When Elaine Cooper’s chocolate Labrador went into labor this past February, she was on hand to watch over and make sure everything went smoothly. She had been expecting Milly, her sweet and lovable two year old dog, to give birth any day and wanted to be there for her and the puppies.
Things were going well and by the time it was over the new mother had pushed out five healthy little doggies. Four of the puppies turned out to be males with beautiful golden colored fur, but it was the lone female in the litter who really stuck out because she was born with a green colored coat! Both Elaine and her husband Mark were shocked when they first saw the light green tinged puppy, how could they not be!
At first they attributed the oddity to the afterbirth because, according to Mrs. Cooper, “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.” However, after Milly began to clean the tiny puppy up it changed their perspective and that’s when they first noticed that her coat was in fact green. Even so, their initial hunch turned out to be correct.
The greenish coloring is believed to be caused by too much exposure to Biliverdin, a green bile substance which is found in the placenta of many animals including dogs. When Biliverdin gets mixed in with a mother’s amniotic fluid it can end up staining a puppy’s coat. The lighter colored their fur is, the more obvious and visible the green color gets. Also, the greenest the puppy will ever look was right after being born because the stain slowly goes away and fades out completely over time.
Inspired by their rare green little girl, the Coopers decided to name her Fifi, short for Fiona, after the green ogre princess character from Shrek. And while Fifi may have been the runt of the litter, the only female, and the greenest behind her ears, she’s just as healthy and active as her big brothers are. In fact, all of Milly’s puppies ended up doing well and to see just how adorable and precious they are check out the clip!
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