Twyla Allen-CA

Twyla is a very special girl who has survived and thrived against all odds. She was part of a litter of three that was born in our rescue. She weighed just 68 grams at birth-about half the size of her siblings-and it soon became apparent that she was unable to latch on and nurse. Thankfully, the experienced fosters in our rescue figured out immediately that she had a cleft palate and would need to be tube-fed. So for the first two months of her life, Twyla was fed kitten formula directly into her stomach by a rotating team of fosters. <br/><br/>At five weeks of age, Twyla was taken to Capital Veterinary Specialists, where she was examined by the amazing Dr. Drygas. Although her cleft palate was severe, he felt it could be fixed, but not until she was the right age of about four months. At that appointment, he suggested that we look into how puppies with cleft palates are fed solid food. We started by feeding her single pieces of flash-soaked kibble one piece at a time, depositing each piece into the back of her mouth to bypass the cleft. It wasn't long before she learned how to eat soaked kibble this way, eventually swallowing multiple pieces at once. As a result, around Easter we were able to stop the tube-feeding completely. For the next two months, she got to know what it was like to be a happy, normal kitten. Swallowing and drinking water often were accompanied by sneezing and gagging, but that was normal to her, and she never let it get her down. <br/><br/>Twyla had her cleft palate repair surgery June 16 and it went extremely well. She was sent home with pain meds but never seemed to be in pain at all. She had never had canned food before but during recovery that was the only thing she could eat. It was amazing to see her drink and eat like any other cat. On June 29, she had a follow-up visit and her repair is perfect. <br/><br/>Twyla has one more appointment on July 13, at which time we have every reason to think she will be 100% healed and ready for her new home. And whoever adopts this girl will be very lucky. Because she has been through so much in her short life, she is very accustomed to being handled by humans. We would be hard-pressed to name one thing this kitty is an afraid of. She is such a brave girl with such an incredible spirit who survived against all odds. It should also be noted that the pioneering surgical technique used on Twyla is so unusual that there is only one other cat in the online medical literature we could find that has had this procedure done.

Twyla is a very special girl who has survived and thrived against all odds. She was part of a litter of three that was born in our rescue. She weighed just 68 grams at birth-about half the size of her siblings-and it soon became apparent that she was unable to latch on and nurse. Thankfully, the experienced fosters in our rescue figured out immediately that she had a cleft palate and would need to be tube-fed. So for the first two months of her life, Twyla was fed kitten formula directly into her stomach by a rotating team of fosters.

At five weeks of age, Twyla was taken to Capital Veterinary Specialists, where she was examined by the amazing Dr. Drygas. Although her cleft palate was severe, he felt it could be fixed, but not until she was the right age of about four months. At that appointment, he suggested that we look into how puppies with cleft palates are fed solid food. We started by feeding her single pieces of flash-soaked kibble one piece at a time, depositing each piece into the back of her mouth to bypa

Twyla is a very special girl who has survived and thrived against all odds. She was part of a litter of three that was born in our rescue. She weighed just 68 grams at birth-about half the size of her siblings-and it soon became apparent that she was unable to latch on and nurse. Thankfully, the experienced fosters in our rescue figured out immediately that she had a cleft palate and would need to be tube-fed. So for the first two months of her life, Twyla was fed kitten formula directly into her stomach by a rotating team of fosters.

At five weeks of age, Twyla was taken to Capital Veterinary Specialists, where she was examined by the amazing Dr. Drygas. Although her cleft palate was severe, he felt it could be fixed, but not until she was the right age of about four months. At that appointment, he suggested that we look into how puppies with cleft palates are fed solid food. We started by feeding her single pieces of flash-soaked kibble one piece at a time, depositing each piece into the back of her mouth to bypass the cleft. It wasn't long before she learned how to eat soaked kibble this way, eventually swallowing multiple pieces at once. As a result, around Easter we were able to stop the tube-feeding completely. For the next two months, she got to know what it was like to be a happy, normal kitten. Swallowing and drinking water often were accompanied by sneezing and gagging, but that was normal to her,