Scent to save us
DOG’S SNIFF SAVED MUM
A GRATEFUL new mum is convinced her dog saved her life – and her baby’s – after sniffing out a killer bug.
Alhanna Butler, 21, whose pet Keola is an American akita, started feeling ill when she was pregnant.
What prompted her to get checked out was Keola’s strange behaviour.
Alhanna, a healthcare assistant, said: “I have absolutely no doubt that both me and my son Lincoln would not be here today if it wasn’t for Keola.”
She had developed excruciating back pain 16 weeks in to her pregnancy.
Art first doctors said it was due to the pressure her baby was putting on her small frame.
But back home she saw two-year-old Keola was acting bizarrely.
Alhanna said: “It got to the stage where she wouldn’t leave my side. At night, I’d sit and watch TV and she’d just sit and stare at me. I couldn’t even go to the toilet on my own.
“I joked to my partner Ricky that perhaps Keola was trying to tell me something as I’d once seen a film about OUR vet Brian Faulkner, from Petplan, has 16 years of experience and is a freelance working all over the country. Send your questions to Brian at: Petplan, Great West House, Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 9DX or via Petplan’s Facebook page facebook.com/ PetplanUK. a dog who tries to save his owner’s life. This went on for two weeks.
“Just before I collapsed, Keola tried to block the door so I couldn’t leave the house to go to work.
“It was then I decided to go to the hospital as a precaution, never thinking my life was on the line.”
But Alhanna, from Doncaster, South Yorks, collapsed when she arrived at A&E. She ended up in intensive care with an antibiotic-resistant bug and a double kidney infection.
Doctors said she would have died if she had left it any longer.
She said: “I was out of it for about a week. I don’t remember anything.”
Lincoln was born in November. A video tribute to Keola has since gone viral, with more than 4.5 million views.
Now Keola is a finalist in the caring animal of the year category in the prestigious Animal Hero Awards, organised by our sister paper the Daily Mirror and the RSPCA.
Alhanna said: “The bond between Keola and Lincoln is indescribable. She’s an amazing dog and neither of us would be here without her.” OUR rabbit likes staying outside in his hutch all day and night in summer, rather than being moved indoors. Can they cope OK with that?
Caring