Hi guys. I have a rat terrier named Ditzy with an extra set of ears behind her normal ears. The ears do not function but they are interesting. I have been searching the internet to see how rare that is. So far all i have found is a few cats with a similar condition. Can anyone fill me in on this? Is my Ditzy a mutant?

[Yogi]

looks to be more of a secondary flap than an ear.

[chevy & karen]

2 ear's or 4 ear's she's adorable and just look at that sweet face.......

Originally Posted by grumbles2himself

Hi guys. I have a rat terrier named Ditzy with an extra set of ears behind her normal ears. The ears do not function but they are interesting. I have been searching the internet to see how rare that is. So far all i have found is a few cats with a similar condition. Can anyone fill me in on this? Is my Ditzy a mutant?

Hello
Welcome to this site and in our family also welcome to your family hope u r enjoining this site thanks for being with us and I hope your pup is adorable is exceptional that's a great news

[wishbone]

Those were cute extra ears, but hoping there's no health issue behind it. Can we sharer it to others to see and get feedback?

Hi welcome to the forum, it does look like a secondary flap.

[DoggieVogue]

Originally Posted by pinkcircles

it does look like a secondary flap.

I agree. She is a cutie pie all the same. :-D

Ditzy a mutant?
LOL...Your baby is not a mutant...
it's like a secondary flap too...
for me...
And I guess it will not bring any harm to your dog...
It will only makes your dog unique...^_^

[Burt Hoell]

Hey, I have three puppies, terrier jack Russell mix they have four ears too. I thought it was cool. They look like little gremlins. The date on the pics are wrong. They were born in May 2010.

[lil mutt]

Very very interesting dogs with those extra ears, I find them so cute.. but is there any noticeable health defect on them?

[Todd]

As of yet there hasen't really been any apparent health defect detected but I found some info on why this may occur. It can be because of a birtyh defect of wacky recessive gene or it could possibly be the signs of a twin that didn't form. Here's what I found online...

As for the twin thing: since dogs are mammals, we can apply the general human rules to them: When twins don't fully divide, you can have duplicate body parts, or two bodies joined at one or several places (Wikipedia has a good entry on Conjoined Twins - "Siamese twins" came into use bec. of a famous case in 1836, of twin boys born in Siam, who lived 63 years joined at the torso).

Conjoined twins are not-fully-divided identical twins - you've read all the stories. There was even a twin situation (in the last few yrs) in which they knew that once they divided the twins, one would die - because the lesser-developed twin shared too many vital organs & parts of the circulatory system, & only one twin could have those organs.

The old 19th cent. freak shows used to have animals in jars of alcohol that were biological accidents like this - things like 2-headed calves, which apparently happened periodically, with some actually surviving - & they still happen now.

So the ears could have been an emerging identical twin that simply didn't work, so Nature gave it up & just left the ears. It's just not real common.

[Jeannie]

Ditzy is a cutie!

[gambler-girl]

Wow they are cute!! Is this just a flap of skin or do they have ear canals?
Do you guys live close to one another? wow....
GG