A white American Pitbull recently gave birth to a litter of puppies, but one of them looks strikingly different from her brothers and sisters.
Pearl the Pitbull brought five puppies, three boys and two girls, into the world at her home in Hancock County, Mississippi on November 3, with one featuring a bright green-colored coat.
Her owner, Annise Tooley, 57, said: ‘I immediately looked it up and they say it’s a rare condition but it’s not harmful to her at all.
‘And usually it goes away after a few weeks but sometimes it doesn’t,’ she added, revealing the pup had been named ‘Fiona’ after the princess from the Shrek movies.
This rare condition occurs when light-colored puppies are exposed to biliverdin, a green pigment found in bile, while still in their mother’s womb.
Biliverdin can sometimes mix with amniotic fluid and dye puppies’ fur, causing them to be born green.
Aside from Fiona, the rest of the litter is all white, just like their mother.
Only one pup in a litter is usually affected by this pigment because each puppy has its own amniotic sac while still in the womb
In most cases, it is the weakest puppy in the bunch that is affected.
The green pigment can also be caused by in utero meconium. This is when a puppy passes their first stool while still in the womb.
Meconium can contain Biliverdin if the pup ingested bile while in utero. And if they poop before they’re born, the meconium can stain their amniotic fluid and dye them green.
Over time, the green color typically fades away, and exposure to this pigment does not pose any risk to the pup’s health.
‘Fiona is very healthy and extremely active,’ Tooley told What’s the Jam.
‘She also keeps wondering away from her mom then cries when she can’t find her.’
Tooley told WLOX that she didn’t notice Fiona’s green coat right away because she was born first. But once her siblings were born, it was clear that her fur was different from the rest.
Tooley owns four adult dogs – two Chiweenie Pitbulls and two pureblood American Pitbulls.
The two purebloods, Pearl and Harvey, are the proud parents of Fiona and her siblings.
Because she already has four dogs, Tooley plans to send the puppies to other loving homes.
‘I wish we could keep them all as they are so cute,’ she said. ‘But we can’t afford that at the moment.’
‘We are going to sell them all but Fiona, I am doing a raffle for her,’ she added.
Fiona’s condition is extremely rare. About one in every 10,000 puppies is born green like her, according to breedingbusiness.com.
But she isn’t the first pup to be born this unusual color.
Just before Saint Patrick’s day earlier this year, a Golden Retriever pup was born with the same green pigment.
Her owners, Greg and Carole DeBruler from Pensacola, Florida, fittingly named her ‘Shamrock.’
‘My hubby and I have been raising puppies for almost 17 years now and we have never seen something quite like that!’ Carole previously told What’s the Jam.
She and her husband were so surprised by the pup’s appearance that they tried to ‘rub’ the color off at first.
Shamrock’s colorful fur has since faded to its normal golden color.
The amount of time it takes for a puppy’s green fur to fade can vary, but the pigment usually only lasts a few weeks or months.
