Blood Tranfusions for Cats and Dogs
As pet owners, we all worry about the nightmare scenario of our pet accidentally running out the door and being struck by a vehicle. Unfortunately, this terrible event does happen even when we are diligent about safety. The trauma of a being stuck by a car can be very life threatening and one of the results can be a need for a blood transfusion due to loss of blood, including internal bleeding.Red blood cells carry critical oxygen to the tissues. Have you ever thought about where an ER obtains blood?
Dogs have many blood types but they are not the same as humans. There are many subtypes but they are classified as either DEA 1.1 negative (dog erythrocyte antigen) or DEA 1.1 positive. Negative is considered the “universal donor” and most dogs can receive their first blood transfusion without having to check for compatibility, commonly known as a “cross match”. It is very important for you to tell any veterinarian if your pet has ever received a prior blood transfusion because the risk of a transfusion reaction is greatly increased.
Once the blood type is known, we have a few options. Depending upon patient needs, we may choose to obtain “whole blood”. This means we draw blood from a donor dog and then give it to the recipient dog. This blood contains red and white blood cells, platelets and plasma proteins. Donor dogs are prescreened for multiple infectious diseases and they can only donate once every 6-8 weeks. Most donor dogs are large breeds, young and healthy.
If the patient only needs red blood cells, we can use “packed red blood cells”. This is blood that has been processed and separated to just provide concentrated red blood cells. Most ER hospitals have this in stock.
The third option is to auto-transfuse the patient. This situation is encountered when a healthy dog suffers a major trauma, is bleeding large amounts into a body cavity and needs an immediate transfusion. The blood is evacuated, passed through a filter and then returned to the patient through an IV catheter. The advantage of this is that the patient will not suffer an immediate transfusion reaction or an immune mediated destruction of foreign blood.
Red blood cells typically have a life span of approximately 120 days. The life span of transfused blood is variable. For example, if a dog has an auto-immune disease called hemolytic anemia, his immune system is incorrectly attacking and destroying its own red blood cells. When that patient receives a transfusion from another dog, the patients primed hypersensitive immune system readily attacks and destroys these “foreign” cells. In those cases, the new transfused cells might be destroyed in a matter of hours!
We purchase many blood products from companies across America. These are commercial blood banks who follow the strictest procedures and protocols. We also use staff owned dogs or client owned dogs that have been examined by one of our veterinarians and been pre-screened to be free of diseases. We also indefinitely keep a log of every patient that has received any kind of a transfusion in the case of later complications.
Blood transfusions are often life saving procedures. If proper protocols are followed and the patient is closely monitored during the process, it is generally a safe treatment. Our thanks and gratitude to all the dogs and cats who gave the gift of life to others. Many lives have been saved because of them.
