Dogs too can donate blood to save their breed
Like humans, dogs too can donate blood which can be used in saving lives of the breed.
According to the director of the city’s only veterinary hospital at Parel, the dog's blood is used in the emergencies or surgeries of other dogs. Interestingly, once a dog donates blood, he can save as many as four dogs.
Earlier, a dog blood bank existed in the hospital but it was shut down. “The requirement of blood is not much due to which we do not store the blood and when it is needed, transfusion is done immediately from the other dogs which are kept in our hospital. In a month, four to five blood transfusion is done on an average as per the requirement,” Dr. Khanna said.
Before taking blood from the dog, a complete medical check-up is done just like in humans. “Each dog first underwent a medical check-up and then only they are allowed to donate blood. Moreover, compatibility test of the donor and the receiver is carried out before the actual transfusion,” a senior doctor of the veterinary hospital said.
The shelf life of dog blood is not more than 30 days and the whole procedure of blood donation is the same as a human. “The minimum age of a dog for donating blood is one to seven years and the time taken for collecting the blood is not more than 15-20 minutes. Once the blood is taken, it is separated into different components like platelets, plasma, and albumin,” the doctor said.
Blood transfusion can be done across breeds within the species. However, before drawing blood from the upper body of the dog, the vet team first draws a test sample to make sure the dog doesn’t have health complications. “The donor has to weigh at least 25kg. Dogs lose blood when they meet accident or suffer from diseases. The dog’s blood is also separated into its different components like human blood,” Dr. Khanna said.
The dog blood group proteins are however different from humans. “Dogs have the Dog Erythrocyte Antigen (DEA) blood groups which have different antigens attached to the red blood cells. DEA is blood group is also termed as Universal blood type for the dog. But new canine blood groups are still being detected, the recently discovered Dal blood group, for example, is only found in Dalmatians,” Dr. Khanna said.
At the veterinary hospital, a special waiting room has been constructed for the dogs and their owners can stay there till their allotted number is called out for treatment. “The reason behind constructing a special waiting room is because most of the time dogs refused to take treatment without their masters or owners,” a senior doctor said.