Blood Donor Dogs

We're all familiar with the Red Cross's need for people who will donate blood. But our pets need blood donors, too.

Dogs suffer from anemia, cancer and trauma accidents just like humans. And, like us, The Saturday Early Show's resident veterinarian Debbye Turner said, they also need blood.

At the Long Island Veterinary Specialists Clinic in New York, a typical evening at the emergency center has dogs in need of urgent care.

An animal's best chance of survival, however, may not depend on their doctors.

Dogs are saving other dogs' lives and they're doing it by donating their own blood.

"The huge majority of people that I encounter have never heard of this type of facility," said Ann Schneider, who runs the Eastern Veterinary Blood Bank Clinic in Annapolis, Maryland. "We collect about 500 units a month and each unit is separated into red blood cells and plasma for the treatment of different types of disease. If a veterinarian has a patient at his clinic that needs red blood or plasma, they'll call us."

Four pet lives can be saved by just one pint of blood.

Since the clinic opened 10 years ago, 4,000 dogs have donated their blood - all of them volunteered by their owners.

"Most of the pet owners, I believe, do it out of good will," said Schneider. "They are many times donors themselves, and they figure if they give back to the community, their dogs should also."

A 55-pound dog can donate a full pint of blood.

"I think the reason people can't donate as much percentage of their blood volume is just [because of] stress," said Schneider. "We think, 'Oh, I'm going in to donate blood!' You start shaking on your way in. And with dogs, they're shaking with excitement. It's a totally different experience."

Although there are three other national blood banks, the Eastern Veterinary Clinic is the only volunteer blood bank in the country. In return for donating blood, pets get a free physical exam and their own blood work done. Staff screen all donated blood for six common canine diseases to make sure the donor and the blood is healthy.

They look for dogs between nine months and eight years of age, over 35 pounds, whose owners are willing to have them donate blood.

"It's good to help other dogs out, they don't mind it, they're great donors," said Doberman pinscher owner Lisa Adkins. "They happily do it for the goodies and the kisses from everybody here."

Most of the dogs don't seem to object to the whole process.

"A happy donor is a good donor. So we feed them a lot," said Schneider. "We play with them, we roll around on the floor with them and make sure they like us."

And if the donor dogs can't come to the clinic, Schneider and her staff go to them. She says they do have trouble finding potential donors, and they can always use more.

All four of the nation's blood banks are in short supply. As pets are treated more like members of the family, pet owners are taking advantage of procedures that can prolong their lives. Many of these life-saving measures require lots of blood.

"There are enough dogs in this country to provide blood for those who need it," said Schneider. It can work.It should work. We've been trying hard to get the word out, but we still have a long way to go.

"We owe it to our pets to take good care of them, if someone loves their pet. If that pet has a disease where they might need a blood product, they usually need it right away. You want to know there's someone you can call, and [it] is ready to go."