Coco’s gift of life to Leo gives city 1st canine blood transfusion of yr
Times of India | 27 February 2025
12 Kolkata: They say it's a dog-eat-dog world. Not if you go by the story of Leo and Coco. The latter, a golden retriever, on Tuesday donated blood to the former, an acutely unwell Dobermann — marking not only the city's first canine transfusion of the year, but also gifting her four-legged friend a second shot at life.
The two dogs are residents of Jagaddal in North 24 Parganas. The transfusion itself was carried out at an animal pathology facility in south Kolkata that started operations about a month ago.
The 10-month-old Leo has a blood disorder and a spleen tumour that could be malignant. His haemoglobin count dropped to 3 on Monday, against a minimum safe level of 14.1.
Luckily, Leo's human, Satyajit Kumar Vidyarthi, found a donor in Jagaddal itself: the five-year-old Coco, a part of Rishee Kanta Mukherjee's family.
The dogs came to Animal Health Pathology Lab at Dover Terrace near Deshapriya Park on Tuesday, where doctors performed the transfusion. Leo is doing well, Vidyarthi said.
Leo's human, Satyajit Kumar Vidyarthi, said: "Doctors have suggested another transfusion soon. For the second transfusion, we will have to find a matching donor." He told TOI that Leo, whom he adopted eight months ago, had been ill for the last one-and-a half-months. "Vets initially suspected a renal issue but an USG threw up a spleen tumour, which caused the blood disorder and brought down Leo's haemoglobin." Leo has now gone back to his Jagaddal home.
If Rishee Kanta Mukherjee had any initial misgiving about subjecting Coco to donate blood, it soon disappeared. "I hesitated initially when I came to know that Vidyarthi was looking for a donor," he said, "but I made up my mind when I realised that Coco's blood could save the life of another dog. We ran a few tests on her, and were relieved to find out that she was fit for donation."
S Mondal, who performed the procedure on Leo, said: "For a first-time transfusion, matching groups are not a must. But, when Leo needs a subsequent transfusion, a matching donor will be required."
Private vet Archan Roy, who had earlier examined Leo, said dogs who undergo transfusion have to be monitored closely for allergic reactions. "I hope Leo responds to treatment and gets well soon," he added.
About two or three blood transfusions are carried on pet dogs in the city per year, vets said. Facilities for animal blood transfusion are in Salt Lake, Dover Terrace (Ballygunge), Belgachhia and Barrackpore.
The Coco-Leo story has not escaped the notice of even Trinamool neta Kunal Ghosh, a self-confessed animal lover, who wished for Leo's quick recovery on social media and posted that he was "glad to know" that the centre performed such complicated procedures.
Sushmita Roy, an animal rights activist, said more research needed to be done on animal transfusions, as there were some "life risks" associated with the procedure.