HUBBALLI: A story of a dog donating blood to save the life of another is no everyday occurence. Such an incident was reported in the Hubballi-Dharwad twin cities where Charlie, a German Shepherd, donated blood to save the life of ailing Maya, a Belgian Shepherd who works as security dog at the Hubballi airport. Maya is recovering and will be back on Airport duty within a week.
It all began when Maya, a 15-month-old sniffer dog at the Hubballi Airport, contracted Ehrlichia, a bacterial disease that causes fever, bleeding, poor appetite, and lethargy. The disease is caused when an infected tick bites dogs. Timely treatment is vital.
The airport staff took Maya to the veterinary hospital at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) campus in Dharwad for treatment a few days ago. There was no improvement initially and she began to bleed too.
On Sunday, the doctors decided to transfuse blood. Now it was a challenge to find a dog with Maya's blood group to make the donation possition. There are eight types of blood groups among dogs and finding a donor is never easy.
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Luckily on Sunday, as part of Krishi Mela 2022, a dog show was organised in the University of Agricultural Sciences campus, where hundreds of dogs participated. Charlie was among them. The doctors after confirming the match approached Charlie's owner, Somshekhar Channashetty, also an animal rescuer. He agreed to the donation.
Charlie, an eight-year-old dog from Dharwad, had earlier saved the life of a rottweiler by donating blood last year. The rottweiler had lost a lot of blood following an accident.
Dr AS Patil, professor and head of the Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad said, "Maya's haemoglobin count had fallen to 7.3 and was nearing the danger mark of six. So, we decided to transfuse blood on Sunday. After the transfusion of blood, Maya was discharged on Sunday itself. Now, she is recovering and healthy. During Monday’s check-up, we found her to be more active."
Maya is a sniffer dog at the Hubballi Airport and helps cops check baggages for the presence of drugs and explosives.