{"id":1169,"date":"2018-10-09T11:55:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T15:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/?p=1169"},"modified":"2022-07-11T09:18:39","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T13:18:39","slug":"how-callie-was-saved-by-love-and-dedication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/how-callie-was-saved-by-love-and-dedication\/","title":{"rendered":"How Callie was saved by love and dedication"},"content":{"rendered":"

Callie, a very cute kitten, had a rare condition called a cleft palate.<\/p>\n

\"Callie,<\/p>\n

This is an abnormal opening in the roof of the mouth that allows food to go into the nose. This causes gagging, choking, severe sneezing, infections of the nose and difficulty breathing.<\/p>\n

In addition, affected pets don\u2019t thrive. They are typically malnourished because it\u2019s difficult to feed them enough to help them grow.<\/p>\n

When her owner reached out to me to help with the surgery, Callie was only 6 weeks and weight only 1 pound. Her incredibly dedicated owner had already been through a lot, since she had bottle fed Callie from birth.<\/p>\n

Doing surgery to close the \u201chole\u201d in not recommended in such a young kitten.<\/p>\n

\"Callie

Callie at 6 weeks of age<\/p><\/div>\n

So we agreed that we would try to hang in there until Callie is older and stronger. She needed to be a better candidate for anesthesia and surgery. Until then, family members had to take turns to feed Callie slurry every few hours.<\/p>\n

Long story short, Callie grew stronger and eventually had surgery at Brodheadsville Veterinary Clinic (www.brodheadsvillevet.com<\/a>) when she turned 8 months. On the picture below, Callie is on her back on the surgery table. The red arrow shows the normal part of the front of the roof of the mouth. The green arrow shows the hole in the back part of the roof of the mouth, ie the cleft palate.<\/p>\n

\"Callie<\/p>\n

Callie made it through surgery with flying colors and woke up smoothly after anesthesia. The picture below shows the stiched-up opening.<\/p>\n

\"Callie<\/p>\n

Once home, she immediately started eating whatever was put in front of her. There was no sneezing, coughing or gagging.<\/p>\n

Callie\u2019s owner writes: \u201cIt was so amazing! I can hardly find words to describe how it felt to see her eat like a normal kitten.\u201d She quickly put on a pound.<\/p>\n

About 2 weeks after the surgery, bubbles started to come out of Callie\u2019s nose after eating or drinking. What happened is that one tiny area didn\u2019t heal properly. This can happen, and we had discussed that possibility during the consultation. So we did another surgery, minor this time, to close the tiny pinhole.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince that second operation, she has had no problems eating or drinking anything. She seems to prefer dry food over wet, now that she doesn\u2019t have to worry about gagging it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just turned 1 year of age and now weighs about 9.5 lbs. She is a happy, energetic, precocious cat that looks like a kitten and we can\u2019t imagine life without her.\u201d<\/p>\n

I love Callie\u2019s story because it\u2019s such a perfect example of how one loving human can dedicate so much time of energy and save one tiny kitten\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Many, many people would have given up. But not Callie\u2019s owner. She is now rewarded with a beautiful, healthy cat who can enjoy life.<\/p>\n

Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS, CVJ, Fear Free Certified<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Callie, a very cute kitten, had a rare condition called a cleft palate. This is an abnormal opening in the roof of the mouth that allows food to go into the nose. This causes gagging, choking, severe sneezing, infections of the nose and difficulty breathing. In addition, affected pets don\u2019t thrive. They are typically malnourished […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[182,183,157,156],"class_list":["post-1169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brodheadsvile-vet-clinic","tag-cleft-palate","tag-phil-zeltzman","tag-veterinary-surgeon"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Callie was saved by love and dedication | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Callie, a very cute kitten, had a rare condition called a cleft palate. 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