Roma Eats!

Here's the latest on our gorgeous cleft palate puppy, Roma.

"Well, Roma went to my vet and started with her first shots. We tried her on little cubes of chicken and cheese. She did well and so now she is getting little cubes of food. I have given her cubes of apples, potatoes, chicken, chicken hot dogs and cheese.
I am going to start peas and carrots today.
It has to be stuff that I can cut into cubes at bite size. Not too mushy and not to hard. We don't want her to chew it too much, she needs to be able to swallow it with out it getting in the cleft opening. She still has to be tubed several times a day to receive her water, but the vet did say I could try letting her lick on an ice cube. Here are pictures of Roma receiving her first meal."

On her last specialist visit, the doctors did some ultrasounds and tests to see if he could find any other birth defects or anomalies, like liver shunts, because cleft palate pups frequently have a constellation of problems. But our Roma is not one of those pups--she is free of other obvious issues, and as she grows larger, the cleft is not growing with her. The cleft is scheduled for repair when she is a bit larger, since she is doing so well. The longer we wait to do the surgery, the less likely a second surgery will be necessary when she is a bit older and larger.

The Frog Princess