Incredible photographs reveal a newborn puppy has two
bodies joined at the chest with two sets of front legs, two sets of back legs, and
two tails.
The black and white puppy was born with a total of eight
limbs in Vaini of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday and was one of her
five siblings to have any abnormalities.
Vukitangitau Maloni, from Tonga, who took the images soon
after she was born, said the whole community was shocked and speechless at the
animals extra legs.
“I've never seen anything like this before,” Mr. Maloni told Daily Mail Australia.
“She was struggling to crawl and unfortunately, she died a
few hours later. My neighbor's dog gave birth to five other healthy puppies but
she was the cutest out of them.”
Veterinary nurse Erica Fairleigh, from Wollongong, NSW,
said most deformed animals don't usually survive beyond a few hours after
birth.
“Without very good veterinary care, the pup would have died
quickly unfortunately,” Ms. Fairleigh told Daily Mail Australia.
“I've never seen or heard of any dogs born this way but it
could be a result of many factors such as poor genetics and bad nutrition
during gestation.
It looks like two pups that didn't quite separate and there
are deformities in the face too like a cleft pallet. Her face looks quite blue,
which are signs of not enough oxygen.
I can see her umbilical cord still attached and she looks
no more than 12 hours old.
It's hard to tell what breed she is but she's a big puppy
though. So a medium-large breed such as a Staffordshire bull terrier or
similar.”
An animal scientist from Wagga Wagga, NSW, who chose to
remain anonymous, confirmed the authenticity of the photographs to Daily Mail
Australia.
“You can tell the photographs are real by looking at the
split in her nose - indicating that something occurred bilaterally,” he told
Daily Mail Australia.
“Animals born with abnormal features are quite common in
sheep and cattle but it's pretty rare in dogs.” He said.
