• A small six-legged dog was born in Oklahoma.
• According to the veterinary clinic, no dog with such a birth has survived for so long.
• And doctors are confident that younger “captains” can lead a good life.

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The little “skipper” loves everything that puppies like: eat, sleep and do. But the small mix of border collie and Australian Shepherd is something very special: Skipper was born with six legs, as animal clinic Neil Veterinary Hospital reports on social media.

“It’s the little miracle called a skipper,” wrote the clinic on its Facebook page on 21 February. So far, no such case has been detected in which a dog with a scraps birth defect has survived for so long. At the time of posting, the animal was already several days old.

Skipper was born during an icy storm

According to the clinic’s director Tina Neil, the little bitch naturally saw the light of day with her eight brothers and sisters. Born on February 16 in Oklahoma during a heavy snowstorm without medical aid. Only after the weather had calmed down, the skipper’s owner could have the animals examined by doctors.

“Our doctors knew we would need more images to make the diagnosis. We decided to use abdominal ultrasound,” the clinic director told CNN. Neil said, “X-rays as well as ultrasound revealed that the skipper had a variety of malformations.”

The puppy was probably part of a twin

The little bitch has only one head and chest cavity, but two pelvic areas, two lower urinary tracts, two reproductive areas and, among other things, two tails and six legs. Neil suspects that the skipper was part of a twin in the uterus and that the cells did not completely separate from each other when divided: “only the posterior half of the body could replicate.”

The little bitch is currently doing well, but doctors at the clinic monitor her condition. The clinic announced on its Facebook page that it would ensure the skipper “feels comfortable and painless for the rest of his life”.

Sources Used:

• Facebook-Post Des Neil Veterinary Hospital
• Cnn: The puppy is a ‘miracle’ born with six legs, says the vet