A Green Puppy!
A dog owner has received a bit of a shock after her Chocolate Labrador gave birth to a green puppy.
Milly the Labrador had 1 girl and 4 male puppies in her first litter.
The puppies gender wasn’t the only difference in these puppies because the single female puppy was in fact green!
Milly’s owners Elaine and Mark decided to call the puppy Fifi after Fiona the green ogre from the film Shrek
Elaine, said: ‘She came out in the sack so we thought that it was the placenta that made her look very dark. We thought she was a black Labrador.
‘But when Milly started to lick the placenta off she actually had a green tinge. We were laughing and saying no, this can’t be green.
‘All the others are golden and this one’s green. It’s to do with the placenta, so it’s a phenomenon, it’s just very rare in dogs.
What causes the green tinge!
- The green appearance of the puppy is caused by a green bile pigment called Biliverdin that is present in the placenta of dogs.
- In exceptional cases, the pigment can stain the puppy’s coat if it mixes with the amniotic fluid – the liquid that protects the puppy inside the womb.
- Golden Labradors show the staining the most due to their light coloured coat. The staining is harmless and will wear off after a couple of weeks.
It’s a rare condition, Millys owner Elaine Cooper thinks her pup may be only the third recorded case in the world.
After research online she could only find two other recorded cases one in Spain and one in Lancashire in 2012.
Luckily, Fifi’s green tinge is only temporary and she will soon resemble her golden brothers.
