Your dog can give blood too!

My sister e-mailed me about an animal blood bank in Seattle which I had never really considered before and once I did, I thought (as did she) this would be an interesting thing to mention on the blog.... who knew???

Learning about dog blood banks caused me to see if there was a similar service in Chicagoland. Somewhat unsurprisingly given the size of the city and the vast number of dogs who live here, there is at least one local canine blood bank: Chicago Veterinary Emergency Services has a blood bank and actively seeks canine blood donors.

During my research I found a report in the Chicago Tribune that there is a national shortage of dog and cat blood, particularly dog A negative blood. While I suspect this story is an example of public relations cleverly packaged as news, the story also serves to raise awareness. The link to Hemosolutions is a giveaway that they have "created" news to promote their services, but at least now people know about an apparent shortage of dog blood for transfusions, at least in Colorado.

Animal blood banks seem to be a fairly new phenomenon. This raises the question of where most of the blood needed for surgeries or transfusions comes from. There is a clue on the Hemosolutions website where they write "rather than using kennel kept dogs as many blood banks do" they seek out dogs that live with people. I'd really just as soon not think of special kennels for doggie donors....

Alas, dogs need to be at least 50 - 55 lbs to be a candidate for giving blood, so unfortunately Phoebe doesn't qualify.... which is probably just as well because I don't think she would be a willing participant. But if you have a dog of the right size and temperament, being a donor is definitely something worth considering.