West Midlands, United Kingdom

A pup was born without her bum and the vets had to perform a life-saving surgery on her to give the pup a proper bottom in the United Kingdom. 

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The five-month-old Bulldog named Lucky had a rare congenital defect called Atresia ani type 3 which meant she did not have any anus.

Her owners saw how she was struggling and took the pup to the vet who then referred Lucky to specialists at Linnaeus-owned West Midlands Veterinary Referrals (WMR) near Burton-on-Trent, Staffs.

In the summer, the pup went through a complex operation to create a new bottom from scratch.

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Dr Chris Lancelott, who headed the treatment of Lucky, said, "Lucky was, in fact, unluckily born with a congenital defect that meant she had no anus."

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"It was a severe case of a condition we call an 'Atresia ani type 3 and rectovaginal fistula'. In layman's terms, I needed to create an anus, reposition the rectum and attach the bowel to this new anus," he added. 

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"The surgery is challenging in these cases as type 3 atresia means the closed bowel is far away from where the anus should be. First, we removed the fistula (abnormal internal passageway) and then carefully dissected the rectum to mobilise it," Dr Lancelott stated.

Pup recovers after life-saving surgery

After the three-hour operation ended, a week was spent by Lucky in recovering. 

Lucky has now come back to her home in Rugeley, where the pup continued her convalescence.

Speaking about the pup, her owner Frances Silk said, "We realised within the first week of Lucky being born that she wasn't 'plumbed' correctly and, as a result, she suffered from water infections and constipation."

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"Our local vets suggested we try to get her to between eight and 12 weeks old when she might be big enough to undergo an operation. After a thorough investigation and detailed discussions, we decided to go ahead with the operation to correct her issues," she added.

"The operation went well and three months later, Lucky is slowly going from strength to strength. After months of being fed a liquid diet, she is now able to eat kibble just like her mum," Silk stated. 

(With inputs from agencies)