A dog can’t exactly consent to being a blood donor, but the tail doesn’t lie.
When Dolly, a 7-year-old Labrador retriever from Camas, Washington, arrived at the DoveLewis blood bank in Portland, she couldn’t stop wiggling her backside and wagging her tail.
Even after her blood-draw, Dolly heaped love and kisses upon the woman who’d taken it.
Dolly is among the 94 dogs (and 48 cats) that are regular donors to the DoveLewis blood bank.
It’s not something most people think about until their own pet has a medical emergency, but dogs and cats sometimes need blood transfusions. At DoveLewis veterinary hospital, that blood is supplied by a roster of donors from the community.
Cats are less-willing donors than dogs, so they’re sedated during their blood draws. Because of the greater risks associated with sedation, DoveLewis’s cat donors are all owned by veterinary professionals.
But the dogs can come from anyone in the greater Portland area. Donor dogs need to weigh at least 55 pounds, be between 1 and 6 years old, healthy, and have the temperament to – if not enjoy – at least put up with the collection process without sedation.
Dolly, like many dogs in the blood bank program, is a well-trained therapy dog. She visits people at Portland International Airport, area hospitals and local courts with the DoveLewis Portland Area Canine Therapy team.
Dolly was originally bred to be a guide dog and was raised in the Guide Dogs for the Blind program in Boring.
“She made it all the way through the program and got dropped at the last minute because of the tail,” said her owner, Denise Duncan. “Too wiggly. Too distracted. Couldn’t concentrate. Just too friendly. So, she career changed, and she’s a fantastic therapy dog now.”
Participating dogs come for blood collection once every two to three months. The program is voluntary, but in exchange for donating, the dogs receive free annual lab work, free urgent care visits to DoveLewis, parasite prevention meds at cost, and — perhaps most exciting to the pets themselves — a can of baby food chicken and a free toy at the end of each visit.
Each donor dog also gets a trading card made with their photo and a few fun facts. These cards are used to promote the blood bank program and are given to the families of recipient dogs and cats, so they know who supplied the blood that saved their pets.
“At DoveLewis, we see a lot of different types of patients,” said Kelsey Reinauer, the blood bank manager. “They can come in with a trauma, they’ve been hit by a car, or they’ve been in some sort of incident where they’ve been wounded, stabbed, shot. We’ve seen all sorts of things. Lots of blood loss means lots of blood replacement.”
There are also a number of immune diseases and cancers that cause pets to become anemic and require regular blood transfusions.
Donor families also find out where their dog’s blood ends up. Dolly’s blood and plasma have been used to save a terrier mix with complications after delivering a litter and a border collie who had ingested ibuprofen.
About two-thirds of all collected blood is used locally at DoveLewis, but Dolly’s blood has traveled as far as Florida and Texas to save other dogs’ lives.
“There’s a very large deficit between the need and the supply in veterinary medicine for blood right now,” Reinauer said. “There’s maybe just a handful of blood banks our size in the United States. Cat blood especially is a hot commodity. There’s often not cat blood in the city, let alone in a single hospital.”
Smaller veterinary practices will often supply their own blood needs in-house via an employee who brings in a pet to donate when there’s a need. But dogs and cats both have unique blood types, and the right donor might not be available.
Dogs have more than a dozen blood types, but most are not clinically relevant. DoveLewis labels blood into three types that are important for whether a recipient might have a reaction to donated blood: universal, positive and negative.
Domestic cats have three blood types. Roughly 95% of cats are type A, about 5% are type B, and less than 1% of cats have the rare AB type.
In a pinch, universal dog blood can even be used to stabilize a cat, at least for a day or two until a suitable cat blood donor can be found.
The DoveLewis blood bank serves only cats and dogs, though Reinauer occasionally gets more unusual requests. She once was able to stabilize a ferret using cat blood, long enough for a DoveLewis employee to bring in their own pet ferret to serve as a donor. Other animals — rats, rabbits and other exotic pets — are out of luck.
“As people, we don’t necessarily think that animals need blood transfusions, but with critical care for your pet, it’s very important,” said Kim Laird, who’s 2-year-old golden and lab mix, Rocket, is a blood donor. “This is one way we can give to help dogs across the country.”
Rocket, too, is a would-be guide dog turned therapy dog.
On the day of their donations, both Dolly and Rocket obeyed commands to lie still on a small table while Reinauer shaved a small square of fur on their necks and inserted a needle into their jugular veins.
It sounds scary, but both dogs seemed to take it in stride, with their owners cradling them during the process. A weighted blanket draped over the dogs helped keep them calm and still.
It takes less than 10 minutes for Reinauer to draw about a pint of blood.
“What I tell owners is, it’s a relationship that we’re going build here,” she said. “I will tell you what I see, if I see stress or nervousness in them, and you tell me how you think they feel, and then we’ll just go from there. More often than not, they keep coming back. They don’t mind it.”
After their blood draws, the dogs had a bandage placed around their necks. Both promptly jumped from the table, tails wagging, ready for their rewards.
“She loves Kelsey,” Duncan said of Dolly. “Not crazy about the actual donation, but she gets a treat of baby food after and a toy, so that’s what she’s looking forward to.”
To find out if your dog qualifies as a blood donor, visit dovelewis.org and make an appointment to have your dog’s blood type determined. DoveLewis is wait-listing positive dogs but accepting universal and negative donors.
There are also other animal blood banks in Oregon accepting pet volunteers:
VCA Northwest in Clackamas runs a blood bank with volunteer donors from the community. Donors receive an annual physical and blood work, heart worm testing, 12 months of parasite preventative medication, and treats and toys. For more information, visit vcahospitals.com/northwest-veterinary-specialists/departments/emergency-critical-care/blood-bank.
Willamette Veterinary Hospital in Corvallis has a blood donor program for dogs 1-7 years old that weigh more than 65 pounds and are determined to be universal donors. Donors receive free annual exams and lab work, special pricing on parasite preventative medication, and credits on their clinic accounts. Learn more at wilvet.com/wilvet-blood-donor-program.
Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon in Bend accepts both dogs and cats from the community to become blood donors. Cats must be 10 pounds or larger and indoors only. They are sedated for donations. Dogs must be 50 pounds or larger and in good health. For more information, visit vrcvet.com/donations/blood-donation.
— Samantha Swindler covers features for The Oregonian/OregonLive and Here is Oregon. Reach her at sswindler@oregonian.com.
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