Pet parent explains how her dog’s fur turned green in viral Twitter thread

I was alarmed to discover that my dog turned GREEN overnight.

I had no idea why. But it turns out that, as an early Earth geochemist, I was perfectly prepared to find out! 🧵 pic.twitter.com/SnM3iwKXVM

— Dr. Stephanie Olson (@ExoStephO) July 18, 2021

Olson then came up with a conclusion that the bacteria in Olive’s saliva might have reacted with the low oxygenated environment in the dog’s neck folds, undergoing chemical changes, to give the canine’s neck a green colour.

Dog saliva contains iron porphyrins. Upon contact with oxygen, the iron is oxidized to iron oxide nanoparticles. Rust, essentially. This is why Olive and many other drooly dogs have rusty red staining by their mouths.

— Dr. Stephanie Olson (@ExoStephO) July 18, 2021

And the staining along her neck transitioned from rusty red on her chin to rusty green thanks to the combination of her unusually moist neck environment and sustained isolation from oxygen in the air—both symptoms of the cone. pic.twitter.com/CiauNjWLZ6

— Dr. Stephanie Olson (@ExoStephO) July 18, 2021

The Astrobiologist, in a series of tweets, then explained that the process is nothing but similar to what happens when iron rusts, after leaving it unprotected and exposed to air.

While Olson might have come up with a conclusion, she is still unclear on how to remove the stain from Olive’s neck. She even asked her followers for suggestions on how to remove the stain safely.

Many took to the comment section, coming up with solutions to remove the stain. Others simply thanked the astrobiologist for the information she shared on her feed.