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Where does the blood come from?

Who donates our blood?

 

Our donor dogs' owners appreciate the important and lifesaving role their companion can play in veterinary medicine.  Donors are family pets, retired greyhounds or working dogs.  Before being accepted there are certain criteria that each donor has to meet.

 

  • Healthy and friendly
  • Aged between 1 - 8 years
  • Weigh over 25kg
  • Current with vaccinations - Parvovirus, Distemper, Infectious Canine Hepatitis, Leptospirosis and Parainfluenza
  • Not travelled outside UK and Eire
  • Not on any medication
To ensure traceability, we microchip any donor dog that is not already microchipped.

What do we test the blood for?

To ensure the integrity and quality of our blood products, all dogs have a physical examination and an in-depth history taken to ensure that they are healthy before entering the donor programme.

It is our standard procedure to:

  • Blood type all our donors for Dog Erythrocyte Antigen (DEA) 1.1 -ve/+ve
  • Pre-screen to check Packed Red Cell Volume (PCV) and Total Solids (TS) before every donation
  • Undertake full haematology and biochemistry screening on an annual basis for all donors
  • Ensure all our donors micro-chipped or tattoed to provide traceability of our products and donors
  • Randomly select a percentage of our donors and products as a quality assurance monitor for infectious disease and bacterial contamination testing

Vet Professionals