We have volunteered our Milo as a blood donor at the vets!

Wondered if anyone else had done this or heard of it? How did your dog react? Do you do it regularly?

First I heard was today when we had the cats up there yet again!

Think its a great idea.
Got to take one of ours to the vets today so i'll enquire about it.

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Here is some information that I got from Tootsies dog carers monthly newsletter on blood donation - hope it is alright to cut and paste it
Across the UK the Pet Blood Bank has 450 donors providing 1000 units of blood products for emergencies. In simple terms 100's of dogs are still alive today thanks to the work of the Pet Blood Bank. Pet Blood Bank UK is a charitable organisation that collects, stores and supplies blood products for immediate use in an emergency. There are lots of reasons why your pet could need a transfusion - road traffic accidents or where there is blood loss, major surgery, treatment of diseases that destroy the red blood cells etc. The bloods and plasma can also be used to treat gastroenteritis, to provide immunity for example in severe viruses such as parvo, or in blood clotting disorders such as haemophilia when an affected dog is at risk of bleeding to death from a small injury. Without the Blood Bank we would go back to the dark ages of vets ringing around in an emergency to find a donor - a practice fraught with problems, not least running out of time. Donor dogs must be between 1 and 8 years old, over 25kg in weight and be fit and healthy. Dogs need to be of a calm nature as they will need to lie still. There are benefits to being a blood donor too, the dogs receive a full clinical examination, and first time donors will have a full health profile run to ensure they are healthy on the inside as well - all free of charge.
Hope it helps somebody but Tootsie is too small to donate and would probably try to take the arm off the nurse if she came anywhere near her with a syringe

I may look into that at our vets not sure if they do it , I was also thinking of being a blood donor a couple of my friends do it .

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i heard about this a couple of weeks ago.. you can register cats aswell.
I think its a very worthy cause. I am a blood donor - the first time i went, i threw up everywhere.... very embaressing!

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Kelsie

where do ya have to go to do that?


lol.........i cant give blood

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Vets4Pets are doing it, they still need more volunteers before they can do it though.

Most vets have canine blood donors. When i did my work experience 5 years ago at the vets, there was a grey hound that gave blood, it didnt take very long and as payment the dog was given a few cans of dog food as a thankyou.
if you decide that you want your dog to give blood, remember you wont be paid money but your dog will be rewarded with food!

A standard blood donation in the dog is 450ml (‘one canine unit’) and this can safely be obtained from a 25kg dog; smaller amounts may be obtained from smaller dogs.

Donor animals should be checked by a veterinary surgeon that they are fit and healthy enough before making a blood donation, in which case the risks of donation are very small.

Repeated blood donations over a relatively short period of time can lead to anaemia, and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. For this reason, after a donation is made and recorded on your vets database, the donor will be blocked from being called via the registry for three months.

An ideal blood donor is a friendly, healthy, clinically normal animal that is not pregnant or has not produced a litter if an unspeyed bitch. Donors should be vaccinated (although not within 10-14 days before donation) and free of infections and parasites, especially blood borne disease.

Dogs like humans, have blood groups and can be blood typed. Ideally, donor and recipient should be type matched. As well as typing donor and recipient, cross-matches can be performed to confirm compatibility, and are recommended where the recipient has had a previous transfusion.

This test involves incubating donor and recipient serum and red blood cells and looking for a reaction outside of the body that indicates an increased risk of a reaction inside the body if the transfusion is given.

to find out about canine blood donors you can visit: Dog Blood Donors, register your dog to help save a pet's life!

OR visit: www.rvc.ac.uk/.../BloodDonorClinic.cfm

hope this helps

Wow...well u learn something new everyday!!!!

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do i just ring up n say cassie would do it or do i need to call in?

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