Mystery over a pup born green in Chorley

Elaine and Mark Cooper were by Milly’s side all night as she went into labour at midnight on Thursday, January 26.

Nicknamed Fifi after Princess Fiona from Shrek, the little bright green ball of fur was born the next day at around 7.30am.

“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 its actually a phenonemanon, its just very very rare in dogs. We were a bit shocked and thought ‘oh my, is it OK’.

“The colour’s faded now and she’s doing well even though she was the smallest of the litter, she’s so sweet.”

But it’s not the first time a Labrador has been born with a green coat before in Lancashire.

In 2012 a two-year-old golden Labrador, Buttons, belonging to Naomi Grimes and Kyle Murray, gave birth to a green puppy at their home in Clayton-le-Moors.

A spokesman from Pinewood Veterinary Practice in Chorley said: “We’ve only seen it when the placenta stains the fur.

“It’s not something that happens very often, there’s no medical condition to our knowledge.

“It does stain horrendously and takes a while to clear up but its not harmful.”