New dog blood donor service a hit with vets

The online dog blood donor service that was launched last October now has over 1,000 dogs listed as potential blood donors. The service has been approved by more than 100 UK vets who have registered to use the service.

Claudia Loffler, a vet who works for the Veterinary Emergency Treatment Service in Cardiff and Ystrad Mynach recently used the website DogBloodDonors.com to help save the life of a German shepherd who had a Splenic tumour. The dog lost a large quantity of blood after an operation and was transferred to the emergency service for overnight care.

Claudia said, "After checking the dog's packed cell volume I decided that a blood transfusion was necessary and remembered the new blood donor website. I had never used it before and was pleasantly surprised that the service was free! The transfusion went well and we were able to discharge the dog the following morning. Although the dog did well for several weeks unfortunately he was diagnosed as a malignant Haemangiosarcoma of the spleen, with secondary tumours. His condition deteriorated and he was sadly euthanased."

She added, "Despite the eventual outcome I think the transfusion contributed to a quick recovery from major surgery and allowed the owners to spend some important quality time with their dog. As an emergency service we often experience problems in finding donors as our working hours are not very sociable. The long list of donor dogs and cats on the websites makes it much more likely for us to find an owner willing to come out in the middle of the night. It's a great idea and a great service."

The Dog Blood Donor Registered Service was started by Diana Cruttwell, a dog owner and her vet Dr Clive Elwood from Davies Veterinary Specialists. The idea came into fruition after Dr. Elwood saved Diana’s dog’s life as it needed a series of emergency blood transfusions.

The website, DogBloodDonors.com is an on-line register that help vets to contact dog owners who are willing to donate their pet’s blood as donors and runs alongside with CatBloodDonors.com.

Pet owners can register their pets details free of charge and vets that have registered with the service can find a potential donor and contact the pet owner directly in an emergency situation free of charge.