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!!!
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!!!