My old Collie X used to be a regular blood donor when I worked in the vet school, there was nothing to it really, as long as the dog was calm about being shaved and having to lie still for around 5 mins.

Not sure how it works elsewhere, there was a clause there that if you brought your pet to work it could be called upon to give blood, might not be the same as a blood bank type set up? I have no idea, sorry!

Winter, Kalli and Anoush are all registered,









didn't get a pic of Anoush on the table



It is a worthwhile cause IMO and the nurses are really brilliant with them.

Here is an article I wrote for my website about Fleet and Flash as blood doners -

Both ‘Boys’ are blood donors – here is their story:-

Theo is the treasured companion and competitive obedience dog belonging to a friend of mine. Although Alison has other dogs of her own, and as a police dog handler, her working canine companions, Dobermann, Theo holds a special place in her heart.

When he was taken seriously ill, she was devastated and in order to save his life, Theo needed a blood transfusion. However, vets are unable to store blood without a licence and the hunt was on to find a donor. Alison was fortunate enough to have enough doggy friends who rallied round and provided a suitable canine donor – thus Theo’s life was saved.

Apparently the vet didn’t keep a list of possible donors and it was up to the poor dog’s owner at a time of great distress, to try and find a suitable match. Alison was lucky, but many others might not be so.

My own vet has two surgeries and a hospital providing 24 hour emergency cover with state of the art facilities so I asked what they would do. They were not licenced to store blood but did have a list of possible donors. Donors have to be over 30 kilos and in good health, so I offered the services (unknown to them) of the lovely Fleet and Flash.

Three years and many more trips to the vet later I had a phone call from them asking if I could bring in one of the boys – they were expecting a poorly dog who would require blood.

My hero was Fleet. He said ‘I’m your man’ and happily popped into the car and we drove to the hospital. The blood was taken from his neck which has to be shaved (so don’t take someone you are showing that week!) – they said they may have to sedate him, but he didn’t notice anything and sat there quite happily during the whole proceedings and was delighted with the offer of sausages as a reward – and still had room for his dinner when he got home.

The poorly dog was successfully treated and returned to his grateful owner.

You never know when you might be in the position of Theo and his owner, Alison – it could well be my turn next – however I hope because I have made a small contribution to someone else, I could at some time in the future be repaid in kind.

About a year after I wrote this story, I had a phone call from Deirdre and Derek – good friends of mine who had become so because they owned Pippin who is Fleet and Flash’s litter brother.

Pippin is their ‘raison d’etre’ – he is spoiled without being ruined and wants for nothing. However, the Saturday saw him off his food, but he perked up for a bit of chicken in the evening. The next day he was under the weather and fell down the three steps from the kitchen to the living room. They took him to the vets first thing Monday who could not ascertain what was wrong. H was having great difficulty breathing and a raging temperature.

They had him booked in with the groomer who had cancelled so they bathed him themselves. They also ‘Frontlined’ him, but I have not heard of any adverse reactions to this. His booster had been 9 months previously; he had not eaten, drunk, been anywhere or done anything different. He is not overweight or underweight. He doesn’t suffer from any allergies to food or the environment. He is a big strong boy in the prime of his life.

For something as major as this you would think that there should have been something momentous to start it off.

As their vet was unable to make a diagnosis and could not control his raging temperature, Pippin was transferred to Liverpool Veterinary Hospital.

I offered them Fleet and Flash should they need a blood donor.

Tests at Liverpool revealed a mass in his abdomen, his temperature was out of control and he was in great pain which they were also having trouble controlling. His breathing was still bad and they needed to do a biopsy, but his blood was failing to clot. So Fleet and Flash were invited to Liverpool to give a unit of blood each, which they did – Fleet quite happily, but poor Flash got so excited he had to be sedated.

Pippin

Sadly, Pippin didn’t survive long enough for the blood to be used. There was no diagnosis and we are waiting the results of the Post Mortem.

Deirdre and Derek are devastated. Pippin was not quite 7 years old.

ADDENDUM

The Post Mortem results revealed that Pippin died of an overwhelming bacterial infection called Klevsiella. We will never know how or where he contacted it.


Thalice's Mum

My 2 are blood donors with PBB, Throp's done about 6 donations and new girl Hattie has recently done her 2nd. They both prefer donating where they can lounge out getting strokes off the vet nurses to the check up. Throp can be a bit shy but the team are great with him and he's improved since we started going. If they don't feel the dog is comfortable then they don't proceed.

Its a good cause and is easy for us to make time for being an hour every 3-4 months. It has some benefits for us with a health check up each time and annual blood screening and the dogs like the extra dinner & treats

My GSD is a blood donor registered with a 24hr vet hosp a few towns away
there are just 2 types of blood in dogs the first time a dog recieves blood it doesnt have to be a match but after that it does - when Zandi has given blood they have kept him there for quite a few hours after and given him some recovery food

If you and your dog are happy and able to give blood then please please do.

Toby came so close to needing a transfusion earlier this year and I'm ashamed to admit that until that point I had never even considered where doggie blood came from. It was so comforting to know there were people out there who were willing to help.

Also many thanks again to Wildmoor for her kindness (I had your phone number with me night and day and it was a great comfort)

Think I'm definatley going to do it, Bailey seems ideal There isn't anywhere near here in anytime soon so I'll keep my eye on the website for them coming closer - Sheffield's the closet but it's a bu**er to get around and is probably about a 45 min drive from here but could take over an hour to get to the place they list for it.

Got to take Kiz back to my vets next week so I'll speak to them as well and see where they get their blood from and maybe go on their register (if they have one)

*on the verge of passing out* But I had to keep reading.. the pictures didn't help close my eyes next time

your welcome , just glad Toby made a full recovery having lost a dog myself to the same condition

Phoebe does it, weve been called in twice over 4 years. Both times for dogs that had a car accident. She doesnt seam to mind bit tired after
They seam to get it fresh at my vets as they call you in when they need it. They use the local police dogs first then on to customers that have registered. My vets is a big hospital so this may not be how its done at smaller vets