In addition to having six legs, Raga was born with an extra colon and four testicles. Having an extra penis, removal was necessary.
There have been a few similar cases documented in the literature. But most of these dogs are stillborn or die at a very young age.
Therefore this Six-Legged German Shepherd was not expected to live for very long.
Last fall, VCA Advanced Veterinary Care Center manager Anita Horne first witnessed the rescued German Shepherd puppy. “He probably shouldn’t be alive, he was such a mess,” said Horne.
Gina Elliott, the hospital’s technician supervisor, agreed to foster him for a few nights, only for what people assumed would be a short life.
Although one of Raga’s penises appeared to be functioning properly, his body was passing fecal matter to the other, causing him to be hospitalized on antibiotics to fight off an infection.
Miraculously, with his extra legs flopping behind him, he kept playing and happily running around, so hospital staff devised a plan with two of the hospital’s surgeons.
Dr. Jae Tobias, a veterinarian, is currently two surgeries into her three-year residency and was alongside colleague and veterinary surgeon Dr. Nicolas Vecchio.
Tobias said the puppy had four testicles, an extra bladder, ureter, colon, pelvis, penis, and two extra partially joined legs.
The removal of the extra limbs and pelvis took place during surgery in December.
The delicate task of removing the abnormal internal organs, including the extra penis and associated urinary tract, began in February.
The embedding of his two testicles within his abdomen means another procedure is in the pipeline.
“Even when you’re in a place where it’s like, ‘I’ve never seen this before,’ you just practice the skills that you’ve learned and you follow the rules of surgery and then get through it,” Tobias said.
Today, Raga, the famous Six-Legged German Shepherd is seven months old and doing very well!
He also has the nicknames Papaya, Carlos, and Ripley (after Ripley’s Believe It Or Not).
Elliott was mourning her beloved Bella, a 16-year-old German wirehaired pointer and so wasn’t ready for another fur baby. But having been beside Raga through all the surgeries, forming a special bond was inevitable. And so Raga became a foster failure!
“I never really thought of myself as a German Shepherd kind of owner, but he was the one that needed me. So here we are,” she said.
“Now I’m a German Shepherd kind of gal.”
Thank you to USA Today for this unbelievable story.
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