Cleft Palate in foal

[Monica67]

I have a friend who has a foal that is now 6 months old. When she was born, she had milk coming out of her nose. She had her examined by two different vets and they said the foal did not have a cleft palate.

Had the foal scoped last week and her cleft palate is so severe the vets will not try surgery and suggested putting her down. She has never had any respiratory issues to date, eats and drinks and of course gets snots everywhere.

Has anyone seen this or know of any horses that lived like this long term?

[Daventry]

I was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, so am quite fascinated with cleft palates in horses. The biggest problem with a cleft palate that is left unrepaired is the chance of aspiration pneumonia. I understand that there are “some” horses who have reached adulthood, have an unrepaired cleft palate and have minimal to no problems…often the main problem is food coming out the nostrils. From what I understand, those horses do not have a cleft that involves the hard palate. These horses all seem to just have issues with the soft palate only. I’m assuming, if the vets are stating the cleft is severe and she should be put down, that the hard palate is involved?

[Monica67]

As I said, this is my friends horse. I believe there is not enough soft palate tissue available for them to attempt to make a repair.

[red_mares]

Unless your friend can guarantee a home for this horse for the next 30 years, I would have it put down. It’s hard enough to sell a horse without a defect.

Besides, vets seem to be more likely to try and fix colts with issues (if nothing else it’s great for their bottom line) than put it down. If a vet actually suggested putting the colt down, I’d listen.

[hoopoe]

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9cfc/8ebb40da04f544badd10c426c8eca6933a39.pdf

this is a very rare defect and the average equine hospital is probably not versed in the repair. A vet school should be consulted. Long term useful life for this horse is going to be challenging to predict with so few cases reported and almost half of those terminated.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4466833/

Owner should have her property and management reviewed for toxins in the plants soil and water. The breedeng combo of this foal should not be repeated

Personally I would terminate

[clint]

We had a foal born this spring with not a cleft palate but a hypoplastic soft palate, which means there is no palate, and food can get into the trachea. Until just recently all foals born with such a defect were euthanized, but some have now survived for at least a few years. There is no surgical cure. The cleft palate has some surgical options, but the results seem to be very mixed. We elected not to euthanize, and honestly, I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the best idea. He will likely be a pasture pet, as riding him in a bridled position is probably not possible. He is doing well but as mentioned, 30 years as a pasture pet is a long time.

FWIW, cleft palate and our defect, a hypoplastic palate, are congenital, not genetic, so I wouldn’t expect the cleft palate of your friend’s foal to be heritable.

[Daventry]

@clint

FWIW, cleft palate and our defect, a hypoplastic palate, are congenital, not genetic, so I wouldn’t expect the cleft palate of your friend’s foal to be heritable.

In humans, cleft palates can be hereditary. I had an approximate 8% chance of passing on a cleft lip and/or palate if I had children. As far as I understand, they don’t yet know if cleft palates in horses can have a hereditary factor or not. I’m not sure you can state a definitive no for horses.

[hoopoe]

which is why I suggested toxins review first .

With no sure answer yes or no on genes, best to err on the side of caution as far as breeding.

[fordtraktor]

Not a breeder but a boarder had one on trial once with the issue undisclosed. It was around 10ish? and rideable, but a trail horse so not something ever asked to go on the bit.

We and our vet encouraged them to send it back and thank goodness they did. But it did seem to be “ok” health wise at the time. Vet said it was a ticking time bomb for respiratory issues which I can well believe giving the stuff coming out its nose every time it ate.

i think it is responsible to euthanize or not, your friend’s call. A baby like this is likely to be an expensive heartbreaker, though. I would anticipate plenty of health issues and eventually she will probably have to put it down anyway. It is basically unsellable.

it might be fine as a light riding horse, though…the one I had experience with you couldn’t tell under saddle. I guess that is how they got to the stage of getting tt out on trial! They didn’t notice anything wrong until it was at the farm and eating.

[Monica67]

Thank you to those who took the time to respond with their own experience with horses with cleft palate rather than giving euthanasia opinion which is not what we were asking for.