 win for biggest "never seen it" for me!) ....but took in a new kitten last night that's got a new issue for me...a small cleft palette?!?!

Mackenzie was (we think) dumped on a close friend's family farm - originally thought to be feral, but after being trapped, my friend discovered she's definitely not feral! For various reasons my friend can't foster her - so we agreed to until we can all (hopefully!) find get a home. Mackenzie was trapped yesterday am, and spent yesterday at vet -she was spayed, deflead, wormed, tested (negative!) and checked over. she's 9-10 weeks old. But the "line" next to her mouth my friend thought was dirt turns out to be a cleft palette (I'll try to get pics to post once she's calmed down)---not horribly open but more like the corner of her mouth twists up about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch more than normal. The vet said she does have a small opening in the roof of her mouth (don't know size - should I call vet to determine???) but that "she can eat anything she wants." She has few teeth on the cleft side. She also has a nasty (healed) indentation around her tongue that the vet's pretty sure was something tied tightly around her tongue (poor thing!!!). She's scared - although not sure yet how much is terror from trapping and surgery that's only 18 hours ago-we'll know more soon on that. She does allow petting -even purrs & arches when you touch -far from feral!!! But definitely cowers & shakes - but hopefully slow trust build & she'll be fine.

Questions: can she REALLY eat "anything" (kitten food wise I mean)? At this age is normally be offering hard & soft - but should we offer soft only? Watching her closely as she ate last night - ate both soft & hard (I actually mixed them & let canned soften hard pieces a bit before offering) equally. But she never crunched hard -swallowed every single piece whole. Then spent a huge time licking at the roof of her mouth - perhaps working food out of the hole in the roof of her mouth? Seemed to breathe just fine through all of it--but I worry about food lodging in there.

And she is LOADED with flea dirt...one of worst cases I'd seen. No anemia though. Going to flea comb her as much as she'll tolerate ASAP. Normally I don't even consider bathing a kitten -particularly post-spay - but her fur is a mess from the flea dirt (I can't tell in places if she's cream or white!) & hopefully within a week or so we can start putting the word out to potential homes - but don't want anyone seeing her like this. Plus her face is a food mess - particularly in cleft area. Am I crazy to try & bathe her? How long should I give her (assuming she continues to calm down) before doing so? Know I need to give her a few days regardless bc of the flea treatment. I'll make sure it's all done in a warmed bathroom-& let her dry there too. Chilling obviously concerns me even at 9 weeks. Wish they'd bathed her at vet before spay (they'd said they would).

And how much can I wipe in the cleft area? Again -it's not really as open as I know clefts can be --the corner is basically fur-covered--it's like the mouth corner just extends. I just don't want to hurt her or irritate the area - I just want to at least get her a little more presentable for "adopt me" pictures. Plus I have to believe she'll feel better if a little cleaner!

Thanks all! Any thoughts appreciated!!!

Got a look - spay is laparoscopic, so very few stitches.

Do not bathe her at this time. Flea combing is fine. But, wait until she gets her sutures out before giving her a bath.

You also mention she was defleaed. Was this with a topical or oral medication? Some of the topical are not water proof, so you may need to wait longer than to bathe.

As for the cleft palette. I've not dealt with this before in a cat; but, wonder why the vet didn't close the hole while she was already sedated?? I would be concerned about food getting lodged in the hole and causing infection over time.

I would definitely contact the vet and find out the size of the hole and ask why it was not closed. (There may be very good reason why??)

I should have noted - definitely wouldn't try to even lightly bath for a few days at least bc of flea meds (topical -Capstar). And the spay has a very tiny laparoscopic (like 1/4 in) incision -sutures will dissolve in about a week. Wondered if I could bathe around that time? Started flea combing this morning - beyond loaded with flea dirt. Actually can't tell if she's cream or white in places!!!!

I think I'll call vet re: closing palette - if they won't talk to me, I'll see if my friend who took her in can call. Although may be moot at this point since putting her under at this point might be rough. I too am so worried about food up there!!!!!! My friend said vet said it was "no issue" but feel it needs to be questioned further?!?!

I feel awful that this cleft thing freaks me a bit--I've dealt with foster stuff that most people would find far "yuckier" but my husband confessed this am it freaks him a bit too. I think she's going to be a real sweetie - and her crooked smile is endearing. I do know this is going to make her potential adopting pool smaller sadly!

I would see about getting the hole closed before re-homing.

And I would bathe her in about a week.

Some of her shaking may be fear, and some may be the anesthesia wearing off.

Poor kitten. She deserves to feel safe and loved.

Regardless of the type of spay, no immersion or wetting of the surgery area for 7-10 days.  I've had decent luck cleaning messy kittens post-op with damp washcloths or paper towels and avoiding the surgery area.

 Definitely contact that vet or another about sx for the roof of the mouth.  It may be that your vet didn't have the time or equipment handy to perform that surgery at that time.  I know my spay/neuter vet does alters and hernias and that's about it.  With 40 or so surgeries a day she doesn't have time to fix anything else.

I finally spoke to vet. She didn't poke around too much in the roof of her mouth during the spay bc she was so delicate. She did see the hole and said its quite small, but hesitated to poke through to see if it went through to her sinus. I confirmed it must, as when she eats more liquidity foods she sneezes. The vet then agreed that the hole must go all the way through. She feels confident that the trauma to her mouth is at least as likely to be due to something tied around her tongue that then ripped through the corner of her mouth. In the whole corner of her mouth twists up -poor thing, although she eats just fine! The vet wants to re-evaluate after she's grown a bit re: the opening since she's growing on schedule. She's a sweetheart - although I hope the friend who found her and is actively looking for a home for her pushes hard, because as sweet as this little funky face is, it IS funky!!!! She's just last night started to really come out of her she'll --play--run---jump. I've attached a picture of the crooked smile kitten (she'd just eaten so her mouth was still dirty) & her belly's still shaved from the spay (in other words - hoping a bath, a clean mouth, & a well/picked angle & I can get some shot!)

Should note too that the vet said her palette is changing so much right now - whether that hole is trauma or cleft -- she says the change in formation is so fast right now she hates to touch it yet & that it may heal itself. I'm just fostering & not footing the bill, but am thinking of talking to someone I know who fosters exclusively cleft palette kittens. Is that overstepping? And BOY does she need a bath -but now has some lumpy odd growth under her chin she's working on. Hoping to get her to vet tomorrow. Odd looking lump. Hoping for nothing abnormal - poor kittens been though enough to.

She's adorable kittychick, I love that twisted little smile.

I would definitely speak to a foster knowledgeable in cleft palette kittens. I think whatever the hole is it will need closing at some point before she grows up.

And for sure the lump under her chin needs checking. Poor baby!

I just love her big eyes! She looks like a sweetheart. She deserves a truly loving home where no one will ever be mean to her again.

Good luck with your foster.  She is a cutie with those big eyes and pointy ears... Its sad to say but I might even play up her crooked little grin to possible adoptees.  Sometimes people think they are doing a better good deed taking the one no one else will take... It might just be this kitty's edge.

In the continuing saga of "never had in a foster kitten before".... Poor Mackenzie's little lump took a very icky turn. The morning after I posted last, I went in to see her & it wasn't a lump anymore but s good 1/4 inch relatively deep open wound. We got her right into the vet ---and she said it was from a larvae having been laid in her neck and bursting out?!! And then the vet said " you'll want to look around & see if you can find the larvae" (thank god for husbands - but no luck-I still get creepy crawly wondering where it is in her room). I'm pretty decent with any "ick" that comes with kittens - but I gotta say --this one still has me looking at her & saying a combo of "poor baby" & "ewwwww." Vet has us putting honey on it?!?! Not our regular vet - so never been told this -but we're giving it a try!

Pray this is the last of the ickiness for poor Mackenzie!

Did the vet give you antibiotics for this?

kittychick said:

In the continuing saga of "never had in a foster kitten before".... Poor Mackenzie's little lump took a very icky turn. The morning after I posted last, I went in to see her & it wasn't a lump anymore but s good 1/4 inch relatively deep open wound. We got her right into the vet ---and she said it was from a larvae having been laid in her neck and bursting out?!! And then the vet said " you'll want to look around & see if you can find the larvae" (thank god for husbands - but no luck-I still get creepy crawly wondering where it is in her room). I'm pretty decent with any "ick" that comes with kittens - but I gotta say --this one still has me looking at her & saying a combo of "poor baby" & "ewwwww." Vet has us putting honey on it?!?! Not our regular vet - so never been told this -but we're giving it a try!

Pray this is the last of the ickiness for poor Mackenzie!

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Ahh the poor little lamb, glad you are sorting her out! She is adorable I'm sure you will find her a lovely home, are you not tempted to keep her yourself?

She got an antibiotic shot, plus the honey Already

She's precious!

Oops - didn't mean to post before finishing!

Mackenzie is doing MUCH better this week! She did indeed get an antibiotic shot, & vet looked her over stem to stern again when we were in for the larvae (still freaks me out - we never found it!). Emotionally she's come a long way this week too - actually warming to me. Iinterestingly, she's our first Foster ever to prefer my husband to me - she seems to be more fearful of women--guessing whoever abused her was female. But last night she fell asleep in my arms - definite progress

@evamilly Would love to keep her, but we've got 5 permanent (failed fosters!) & multiple ferals we feed (plus soon we're looking to greatly downsize from our fairly large, multi-storied older home...meaning adding even more boxes starts to be an issue I need to think about), plus all the fostering we do has us straining our financial (& often emotional!) limits. As my husband says - keep keeping them & we can't keep fostering.so as gut wrenching as it is, I rely on him to remind me it's better in long run to keep fostering

That was the long answer Short answer is we'd love to but telling ourselves "no".

Plus - fingers crossed - someone's cing to see her Fruday for possible adoption! Neck looks vastly better, & she's much cleaner now (although her mouth twist area still gets "foody"). So good thoughts all for Mackenzie!!!

She's got such a sweet little face. I think that, thanks to internet celebrities like Grumpy Cat, unusual looking cats may have a better chance of getting adopted these days. She's certainly got an expression that wins you ever, I'm sure someone is going to fall in love with her and take her home.

Hope she continues to progress, physically and emotionally.

Does anyone think I should mention the larvae to potential adopter or just say it was a neck -injury she came to us with? I think 90% of people who don't do this a lot (and some of us - LIKE ME- are a bit freaked by that even if we don't want to be!!!!!!). I wouldn't be lying -I won't do that. But thinking she doesn't need to know early on.

Thoughts?

I see no need for specifics - just something that she came with that's been treated and is healing. Enough said. You don't want to scare anyone off from her. Good luck on Friday!