With a Facebook page nearing 100,000 followers, Lentil the dog is a popular pooch.  He is a 5-month-old French bulldog, weighs 10 pounds, and was born with a cleft palate and cleft lip.  Lentil was one of four puppies in his litter, all of which were born with facial defects. Only he survived. However, because of his birth defects, he was unable to eat or drink on his own, getting his food through a tube every few hours, CNN reports.

The French Bull Dog Rescue Network of Philadelphia stepped in.  A team of volunteers provided care around the clock, ensuring that he was getting adequate nutrition.  The biggest danger was that food or liquid could go in through his deformed palate and end up in his lungs.  Lindsay Condefer was the volunteer that created the care plan for Lentil.  Condefer eventually started a blog as well, hoping to create awareness about these deformities in animals.

As he grew stronger, his blog turned into a Facebook page that gained immense popularity.  The University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School was eventually able to perform surgery.  The Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service repaired the cleft palate.  However, repairing the cleft lip was only a cosmetic procedure, so the surgeons opted to only address the palate.

The veterinary school then saw an opportunity to help kids suffering from similar conditions.  Pairing kids up with animals that have the same condition is a form of pet therapy.  Both the human and the animal are going through the same condition, including some of the same medical procedures.  With a pet the child can relate to, it helps the child feel more normal.  With annual estimates of 4,437 babies born with a cleft lip and 2,651 of them born with a cleft palate, these animals can help a lot of people.

Using dogs for therapy is not new to craniofacial abnormalities.  An article in the National Geographic discussed how dogs provide emotional and psychological support.  After the Newtown tragedy, for example, “comfort dogs” were brought in to help.  Children that were unable to speak to an adult often opened up to a dog, sharing what they went through and how they felt.  Learning to train and work with a dog has also been shown to have therapeutic benefit for special-needs individuals.  Finally, a reading development program provides dogs to listen to children reading aloud.  This is a low-pressure way for children to get in much needed practice without feeling like their audience is going to judge them.