January is National Blood Donation Month. BluePearl is the largest veterinary emergency and specialty provider, and is using the month to raise awareness about blood donations for pets. BluePearl has over 100 hospitals in 30 different states. Dr. Meghan Respess, National Blood Bank Director, has been trying to raise awareness since 2012.

“It's been around for decades because in people, the need in the winter months is even greater than the rest of the year for a variety of reasons. But we capitalize on this opportunity to also highlight the need and celebrate our blood donor heroes through our blue pearl, but also the entire veterinary community. And we recruit both dogs and cats.”

The need for donations is dire, as pets can find themselves in a variety of conditions are trauma, especially in bigger cities. Sometimes cats fall out of windows, dogs run out and get hit by vehicles, while some pets are cancer patients.

“So, in Blue Pearl, we did about 7500 blood transfusions last year between both red blood cells and plasma. Because each donation, you can separate the blood products just like in us and save up to up to three lives. So, it is it is common.”

In order to be eligible, cats and dogs have to be stress free.

“Cats typically do require some degree of sedation, often mild. But dogs don't always need anything at all. Or maybe the owner gives them something at home. Just relax them a little bit, just, you know, a medication. But many of our dogs, actually, they get to know these nurses that perform the donations. They're excited to see them. They'll jump up on the table and get, you know, pets and love and kisses and their tails are always wagging. So, it is really important that those are the candidates that we recruit for blood donors. And then it's a quick process, you know, just like really when blood is a little needle prick. And within 5 to 10 minutes, we have a unit of blood.”

 

 

 

 

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