A five-month old puppy from Philadelphia named Lentil has helped inspire children with facial abnormalities specifically cleft palate or lip.
Lentil is a French bulldog found in New Jersey by Lindsay Condefer, a volunteer from the French Bull Dog Rescue Network. Among all four puppies found, only Lentil survived. It had to be fed through a tube since it was unable to drink or eat on its own because of its condition.
Lentil’s condition was not easy because the food and liquid would always go up on its nose and into his lungs. It would have died like the other puppies if no one was there to help. Condefer patiently took care of the puppy until it passed three months.
"In the beginning, he ate every two hours throughout, over a 24-hour period, and then as he got older, we were able to stretch it to three hours," Condefer told CNN.
Condefer realized that Lentil couldn’t go on its entire life with this condition so she asked for help from the veterinary school of the University of Philadelphia. She also put up a blog and a Facebook page to increase people’s understanding of the challenges animals had to face when they have cleft palate or lip. To date, Lentil already has more than 96,000 Facebook friends.
The veterinarians scheduled Lentil for a surgery which also challenged them because it also has a cleft lip. Dr. Alexander Reiter and Dr. John Lewis administered the surgery after consulting with Dr. Jesse Taylor from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. They decided to perform the surgery only for its cleft palate since its cleft lip will not hinder his eating and drinking anyway.
After Lentil’s recovery from the surgery, the school started using him for a program where it gets to meet children with the same conditions in order to inspire them. They consider Lentil as a perfect “ambassadog”.
Children were happy to see Lentil at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. It also became mascot for the Lentil Festival which the hospital holds to raise funds to finance the surgeries of patients who couldn’t afford the fee.
Confeder was very proud of Lentil. "He's here for a reason, and he's made it for a reason, and that's what makes him special."
Cleft lip and cleft palate are birth defects that happen when a baby’s lip or mouth do not form correctly during pregnancy. Children born with these defects may have difficulty talking and eating. They may also suffer from complications such as hearing loss and teeth problems. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 2,651 babies in the United States are born with a cleft palate and 4,437 babies are born with a cleft lip. The only way to treat this is through surgery.
