Learn About Dog Blood Donation

Perhaps, as with me so far, this was a topic you had never stopped to think about. But the truth is, what happens if a dog has an accident and needs a transfusion? Where is the blood obtained from? And now that we think about it, do dogs have different blood types? Today we’re going to go deeper into this topic and explain some points about dog blood donation. We invite everyone to learn together with us.

Steps to follow for a canine blood donation

As in the case of humans, exhaustive exams are also performed on dogs to find out if their health status is good enough to have a canine blood transfusion.

It needs to be clearly determined that the dog is free from anemia, internal damage, chronic illnesses and other things that could cause the blood to not be 100%.

Which Dogs Need a Canine Transfusion?

Transfusions are of special importance for those dogs that:

• They are suffering from hemorrhages from some kind of illness;
• Those who suffer from anemia;
• Those who suffered serious accidents and lost blood;
• Those who may have some kind of disease that can contaminate the blood.

How many blood types are there for dogs?

The amount that is taken from a dog for a blood donation is the same as that taken from people, a little less than half a liter, or to be exact, 450 milliliters.

In dogs there are 8 different blood types which are as follows:

• DEA 1.1;
• 1.2;
• 3;
• 4;
• 5;
• 6;
• 7;
• 8.

The most important and common are AED 1.1 and 1.2, so ideally the canine donor has this blood type in its negative form.

When a dog is going to be transfused for the first time, it is not necessary to ensure the blood type, as there is no case of canine transfusion rejection. However, if at later dates the same dog is to undergo another canine transfusion, it must be of the same blood type as the dog.

How should a donor dog be?

Due to the exhaustive examinations a dog undergoes to determine if it can be a donor, they should be in excellent health. They must have all the vaccines up to date, be completely dewormed and not have any type of infectious disease.

For a year, before being a donor, the dog will undergo two complete exams to prove that everything is fine and that there was no type of “hidden” disease that had not yet manifested itself.

Dogs must weigh at least 20 kilos, and dogs with a calm personality like the Labrador are much better, since it would not be necessary to resort to sedatives to perform the extraction. A dog can donate blood every 8 weeks.

Where can canine blood donation be performed?

The fact is that there is little awareness of this topic in most countries, and there are very few blood banks where we can take our pets to donate blood.

It’s a shame as more and more dogs need a canine transfusion. We at My Pets want to call on everyone with pets to be generous and help save the lives of other people’s pets.

The different blood banks are usually located in different veterinary universities, and therefore usually the dogs that are located there or those of researchers and students who are daily in the place are the only canine blood donors that exist. However, its doors are open to anyone who wants to take their pet.

The animal will not suffer any damage and everything is done completely free of charge. Help other families get their pets to stay with them.

If you don’t know where to go to donate your pet’s blood, talk to your veterinarian so he can point you to a place that specializes in this type of donation.