Greenacres Rescue in the UK said vets planned to remove the female spaniel’s “extra limbs” and investigate the function of her remaining leg.
A puppy born with six legs and other anomalies was rescued by an animal shelter in the United Kingdom.
Greenacres Rescue at Ebbs Acres Farm in Pembrokeshire shared on Facebook that the six-legged female spaniel puppy was “surrendered to a local veterinary practice” on September 27 after she was found abandoned in a car park at the Pembroke Dock site. B&M chain of stores for home and garden decoration.
Urging the owner or anyone with information about the animal to come forward, the rescue said in the meantime they would “begin a diagnosis and treatment plan with our vets”.
“We hope that she will be able to live a normal life, if her tests turn out to be favorable,” the rescuer said.
Ariel, a female spaniel puppy born with six legs.
Greenacres Rescue/Facebook
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Greenacres wrote in a Facebook update the next day that “internally [the dog] is normal” and “all her organs are as they should be”.
“We have no idea why she would be born with the defect,” said Mikey Lawlor of Greenacres Newsweek. “I’ve never seen this before.”
Lawlor added that the shelter named the puppy Ariel Little Mermaid character because her “extra legs look like a tail”.
The rescuer shared the vet’s assessment of Ariel on Facebook, which said she “has two extra hind legs and the beginnings of an extra vulva. Her pelvis is not shaped properly because of the extra hip joint.”
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Ariel, a female spaniel puppy born with six legs.
Greenacres Rescue/Facebook
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The rescue said veterinarians will re-evaluate Ariel in a month “with a view to removing additional limbs and investigating the function of her remaining leg.”
“There is a possibility that he may lose one of his own legs due to the structure of his extra limbs and pelvis, but time will tell,” the shelter wrote. “For now, we can relax and let her be a puppy. She has a long road of surgery and recovery ahead of her, but we are confident that we can ‘fix’ her and that’s all that matters.”
“The appendages do not interfere with her ability to move, although because they are on her pelvis, they will cause damage over time,” Lawlor said, according to Newsweek.
As of Thursday, Ariel has “settled wonderfully in her foster home and we now plan to begin her vaccinations,” the shelter wrote on Facebook.
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Source: HIS Education