Northwest Surgeons Celebrate Holding Their 10th Pet Blood Donation Session

November 20, 2014 - October marks a milestone for Northwest Surgeons. For the past few years they have worked in partnership with Pet Blood Bank to run donation sessions to collect canine blood. Their next session on Sunday 26th October will be their 10th session for PBB and will see their 6000th dog donate. Could your dog be part of this fantastic effort? If you would like to register, please call us on 01928 711400.

Did you know that just like the NHS Northwest Surgeons perform blood transfusions in veterinary medicine? Blood transfusions for dogs and cats are common practice here at Northwest Surgeons for our sick patients requiring blood.

We are able to source the blood we need from two places – calling upon staff pets or from the Pet Blood Bank (PBB). Dogs have two main blood types – negative and positive. We keep a stock of both types of canine blood in at NWS ready for emergencies, but just like the NHS our supplies can run out, meaning we do not have blood readily available for our critical cases. We made the decision to help out by hosting our own blood collecting session with the Pet Blood Bank, to ensure there is always blood available should your dog require it.

Firstly we had to find some volunteer donors – the dogs must be between 1 & 8 years old, have never been abroad, on no medication and in good health, be fully vaccinated and be over 25kg body weight..

On arrival at NWS each dog was weighed to ensure they were over the required 25kg. Each dog first had a full clinical examination by one of the Pet Blood Bank's vets; this also included a blood test to ensure they were able to donate. The PBB also send away a blood sample once a year for a full analysis to ensure donors are healthy, and to potentially pick up any changes. Two small patches were clipped from each dog's neck – one for the blood test and one for the donation. They also checked the donor's microchip – all donations are linked to the dog's microchip number. Any dog wanting to donate needs to be microchipped and the PBB with do this free of charge at the time of donation.

Once the donors had passed through the pre-donation check, they were then taken through to the donation room. They were then lifted up on to a table with a padded mattress and laid on their left side. Here a fully qualified phlebotomist collected about 450ml of blood. The actual donation took between 5-10 minutes. The needle was then removed from the vein and a dressing was applied to the site of venipuncture to help reduce the risk of bruising.

After donation every dog was encouraged to stay at NWS for a short while to have a drink, lots of treats and fuss and to be observed by the PBB staff. Each dog received a Goodie Bag which included an "I'm a Lifesaver" Bandana and Tag to thank them. Owners received a call from one of the PBB staff within a few days of their dog donating and paperwork relating to the donation was sent to them and their veterinary practice.

All of the 18 dogs that attended were first time donors and of the 18, 7 dogs successfully went through to donation. Each donation will go to help save the life of up to 4 dogs!

Dogs that didn't donate this time were a little anxious about the clippers needed to clip away the fur. For these dogs we used this session as training for them, the PBB are happy to do lots of training with donors to ensure they are happy to donate – the PBB will not muzzle or sedate dogs. Since January 2012 we've held 9 donation sessions and this October marks session number 10!

About Northwest Surgeons
Northwest surgeons provide your pet with specialist veterinary knowledge from experts. All of our experts have their own specialist areas that they work in and have many years experience. Northwest Surgeons operate the safest and most technologically advanced animal clinic available.

Their specialist imaging equipment includes an in-house MRI scanner, two X-ray suites, ultrasound scanning, a wide range of endoscopic imaging equipment and access to CT scanning machines.

For more information contact
Northwest Surgeons,
Delamere House, Ashville Point, Sutton Weaver,
Cheshire WA7 3FW England
Telephone: 01928 711400
or visit www.nwsurgeons.co.uk