A seven-year-old boy with type 1 diabetes was saved by a dog that was taught to detect blood sugar levels, according to the boy’s parents.
When Thomas French of South Ockendon, Essex, had his levels checked by his parents, they found nothing abnormal, but Poppy, a dog from the Hypo Hounds charity in Kent, knew otherwise.
Jennifer Whiberley, Thomas’s mother, described Poppy as being “frantic.”
With his blood pressure dropping, the kid was taken to the hospital and treated.
Thomas frequently experiences hypoglycaemic attacks because he lacks hypoawareness, or the ability to recognise when his blood sugar levels are getting dangerously low, according to Ms. Whiberley.
This is how we qualified for our springer spaniel diabetic alert dog, Poppy, who warns us when his blood sugar levels need to be adjusted and are going high or low.
But Poppy knew otherwise and behaved as if we had never seen her before when Thomas’ technology equipment told us his levels were good.
“Poppy is trained to use her paw to notify us so Thomas can check his bloods, so when she was acting so insistently, we realised something wasn’t right.”
When they tested him a little while later, his blood sugar levels were normal, but Thomas was “crashing severely,” and sugary drinks did not help.
His mother claimed that his lips were going blue, and an ambulance was called to take him to the hospital.
Once he was stable, he went back home, but Poppy, a 2-year-old, reportedly wouldn’t leave his side.
“She dozed off on him all day. I believe she was uneasy.
“They have such a close relationship.
