Humane societies looking for doggie blood donors
Clinic scheduled for next Monday
People can often find similarities between themselves and their pets, but, while those similarities are often adorable, they can also crop up when an emergency comes along.
Pets, just like people, can get hurt and when that injury or illness is bad enough it can require a blood transfusion. That blood has to come from another pet via the Canadian Animal Blood Bank.
It’s not something people would really think about, even as they themselves line up to donate blood, but, on Nov. 19, their pets can do the same as Niagara Falls Humane Society and Welland and District Humane Society team up to host an animal blood donor clinic for dogs.
“This is all about dogs who are ill or who have been in accidents, just like people,” said Niagara Falls Humane Society community relations co-ordinator Cathy Fugler, explaining the drive is a first for the two organizations.
The drive will be held at the Welland and District Humane Society clinic at 700 East Main St., in Welland. There are some limitations, however, regarding which dogs can donate. The dogs must weigh over 55 pounds, have an easy temperament and be up-to-date on their vaccinations, with no shots in the past four weeks.
Medical director and shelter veterinarian for Welland and District Humane Society Dr. Carol Teed said people often
don’t think about the need for dogs to donate blood, or even that pets may require transfusions in a range of circumstances from surgery to immune diseases. In fact, when it comes to dogs, blood is a little more complicated than the people that call them pets.
“It’s a little more complicated,” said Teed, adding, “they do have different blood types, or blood groups, more so than people actually.”
Teed explained like human blood, dog blood groups, are classified by the antigens in their red blood cells. The difference being, with dogs, is that there is a much wider variety of such antigen profiles, over a dozen different blood groups. That makes having a supply of the right blood important, even if Tweed admitted veterinarians are lucky, the most antigenic, or picky, blood group is also the most common, occurring in more than 50 per cent of dogs.
Leading into Giving Tuesday the event on Monday, Nov. 19, will see about 500 millilitres drawn from participating dogs. Anyone wishing to participate with their pet is asked to register ahead of time at 289-820-9651.