Most of us are familiar with the idea of donating blood, and many of us know people that have needed a blood transfusion at some point in their lives. Did you know though that dogs and cats sometimes need blood transfusions too? As an emergency veterinary hospital, Balcatta Vet Hospital treats critically ill animals every day. Therefore we need instant access to fresh dog and cat blood in case one of our patients needs a blood transfusion. So how do we get fresh dog and cat blood?

 

Just like in human hospitals, Balcatta Veterinary Hospital has its own blood donation program! The heroes of our program are the many dogs and cats that are owned by our staff members. They donate blood on a regular basis so that we always have the blood we need in stock.

 

The dogs and cats that donate blood must be healthy and up-to-date with their vaccinations. They need to be a certain age (between 1 and 8 years old) and a certain weight (over 25kg for dogs and over 4.5kg for cats). To qualify, the dogs and cats are not allowed to have any long-term diseases or be on any medications. To ensure they are healthy enough to donate blood to our patients, the donors have blood tests every year, and cats have a test for cat viruses before each donation. The donors must also have a good temperament and enjoy the process of coming into the vet hospital to give blood! These criteria may seem strict, but this protocol ensures that all the blood that is transfused into our patients is only of the highest quality, giving our patients the best possible chance of making a full recovery after a blood transfusion.

 

Yes, they do! There are many different blood types in dogs, and more than one type may be present in an individual dog. However the main blood type of importance is the DEA 1 system, of which dogs may be DEA 1.1 positive or DEA 1.1 negative. Cats have three bloods types, A, B and AB. Just like with us, it is crucial that we know the blood type of a dog or cat, as they may have a reaction if they are given the wrong type of blood. All of our donor animals and patients that are receiving blood are blood-typed. This is easily done at our hospital by special test-kits that will quickly determine the blood type of an animal, so that we can start a blood transfusion in a sick animal without delay.

 

A dog or cat may need a blood transfusion for many reasons. These may include:

a.       Anaemia

b.      Severe haemorrhage (bleeding)

c.       Blood clotting problems, such as rat bait toxicity

d.      Septic shock

e.       Kidney or liver failure

f.       Low blood protein levels

 

As can be seen, there are a wide variety of diseases which may require a blood transfusion to treat them effectively. As an emergency hospital, we see cases such as these on a regular basis and as such are highly experienced with giving blood transfusions.

 

Although it is common for us to give transfusions of whole blood to our patients, it is not the only product we use. Plasma is another common blood product that may be given in certain circumstances. Plasma is the fluid component of blood, and is obtained by removing the red blood cells after blood donation. Plasma contains many of the proteins required for blood clotting, so is used mainly for clotting problems, especially rat bait toxicity and liver disease. It is also used for shock and some inflammatory conditions, such as severe pancreatitis.