Remember last spring, when we posted so much about the TinyKittens webcam? Then you'll recall the kitten Aura, who was born with a severe cleft palate and had to be tube-fed until she learned to eat solid dry food. Aura and all the other kittens have been adopted into permanent homes, and Aura was taken by Shelly Roche, the kittens' main caretaker. The plan was to wait until Aura's permanent teeth came in, and then have her palate surgically repaired.
Aura had her cleft palate repair surgery on October 17. Shelly called it "surprise surgery," because she took Aura in for her first consultation at West Coast Veterinary Dental Services Ltd. and they said, "Do you want us to do the surgery today?" Surprise! See pictures of the surgery here. And although this kind of surgery often requires removing some of the teeth, Aura got to keep all of hers.
Aura was the recipient of a donated piece of bone from a dog. The stitches held for the required ten days, and Aura can now eat canned cat food -and she's eating up a storm.
You can follow Aura's progress at her Facebook page.
The reference to "a few scares along the way" in the top video was when Aura bit the feeding tube and swallowed it. The vet retrieved the tube, and that was the end of tube-feeding. Luckily, Aura had learned how to eat kibble.
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What an amazing and sweet story! Aurora is a real fighter.
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this is what bob barker warned about
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awww, i didnt even know you could tube feed such tiny babies. I always figured it would be a mini bottle
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