The Animal Hospital at Murdoch University wants more pet blood donors

Suzie Day-Davies can’t be a blood donor herself, but she has volunteered her pet dog to help save lives of the furry kind.

Greyhound Goldie has gone under the needle 10 times over the past two years as part of Murdoch University animal hospital’s blood donation program.

“My mum and dad both donated blood in my childhood so even though I can’t personally donate, taking a couple of hours out of my day to volunteer and bring Goldie in, it’s really quite important to us,” Ms Day-Davies said.

“We always really enjoy it when we receive a letter or a note from families after they received her blood.

“Even if it doesn’t have a happy outcome, it means that dogs receiving blood is an option, and it can make all the difference for another dog’s life. 

“That may well be [Goldie’s] life some day.”

Vets volunteer own pets

The Animal Hospital’s Claire Sharp said the clinic started its donation program in 2016 in response to a rise in dog and cat blood transfusions.

Before this, Dr Sharp said vets would collect blood from their own pets.

“If other hospitals don’t have enough blood for their patients, they’ll often refer their patients here for donation.”

The program now has more than 70 regular dog donors and 50 cat donors, with Dr Sharp saying the blood bank was one of the largest in the country.

But Dr Sharp said it was often difficult to keep up with demand for blood.

“We’ve seen growth year on year, particularly during COVID, as more people brought pets into their lives, and also as the quality of veterinary care is increasing, people realise what is available and they want the absolute best for their pet,” she said.

How does it work?

Dog donors must weigh more than 20 kilograms and be aged between one and eight, with donations accepted from cats weighing upwards of 4.5kg in the same age range.

Cats are sedated during the five-minute procedure, but dogs are not.

Vets collect 450 millilitres of blood from dogs — the same amount collected from humans donating blood — and about 54ml from cats.

The blood is separated into plasma and red blood cells, which can be stored for 12 months and about 30 days respectively.

It is then used to treat animals experiencing blood loss from injury and surgery, or other conditions like anaemia, cancer or parasitic infections.

Dr Sharp said the clinic doesn’t take donations from pets that show distress.

“Although the dogs can’t tell us that they volunteer, we also want to see their behaviour that suggests that they are volunteering, that they’re happy to come,” she said.

Peak demand at Christmas 

Dr Sharp said Christmas was the clinic’s busiest time of year and encouraged pet owners to consider taking part in the blood donation program.

“People are out and about with their pets more, so more opportunity for pets to have accidents,” she said.

“A lot of local vets close over the holiday period, and so those emergency centres that are open have a much increased caseload.”

Donations are accepted from all eligible pets, but Dr Sharp said greyhounds like Goldie and Christien Tandi’s Jojo were excellent blood donors.

“Greyhounds love to lie still,” she said.

“They also have great veins, so it’s very easy to collect a donation from them and because they’ve been bred for endurance exercise, they also have a very high red blood cell count.

“Their owners are often extremely altruistic, because they’ve rescued a greyhound dog, and so they want to be able to help other dogs out there.”

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