Life of Pikelet animal rescue is saving dogs born with cleft palates

They are routinely put down because they can’t suck, but one woman is saving hundreds of dogs born with cleft palates who go on to live perfectly healthy lives.

Polony, a two-week-old miniature Dachshund, has a cleft lip. Picture: Calley Gibson

They are the dogs breeders don’t want — and almost all vets routinely euthanise — but one woman is leading a charge to save dogs born with cleft palates or cleft lip.

A cleft palate is a relatively common condition that results from the failure of the roof of the mouth that creates a “cleft” in the roof of the mouth. The result is a puppy cannot suck milk and many are put down.

Calley Gibson, who runs the rescue outfit called Life Of Pikelet has taken in hundreds of cleft lip and palate dogs, putting in intense hours to tube-feed puppies until they can eat solids.

Calley Gibson with her rescue dog Pikelet who inspired her work.

Polony requires tube feeding every two hours. Picture: Calley Gibson

At the moment, she is handfeeding Polony, a two-week-old sausage dog with a cleft lip and palate after his breeder’s vet only offered euthanasia. It is illegal to sell or give away a puppy born with a defect, so many are put down.

“His breeder contacted me after he was born because he was not latching on and then she realised it was a cleft and she rang the vet who said: ‘If you bring that puppy into to me, I will just euthanise it’ and she said no before getting in contact with me,” Ms Gibson said.

“Basically vet science is dated in Australia and the general consensus is it is too hard to raise these puppies. Most of the time they think it is not viable and the best advice to all of the breeders is they will euthanise.

“They see it as wastage and that attitude has not changed in Australia.

In my opinion it‘s the ethical breeders who surrender and are willing to work with rescue. Many breeders hide birth defects because they don’t want it to ruin their breeding lines reputation.”

Some of the cleft lip and palate puppies Calley Gibson has in her care. Picture: Calley Gibson

The 39-year-old former Balmain resident moved to the Macedon Ranges to accommodate more and more cleft dogs to rescue.

“Polony is just over two weeks and I get up every two hours around the clock to tube-feed him,” she said.

“It can be 30-40 minutes of fiddling around, so there is not a lot of downtime.”

Specialist veterinarian Dr Arthur House from the Mornington Peninsula corrects a dog with a cleft palate or lip at least one a week and says the perception that such dogs do not do well is wrong.

Specialist vet Dr Arthur House with cleft puppy Giles.

Polony the sausage dog was born with cleft lip. Picture: Supplied

“It comes down to this dogma that is deeply ingrained — and it is has no scientific reason — that cleft dogs don’t do well,” he said.

“The perception is that the puppy will die a miserable death and we need to euthanise them and that is not the case. The concern is they won’t survive and on humane grounds it is better to euthanise.

Phoebe, the one-year-old labrador, has a full cleft palate and will have surgery in August.

Phoebe, who would have been put down if she was not rescued, with her owner Ali Cox. Picture: Supplied

“She has just turned one and will have surgery at the end of August and she is just a beautiful, happy black lab,” Ms Cox said.

“We’ve had a few incidences when things have got stuck in her cleft, like a kitchen sponge, so she had to be sedated to get that out.”

Dr House will fix Phoebe but the surgery can cost up to $8000.

“These dogs can live really happy lives and she totally worth every expense. She’s a gorgeous little doggie and I can’t imagine life without her,” Ms Cox said.

All rescues are funded by donation

Originally published as Life of Pikelet animal rescue is saving dogs born with cleft palates