Animals can be blood donors, too!

[Kitah]

I got home a little while ago from the JCU vet hospital, because I got a call to take one of my cats, Taz, in to donate blood. There's another cat there with a PCV of 15% that needed it.

The reason I registered Taz to be a blood donor there was because I know that if it were one of my cats needing a transfusion, I would be extremely grateful if someone else could take the time to donate blood! Taz is a very, VERY laid back cat, loves strangers, loves going for a walk down the street etc. on a lead (indoor cat), and is just very chilled out- another main reason why I volunteered him.

When I took him up for his initial checkup and blood typing at the start of the year, it turns out his type is "B" which is rare in Australia, but it is safe to give to both type A and B cats, wheras type A cannot be given to type B cats.

Anyway, some pictures of the brave boy. He tolerated it very well!

Back from the hospital

Kit checking that Taz is ok

Taz's 'reward.'

 

[jungleboogie]

Im very interested in this and would like some info on how 2 register my cats als!!

 

[Kitah]

I'm not sure who down in Brissie takes feline blood donors, but you could ask around at your local vet clinics, and the university of QLD, see if they take any for their hospital. Up in Townsville the staff member organising the donors sent out an email to staff and students doing vet science requesting blood donors, but at the time they were restricting it to students and staff only. I'm not sure if they've started taking 'public' donors yet though.

At JCU, they don't have enough need for cat blood to keep a blood 'bank' as such, as the blood would expire before it was used, so at the moment they just call the owners to bring cats in when blood is required. Hence the phone call today They did mention that as the hospital grows and becomes better known (its only fairly recently opened) they may start a feline blood bank.

What they did the first time I took him in was do a full physical examination and take blood to check his blood type. Then today, when I was called to take him in, they hooked him up to IV fluids. After a while they took the blood from his jugular vein, collecting 50mL of blood in a large syringe. they then moved the blood into an infusion bag and started infusing the other cat while I was still there. Taz stayed on the IV fluids for quite a while as he recovered from the sedative, and then we came home!

Just as a note, I wouldn't recommend that you register your cats as donors if they stress out very easily. It can be pretty stressful, though they are sedated, and it just makes it very difficult for the cat and the staff, and I'm not sure they'd accept cats that stress out too much, for the sake of the cat.

And I know Taz helped save a life today hopefully the other cat pulls through

 

[Darlyn]

What a great story. Well done both of you!

 

[cactus2u]

Cool good onya Never heard of it before Do they require dogs as well? Reminds me the vampires just sent me a letter requesting my blood

 

[euphorion]

Well done Taz! Such a lovely kitteh

 

[Kitah]

Cactus2u, they do take dogs as well, as far as I know. Dogs blood is more often required than cats, generally There are also less transfer risks with dogs, as their blood groups are somewhat more compatible- for teh first transfusion, a dog can receive blood from any other dog/blood group and be fine (the red cells just have a shortened life span) but any transfusions after that, they have to be blood typed.

 

[cactus2u]

thanks Kitah will check out JCU here in Cairns

 

[Kitah]

I'm not sure the Cairns JCU would take blood- they only take it here because of the new veterinary hospital. You could ask your local vet clinic if they need donors, or know of places that do?

 

[jungleboogie]

Thanks so much for that Kitah i have one stressy cat but my other 2 babies should be fine im going to ask qround and find out!!!

 

[Snowman]

There's thousands of cats in shelters that end up being euthanised. Why don't they take thier blood if there is a demand?

 

[Kitah]

There isn't actually that much demand for cat blood, as far as I know- the JCU vet hospital just contacts donors as they are needed, and they don't keep a blood bank because the blood would expire before it was needed, generally. There are also a lot of ethical issues regarding shelter and RSPCA animals, from the publics perspective. I think a large proportion of the public were against using these animals even though they were going to be euthanised anyway. Its sad that these animals are euthanised (and I blame the irresponsible people that don't desex their pets, or buy an animal and then dump it at a shelter etc) but they could be used. For example, at the university (I'm studying vet) they often have a great deal of difficulty getting animals for us to learn anatomy, practice surgery on, post mortems etc, but we're not allowed to use the euthanised RSPCA or shelter animals.

I suppose another factor for not using shelter cats for blood donations is that the turnover rate at shelters is relatively high at some (they can only hold onto the cats for so long) which means its not practical to test them all for blood borne abnormalities, vaccination status, blood type, and they don't often have a decent history on the animal. So by the time they got through all of that stuff, the patient requiring the transfusion may have already died.