Vet Blood Supplies

Dogs that come into Medivet practices suffering from debilitating illness or sudden traumatic injury occasionally require blood transfusions, just like humans do.

Unfortunately, blood is not always readily available, so we need your help to save lives.

That’s where Vet Blood Supplies come in. As a non-profit organisation based in Watford, Hertfordshire, we’re dedicated to saving dogs’ lives by supplying a variety of blood products to veterinary practices in the South East of England.

A dedicated team of vets and nurses travel to the donor pet in our specially-designed mobile blood collection vehicle. This allows them to collect the blood in the pet’s familiar environment to minimise stress.

Is it safe?

Time is essential when saving lives, so our blood is always readily available, blood typed and screened. The health and welfare of our donors are our utmost priority.

Every donor is health-checked by a veterinary surgeon, vaccinated, screened for biochemistry and haematology, and is fully up to date with flea and worming control. To ensure the donors are safe to donate blood, they also have to pass our rigorous registration programme.

The service depends on the generosity of the dogs and their owners, and in return we support them with free medical checks, blood tests, vaccination and antiparasitic treatment.

Eligibility

In order for your dog to be eligible to donate blood, they must be:

• Under nine years’ old
• Fully vaccinated
• Healthy, with a clean bill of health for the past three months
• Over 25kg in weight
• De-wormed and de-flead

If you put your dog forward to become a blood donor, you’ll receive £25 off their vet fees for every donation. You’ll also receive a certificate and a bandana, so your dog can proudly show off their contribution to saving lives.

Your dog’s donation could be critical to saving the life of another in an emergency.

Storage and lab testing

The blood plasma is placed into the freezer and stored for 12 months as fresh frozen plasma. If it’s defrosted, it can be re-frozen within four hours and stored for a further four years as frozen plasma.

The red blood cells are refrigerated for up to 42 days.

We then wait for the results of the haematology, biochemistry and blood typing for each donor dog. These results can take up to seven days.

Once the results have been received, the blood bags are checked by our lab technician for quality assurance. Then they’re ready for dispatch.

Any blood that doesn’t pass quality assurance is discarded.

For more information about our blood donation service, or to find out if your dog can be a donor, please call 01923 470001 or email blood@medivet.co.uk.