A California toddler is recovering after her family’s pack of puppies mauled the girl this month, gravely injuring her, family members say.

On the day of the attack, 2-year-old Felicity Peden was outside with the family’s four 12-week-old puppies and her parents as the family prepared for a party, the child’s mother, Sierra Michele Peden, told USA TODAY Wednesday night.

Peden said the family adopted the mixed-breed pups in May after moving to a new home in Onyx, about 60 miles northeast of Bakersfield. She said she was told they were “some sort of Queensland Labrador, Red Heeler Pit Bull mix.”

“We had them for weeks and they’d never given us any issues with the children,” Peden said.

The mauling took place June 3, Peden said, while the girl’s father was working in the yard and her three older sisters were inside watching the family’s baby.

Warning: Graphic image below

Peden said after leaving the backyard, she left their home to run an errand while her husband stayed home with Felicity and her older sisters, ages 13, 11, and her 1-year-old brother. Minutes later, she got a call and learned her husband was racing Felicity to a hospital.

“He said, ‘I found Felicity unconscious laying under a tree! I think she’s missing an eye!’ Peden recalled.

Felicity, who suffered injuries to her face, neck and upper body, was taken by medical helicopter to Valley Children’s Hospital in Madara where she underwent three hours of surgery.

The dogs also ate Felicity’s ear, her mother said.

She said Kern County Sheriff’s Office Deputies responded to their home after being alerted about the attack.

“The cops sat out here for 15 minutes with us trying to find it,” she said. “Even the doctors told us they thought it was puppy play because if they were really attacking her there would be chunks missing from her, but they were just scratches and bite marks.”

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Felicity Peden, 2, suffered injuries after being attacked by her family's four puppies on June 3, 2022 in California. The girl underwent three hours of plastic surgery and was recovering Wednesday, June 15, 2022.

Peden said Felicity was recovering at a quick pace.

“She’s doing great. She’s super. She’s a wild child” her mother told USA TODAY Wednesday. “CPS (child protectives services) came by today and were surprised how fast she is healing.”

Is ‘littermate syndrome’ to blame?

In a post on a fundraiser page created earlier this month by Felicity’s grandmother, Linnea Hooker of Las Vegas, Felicity’s family blamed “littermate syndrome” on the attack, which refers to a “host of behavioral issues that tend to present when canine siblings (littermates) are raised in the same household beyond the normal 8 to 10 weeks of age, when puppies are usually placed in separate homes.”