Blood Drives For Pets
Thursday, July 12th, 2007Your family pet could become eligible to receive free blood or plasma should injury or illness ever warrant its use. This may not be something pet owners want to think about, but it is something that Dr. Ann Schneider of Severna Park thinks about everyday.
Dr. Schneider is the medical director of the Eastern Veterinary Blood Bank (EVBB) in Severna Park, a blood bank that caters specifically to the needs of dogs. The blood bank recently held a drive at the Crofton Veterinary Center, one of its newest blood drive locations. Other locations include Baltimore, Bel Air, Severna Park and West River.
Dr. Schneider graduated from the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine and completed an Animal Medical Center internship and residency in internal medicine. She opened EVBB in 1993 as an alternative to veterinarians having to keep dogs caged and on hand specifically for blood donation, having to draw blood from dogs belonging to staff members or ordering blood from a West coast bank that had to be shipped overnight.
“There weren’t enough blood banks and I knew there should be one on this side of the country,” said Dr. Schneider who is a member of the Association of Veterinary Transfusion Medicine and the American Association of Blood Banks.
Dogs can safely donate blood every three weeks, but per FDA policy and recommendation, EVBB schedules their donors every seven to eight weeks. Volunteer donors and their owners come to one of many locations throughout Maryland, Virginia and even West Virginia to help make a difference in saving the lives of other dogs.
Anywhere from a half unit to one whole unit is drawn each visit. It is then separated into red blood cells and plasma. The blood cells are given to patients suffering from anemia due to blood loss, red blood cell destruction or inadequate red blood cell production. Plasma is given to patients who need proteins used in blood clotting due to disease, excessive bleeding or inherited disorders. A whole unit of blood can save up to four lives.
Although EVBB ships blood components nationwide and occasionally out of the country, Dr. Schneider said, “In general, we never have enough. We could use another 1,000 donors.”
Tracy Emara of Crofton is the hospital manager at the Crofton Veterinary Center. Her dog, Presley, a 5-year-old Beagle/Foxhound mix, is a regular blood donor and takes it all in stride due to his laid-back personality.
Maria Tonrey, a 10-year resident of Crofton and a 23-year cancer survivor of Hodgkin’s disease, is unable to give blood herself because of chemotherapy treatments she received in the past. When she saw the EVBB donor pamphlets at her vets office and county fair, she knew her dog, Riley, a 5-year-old Labrador retriever, would make a great donor. At one time, Riley participated in the Pets on Wheels program at the Crofton Convalescent Center. Now, she can also be credited with saving the lives of other dogs through blood donation.
“Most people don’t know about it until their dog needs blood and that’s when people get involved,” said Ms. Tonrey who also said caging dogs for the sole purpose of donating blood really bothered her.
Ann Purcell and her 10-year-old son, Jack, brought in their dog, Luke, a six-year-old Golden retriever. Mrs. Purcell has lived in Crofton for 17 years and is a nurse practitioner at a school based health clinic in Baltimore. Jack is a 4th-grader at Crofton Woods Elementary. Mrs. Purcell said she saw an article in The Capital about a year ago and her dog, Luke, has been donating ever since.
“It’s just the right thing to do,” she said just before mentioning that their family is also a volunteer puppy raiser for a New York non-profit organization, for the blind.
To qualify as a donor, dogs must weigh at least 35 pounds, be between the ages of 9 months and 7½ years (a dog may remain in the program until they reach 8½ of age) and in generally good health – free of cancer or heart disease. They should not be on any long-term medication, except for thyroid or heartworm medicines and must be current with their regular veterinarian’s preventive health and vaccination schedule.
The procedure is performed by a veterinarian with the assistance of a vet tech and only takes about 15 minutes. The majority of the time is used to greet the dog and prep the site, which involves clipping a small portion of fur and cleansing the area. Donors are pampered with praise, belly rubs and dog treats before, during and after the procedure.
Kimmie Loveridge, of Glen Burnie, assisted Dr. Schneider at the Crofton Veterinary Center drive. She is a graduate of Northeast High. Her passion for the dogs was quite obvious as she enjoyed showering them with attention as much as they enjoyed receiving it.
“A lot of people think their dogs wouldn’t do this, but we have our ways and a good success rate,” said Dr. Schneider when asked why people hesitate to bring their dogs in to donate.
Immediately after dogs donate blood, they should be given access to fresh water and not subjected to strenuous exercise, although they can enjoy their normal romping around.
Benefits of donating include:
- A brief physical examination done by the veterinarian before each donation.
- Blood typing.
- Blood chemistry profile and Complete Blood Count (CBC).
- Heartworm test.
- Testing for diseases spread by ticks (Ehrlichia, Hemobartonella and Babesia).
- Brucella testing.
Once a donor has met the yearly requirement (donating five to seven times over the course of one year), the donor is eligible to receive one unit of blood or plasma for each unit of blood donated, should illness or injury ever warrant its use.
Dogs receive a red bandana that reads, “I Saved a Life” and a red I.D. tag for their collar that recognizes them as a blood donor.
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