Earless in Bala
Well Bridgend actually but it's close. This is the story of Weasel, an abandoned border terrier puppy who was born without ears. The full story's here . Vets believe he may have functioning ears behind the layer of skin that currently covers them.
I am reminded of a similar thing that happened to us a few years ago. We had a lamb born without an anus.
I'll pause here to allow the full significance of that last sentence to percolate. I expect you're about to say something like 'But how does he...' - people normally do - and the answer is, he couldn't.
Which is how the problem was discovered. The lamb was showing symptoms of bloating. He was only about ten hours old and we had no idea what was wrong with him. Checking for the presence of an anus is not on the smallholders postnatal checklist.
So we took him to the vet. Who tried to take his temperature. And ... noticed an unexpected deficiency.
What followed was amazing. The vet whisked him into the operating room. We were enlisted as nurses (it's a very small practice and time was critical) and he began to operate, hoping that somewhere beneath the skin he'd find a bowel he could connect to.
Which he did. He constructed a rudimentary anus and the lamb survived. Those still breakfasting might care to skip to the next paragraph for the treatment was not over. We had to ensure the anus remained functioning and didn't heal over. This entailed procedures also not mentioned in the smallholder's postnatal handbook. Procedures which had to be carried out every four hours or so for the next few weeks.
Four weeks later the lamb was bouncing around the field - as large and healthy as all the others.
I am reminded of a similar thing that happened to us a few years ago. We had a lamb born without an anus.
I'll pause here to allow the full significance of that last sentence to percolate. I expect you're about to say something like 'But how does he...' - people normally do - and the answer is, he couldn't.
Which is how the problem was discovered. The lamb was showing symptoms of bloating. He was only about ten hours old and we had no idea what was wrong with him. Checking for the presence of an anus is not on the smallholders postnatal checklist.
So we took him to the vet. Who tried to take his temperature. And ... noticed an unexpected deficiency.
What followed was amazing. The vet whisked him into the operating room. We were enlisted as nurses (it's a very small practice and time was critical) and he began to operate, hoping that somewhere beneath the skin he'd find a bowel he could connect to.
Which he did. He constructed a rudimentary anus and the lamb survived. Those still breakfasting might care to skip to the next paragraph for the treatment was not over. We had to ensure the anus remained functioning and didn't heal over. This entailed procedures also not mentioned in the smallholder's postnatal handbook. Procedures which had to be carried out every four hours or so for the next few weeks.
Four weeks later the lamb was bouncing around the field - as large and healthy as all the others.