Male Labrador turns blood donor to save pregnant canine

Haveri: A male Labrador turned a blood donor to save the life of a pregnant dog at Akki Alur in Haveri district on Sunday.
Nokhil Hadalagi, the owner of the pregnant Labrador named ‘Gypsy’ told TOI that the canine that was two-month pregnant was not consuming food since last five days. “When I consulted a veterinary doctor, he said that the dog was suffering from low haemoglobin and needed blood transfusion immediately. Following this, I contacted Vaibhav Patil, the owner of a male Labrador named ‘Gimmi’ and he agreed to donate the blood of his dog. Now Gypsy is doing well,” he said.
Dr Amit Puthanikar, a senior veterinary officer in Araleleshwar, said that Gypsy was suffering from tick fever and was weak as it had not consumed food for the last 4-5 days. “In the blood tests, it was found that the level of RBC, haemoglobin, and platelets was very low. The dog’s life was at risk and blood transfusion was necessary to save it. We checked Gimmi’s health and found it fit to donate blood. Fortunately, we had vaccination reports of both the dogs. Though it is permissible to extract 350 ml of blood from an adult healthy dog, we extracted only 200 ml to avoid possible health issues like an allergic reaction. And this was sufficient for Gypsy. As there is no need for a blood group test in the case of first time receivers, we transfused the blood without any further testing,” he explained.
“Such transfusions are common in urban areas but rare in rural areas,” he added.
Karabasappa Gondi, a constable, who has been creating awareness on blood donation, said that the incident is a result of increased awareness.
Vaibhav Patil, the owner of the Labrador, said that he is proud of his dog as it did not trouble doctors and staff during the procedure.