'She loves it': dogs donate blood and save lives

Mabel didn't want to save lives. In fact, the six-year-old greyhound has been known to fall asleep on the job. The former runner - despite finishing last in 43 out of 58 matches - now excels in a whole different area, as the champion pet blood donor.

"She loves it," says her owner, Julia Purton. Mabel is a people-oriented dog and loves her food, Purton says, so the combination of fussy staff and hearty treats means a trip to the blood bank has become his favorite outing.

It's obvious on reflection that animals need a blood transfusion, but that's just after a change in the law in 2005 it became possible to collect, process, store and distribute pet blood to UK vets in the same way as the national human blood bank operates.

"Demand is high and ongoing," says Wendy Barnett, who launched Pet Blood in 2007 Bank UK, the country's only charity blood bank for vets, after working as a veterinary nurse in an emergency clinic. "I saw with my own eyes how difficult it was - the blood could only come from someone the owner knew, maybe a family member or a friend's dog, and if a transfusion was needed on weekends or at night, it was really difficult."

The service is for dogs and alpacas, with a request for extension to cats currently under review by the regulator.

This week Pet Blood Bank UK launched a new blood product, Canine Platelet Concentrate, offering a more effective treatment of haemorrhages potentially fatal. In addition to platelets, which are essential to the clotting process, dog blood is broken down into other components, including plasma and red blood cells, to aid in the treatment of a range of chronic conditions and emergencies ranging from anemia and hemophilia to rat bait poisoning. p>

Like humans, dogs have different blood types: in the UK, vets identify dogs as positive or negative for the DEA1 antigen. With only around 30% of dogs having the negative blood type – which can be given to a dog of either blood type in an emergency – it is the one in greatest demand. The blood bank is particularly keen to recruit donors from breeds likely to carry this type, including German Shepherds, Dobermans, Flat-Coated Retrievers, Greyhounds and Boxers. But any breed can donate, as long as they are fit and healthy, confident around people, weigh more than 25kg, and are between one and eight years old.

The three-part donation appointment includes a checkup with a veterinarian, followed by a belly massage in the donation room where the dog donates approximately 450ml of blood. "It takes about 10 minutes and a lot of dogs just wiggle it around the table," says Barnett. Next is the canine equivalent of post-donation tea and biscuits, with fish snacks currently on the menu, and the dog can choose a toy – squeaky or tattered – to take home.

"It's a very gentle process and the staff are very caring," Purton says. "If a dog shows the slightest sign of distress, he stops and there is no pressure. But Mabel is in her element: when they cut her hair and insert the needle, she lays there asking “is someone gonna give me a gravy bone?” Sometimes she falls asleep on the table and we have to peel her off.”

The Organism The charity runs around five donation sessions across Scotland and England each week and collected over 3,000 units of blood last year, which were delivered to patients from Guernsey to Thurso to Belfast. p>

One One of those recipients was Milo, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was 10 months old when he fell seriously ill with pancreatitis, and received his first emergency transfusion upon admission to hospital. small animal teaching facility of Liverpool. "If he hadn't had that blood on the first day, he wouldn't have survived," says his owner, Gwyneth Melling.

Eight months later, Milo is fully recovered although, oddly enough, the hair that was shaved off for his tests and transfusions has grown back with silver streaks. After several months confined to his home and requiring a regular infusion, he only wants to run after balls and sticks. "I can't believe he's so full of life," Melling says. "Now he is making up for lost time."