Need for dog blood donors

 Advances in medicine saving our pets' lives

We’ve all heard about the need for donating blood, but have you heard about blood donations for dogs?

Advances in veterinary medicine promote the need as many more life saving procedures are done on our pets and blood transfusions are helping save their lives, too.

Oscar de la Blue is healthy again after battling a dangerous dog virus that could have ended his life.

Oscar's owner, Jay says, "There were a couple of days where he was just kind of a shell of a puppy."

Thanks to  blood donor Sparkle, Oscar was given life-saving plasma and another chance.

For every unit of blood that she gives, she will help at least two other dogs. Sparkle donates once a month, and at 30 units so far has saved 60 lives. She's also on a 24 hour emergency call list.

Doctors calls dogs like Sparkle superheroes. "Animals that are bleeding or have problems being able to clot their blood, you know they really need those blood products, and they are life saving for those animals."

Dogs have seven blood types, about 40% are universal donors making them ideal candidates. Dogs also should be at least one year old, weigh 55 lbs and have a pleasant personality.

Canine blood donations take about ten minutes with little to no recovery time.

Cats can also donate to other cats, but unlike dogs, they must be sedated and usually live at the hospital in a donor habitat.

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