At Miller & Swann Veterinary Surgery, we are always looking for blood donors to use in case of an emergency. As storage of blood is impractical over long periods of time and blood can take a while to arrive from pet blood banks, we would like to encourage any healthy pets to donate blood in emergency situations.
Ideally we are looking for healthy, quiet and calm dogs weighing over 25kg.
Blood transfusions are not a common procedure, but are always an emergency, meaning you may be contacted on an evening or weekend. We will however never contact you late at night – staff dogs are saved for the out of hours emergencies.
What to expect if we use your dog as a donor:
- Your dog’s leg or neck will be shaved and a catheter placed.
- Blood will then be collected via this catheter into a specially designed bag. On average we take around 350ml, but a large dog can easily spare this. We may give your dog a mild sedative if required.
- Donating can take up to 10 minutes, so you dog must be of a patient nature.
- Once the blood has been collected it will immediately be given to the dog in need, dogs blood does not need to be matched between the donor and the recipient for a single transfusion.
- After donating blood your dog will be given a tin of fatty food to give them a boost. They may be a little lethargic and in rare cases vomit following donation.
If you are interested you will be asked to sign a consent form that will be held on file and renewed regularly to ensure you are still happy for us to use your dog.
We would be most grateful if you would consider your dog as a donor animal and would keep you updated regarding the circumstances in which the donated blood was used.
If you would like to be added to our blood register, please do not hesitate to call us on 01343 542255.