Cleft palate is a congenital defect where there is a hole (cleft) in the roof of the mouth (palate) that occurs during development of the puppy. Cleft Lip is a split in the lip and can occur on one or both sides of the mouth. In both cases puppies may also have syndactyly which is the fusion of the middle two digits of the feet.
The NSDTR, or Toller, breed has multiple genetic causes of cleft palate. CLPS is inherited as an autosomal recessive disease; this means affected puppies inherit two copies of the defective gene, one from each of their parents. About 2% of Tollers carry the CPLS mutation
The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory offers a test for CLPS in Tollers. Breeders can use results from the test to select mating pairs to avoid producing affected dogs. Dogs that have 1 copy of the CLPS mutation (carriers) are normal and can be safely bred to unaffected dogs in order to maintain diversity within the breed.