Morphological Analysis of the Cleft Palate in Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)

The cleft palate is a defect of longitudinal fusion that affects the bone and the mucosa in the midline of the hard palate. This defect in the fusion of the palatal lateral shelves from the maxillary processes results in an open cleft between the oral and nasal cavities, also known as secondary palatine cleft. The objective of this work is to report the morphological characteristics of palatine clefts observed in stillborn dogs and neonates submitted to euthanasia. Six dogs were evaluated, from each animal the following data were obtained: clinical history, weight and morphometric data. Externally, data regarding to: sex, fur color, malformations, and evaluations of natural openings were evaluated. Every evaluated animal was delivered by caesarean section, 50% of stillborn infants had cleft lip associated with secondary cleft palate, 50% were female and only one stillborn was a mongrel dog. All others were from the brachycephalic races. It was observed that the cleft palate was found, in great majority, in females, proving the association of sex with this congenital anomaly. In this sense, clinical inspection, including physical examination and anamnesis should be part of the assessment of the neonate patient as parameters to reach a diagnosis and, when it is possible, to be associated with a radiographic image as a complementary method, being the radiography an important auxiliary exam in this context.