Canine blood donation

Bog's post about the neighborhood dog getting shot got me thinking about this, and it occurred to me that some folks might not know about it!

There are canine blood drives all over the nation all the time. You can contact your vet to find out if your dog is a good donor candidate. After September 11th, we took one of our dogs (he was the only viable donor we had) in three times to donate his blood on the same days I went to donate mine! One donation from a healthy dog can save the lives of 4 other critically injured or ill dogs. And my guy got Burger King fries for being a good boy at the doc's, so everyone was happy!

From what I recall, to be a viable donor your dog has to be younger than 8 years, weigh more than 50 pounds, and have the "universal" doggy blood type. (About 1 in 15 dogs has the right blood type.) You take your dogs in and they test them for blood type and any transmittable diseases. They can't be on any medications other than heartworm prevention, and they have to be up-to-date on their shots. Some vets will perform the screening for free, which gives you a free physical for your dog! Then, if he's a good candidate, his blood could save someone else's sweetie.

There is a huge shortage of canine blood in banks, and of course it doesn't "keep" for very long. So everybody please call your vets and find out where you can take your pooch to give blood. A transfusion could've saved Bog's neighbor's dog.

I did not know about that but I think it's a great idea.

One of the reason that Sahara had to be put to sleep is because even if they had been able to fix her leg (most likely not) she would have kept reinfecting because she had lost so much blood.

I'll ask next time I'm at the vet to see if we have something like that.

I didnt know either so thanks for sharing your knowledge

Only got a 38lb dog here though so unfortunately cant help

Wow that's the first time i've heard of that.

Yes, we have it in Indiana. I think it's a great idea.!! I haven't been able to do it yet but if I had a dog that would qualify , sure would ! I've always wondered about organ donations in dogs. So many are put down....could they help others ???

My dogs don't qualify (Blackie is too old and Rose has received a blood transfusion) or I would donate. I'm forever grateful for anybody who has or will donate because if this practice wasn't avalible, Rose would have died when she just turned 4. She had got into some mousepoisen and we rushed her to the vet. She had to have some blood transfusions and those saved her life. So I thank the people that have taken the time to donate, because they will save some dogs life.

I don't remember where, but I heard if your dog wasn't a universal donor type, you could still have blood taken to store for your dog. I'd donate if Chief was able, but he's only 35 lbs.

Is it true that greyhounds are more likely than other breeds to have the universal blood type?

Wow, that's a great idea. The only problem I would have, is that I don't do vaccinations every year after the puppy shots and a couple of boosters. So, they probably wouldn't want it. But I think that's a wonderful thing to do. Thanks for telling us about it.

Just dug this old thread up! Bump, for those who don't know yet.

It's a really good idea - never heard of it before, not sure whether they do it here, but then I guess they must do to get their canine blood for ops.