At night before bed, Kynlee Rogers would often ask her mother: “Mom, why am I different?”

Born with a bilateral cleft lip, Kynlee, 10, began noticing her facial differences around age 6. Other kids noticed, too.

“They would make her feel different, and they would draw attention to her differences,” said her mother, Kimberly Rogers. But last February, Kynlee asked her mother a new question: “Mom, do dogs have cleft lips?”

Kynlee Rogers, 10, with her dog, Tennessee. Both Kynlee and Tennessee were born with a cleft lip. (MUST CREDIT: Kimberly Rogers)

Rogers replied, “Of course they do,” and a lightbulb went on for the mother of five in Murray, Kentucky.

Mandy, a mixed-breed dog with a cleft lip. (MUST CREDIT: Cleft Rescue Unit)

She started researching and found Cleft Rescue Unit, a non-profit in Rochester, New York, that rescues young puppies with cleft palates, cleft lips and other medical needs. Rogers got in touch with Lindsay Weisman, founder and director of the organization.

“Our mission is to combine the two different cleft communities: the human community and the canine community,” said Weisman, who started the rescue in May 2023 as a division of New 2 U Rescue. “We get puppies from across the country.”

A cleft lip or palate - an opening in the upper lip or roof of the mouth - occurs in both humans and dogs as the mouth area forms in utero. It is caused by genetic or environmental factors, or both.

Weisman finds the dogs when breeders and animal hospitals reach out to her as they discover they have newborn puppies with cleft conditions or other special needs. Volunteer fosters, including Weisman, care for the puppies until they are healthy enough for adoption.

Adalynn at cleft camp in July 2023. (MUST CREDIT: Ashley Schook)

“If these puppies are not taken from their mothers, they will not live,” said Weisman, explaining that cleft puppies can’t nurse, so they need to be tube-fed to survive.

Some of the dogs are adopted by families with children who have similar conditions as the pup, like Kynlee.

“They love that the puppies look like them,” Weisman said. “It’s really special.”

Weisman brings puppies to events and camps for kids with craniofacial differences. She met Rogers and her daughter at one of the camps in July in Nashville, and that’s when Kynlee was introduced to Tennessee, a 5-week-old Boston terrier with a cleft lip. It was love at first sight.

“Tennee is just like her,” said Rogers, adding that they happen to share the same birthday, June 4. “It just gives her something she can relate to. She’s not alone.”

Rogers adopted Tennessee in September, and the dog’s impact on her daughter’s life, she said, has been dramatic.

“Since we have gotten Tennee, she has not asked one question about why she’s different,” Rogers said, adding that the dog sleeps in Kynlee’s bed. “There’s just a bond. Tennee is her comforter.”

Elsie Garcia-Urbay’s son, Randy Urbay, 22, has had a similar experience with his rescue dog, Leo, whom they adopted from Cleft Rescue Unit in January 2024.

Randy Urbay has a condition called Apert syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects the shape of his head and face.

Garcia-Urbay had wanted to get a dog for her son and stumbled upon a photo online of a cocker spaniel with a cleft lip.

“He was absolutely gorgeous,” said Garcia-Urbay, who lives in Miramar, Florida.

Garcia-Urbay reached out to Weisman to ask about adoption, and Weisman offered to fly with the dog from New York to Punta Gorda, Florida. Garcia-Urbay drove three hours to meet them there.

“When people look at Leo and they look at Randy, they see beyond the differences,” said Garcia-Urbay, adding that Leo has helped boost her son’s confidence so much that she is training the canine to be a therapy dog for other patients at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, where Garcia-Urbay is the craniofacial family advocate.

“He loves kids and loves people,” Garcia-Urbay said. “Leo’s purpose is for the kids to see him, and see that they’re not alone. … He takes his job very seriously.”

Garcia-Urbay credits Cleft Rescue Unit for saving dogs who, in most cases, would otherwise be euthanized because of their imperfections.

“It’s because of them that we have Leo, and I know Leo is going to make a huge difference,” Garcia-Urbay said.

Caring for puppies with special needs can be financially and emotionally draining. Dogs with cleft palates, in particular, often have other health issues. Weisman has partnered with two surgeons at the University of Rochester who perform pro bono operations on the cleft puppies, if needed.

Given that many of the puppies have health complications, “we’re super restrictive with where we adopt the puppies,” Weisman said.

Still, she said it is important that people in the craniofacial community, especially children, have the chance to mingle with the dogs.

“If someone isn’t able to adopt, I always offer them to come play with the puppies,” Weisman said.

In July 2023, Weisman met Ashley Schook and her daughter, Adalynn, 7, at a cleft camp in Upstate New York. Adalynn was born with a cleft lip and palate.

“It’s just amazing to see that animals, too, are born with cleft lips and cleft palates,” Schook said. “She felt like she made a connection with them right away.”

In July, Adalynn decided to make and sell smiley-face magnets for National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month. She raised $600 for Cleft Rescue Unit.

Weisman said she couldn’t be more proud of both the kids and the pups.

“It’s been nothing but incredible,” she said.

Washington Post