Animals Need Bloodbanks Too!!!!
Sunday, February 5th, 2006Frequently pets need blood transfusions too. Some of the common reasons for transfusions that I have run into are parvovirus, acute blood loss from accidents, preventative measures when a dog with a bleeding disorder like auto immune hemolytic anemia needs surgery, bleeding disorders (AIHA) and others. Now you may think it is strange but yes there are animal blood donor banks. Veterinary clinics often do not have a clinic cat or dog that they can draw enough donor blood from so they often call upon one of the larger emergency clinics in the area or blood donor banks.
Dogs and Cats do have blood types:
Dogs have 7 major blood groups. They are labeled as DEA (Dog Erythrocyte Antigen) 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8. The DEA 1 system consists of types 1.1 and 1.2. DEA 1.1 is the most significant type and all donor dogs are tested to determine if they are positive or negative for DEA 1.1
Cats have blood types too. They are different than dogs. Cats have a blood group system called the AB system consisting of 3 blood types which are: A, B and AB.
Donors:
Large breed dogs are the ones used for donation purposes. Once typed a dog can donate once every 3 months to a clinic and approximately 450ml of blood is taken at a time. Cats must weigh over 12 lbs and a smaller amount of blood is taken from them usually at the most 50ml. Most donor clinics do not take blood from cats because they can be quite fractious without sedation so usually a clinic cat or a cat of one of the staff members at a clinic is a donor.
Dog donors cannot be unspayed females or dogs who have had a previous litter of puppies. The reason for this is that a unspayed female dog who has had a litter may create antibodies circulating in her blood. These antibodies may pose a harmful risk to the recipient dog by triggering a severe transfusion reaction.
All donors should have had all their vaccinations up to date as well.
Tags: pets, cat, dog, veterinary
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