A team of veterinary surgeons based outside Birmingham has performed the world’s first body transplant in a dog. 

The procedure was performed on a 13-year-old Siberian Husky called Marigold, which was diagnosed with a malignant mammary tumour last year.

Unfortunately, despite £20,000 worth of radiotherapy, Marigold failed to respond to treatment, and the tumour spread. 

Marigold’s owner, Mrs Norma Pophosherti from Derby said: “We couldn’t bear to part with Marigold, she’s one of the family, so when we heard about the groundbreaking work being done at the University of Bromsgrove Veterinary School, we had to give it a go. 

Unfortunately there was no realistic prospect of a donor from a matching breed of dog.

Thankfully, though, a local man with a 4-year-old Labrador stepped forward to help. 

Hit by the cost of living crisis, he’d been unable to afford to keep his dog and was about to have it put to sleep when he heard about the Phophosherti family’s search for a donor.

Although he wished to remain anonymous, he said: “It gives me great comfort to think that Buddy will be able to live on, and spare the Phophoshertis from the pain of losing their beloved Marigold”

Professor Flora Olip MRCVS led a team of 6 veterinary surgeons who undertook the 28 hour procedure, which is estimated to have cost over £100,000. 

She said: “This was a very tricky procedure which probably only had a 30% chance of success.

"But I’m delighted to say that Marigold’s new body has taken well, and she can now look forward to perhaps a whole more year with Phophosherti family, albeit as less of a Siberian Husky, and more of what you might call a Huskador"

Flora added: “More importantly, this heralds the way for similar procedures in humans, which I think are probably just a few years away now.”

Photo: Marigold, now one-third Siberian Husky, two-thirds Labrador.

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