It's a great opportunity and I'm glad we will get to experience it. My donater has hip dysplasia and takes daily glucosamine supplements, fish oil supplements, and vitamin c for his allergies, but it was no issue and he qualified anyway. The vet said that if he's not on very high doses, normally it doesn't show up in tests and isn't a huge deal. Maybe pain medication is different, though.

In other news, long term pain medication isn't usually a good idea as it will reduce how effective the medication is once the pain gets worse. My doctor told my mother this as she was taking pain medication because she knew she'd begin hurting, and it was starting to not help as much.

The condition will likely need pain medication, or even surgery in the future (he's only 2), but for now he's doing great and has no mobility issues or obvious pain at all. My other dog is slightly above the weight limit, but is 11 so way above the age limit. I doubt she'd let them take any blood anyway.

Strangely our Jasper stood in as a blood donor on Friday for the first time, it was for a dog who had eaten rat poison.
I think dogs have to be over 25, although my vets prefer 30 ( jasper is 27kgs), they have to be under 8 years old and healthy. When we arrived Jasper had a blood test to check he was well himself, they sedated him and took off about 300mls of blood. We left him while this happened.
I did feel a bit guilty putting him through it, but if it were my dog dying, I would be so grateful for my dog to get the chance of survival.
We came back about 40mins later, the vets had reversed the sedation, but not fully to keep him a bit more quiet overnight.
We had to keep him fairly quiet the next few days, but he was really ok.

The change in the dog was apparently almost instant. She went home the next day and her bloods today were fine.
We are particularly proud as Jasper was saved from pts 3 years ago!

That is brilliant. Well done Jasper - and you!

Oh, excellent! Good work. I hope my captain's blood saves a life.

I just thought I'd let you know that Jasper has been a blood donor again. I got to watch the whole procedure of him giving blood. It was interesting and reassuring to see and It looks like Jasper has saved another life. 😊

My boy has now done it several times and we've even gotten a postcard from a doggy who used his blood. They don't keep Nigredo overnight and they don't sedate him. He does act wonky from the blood loss, but a nap once he gets home and he's perfectly fine. I'd be concerned if it took him days to recover. I always sit right beside him as he donates, it's really not that bad. He gets a treat afterwards.