Donating blood is no fun for pets, but they do save lives with it

On a phone, a playlist ‘relaxing music for stressed cats’ is turned on, with a spray van, calming pheromones are sprayed. « All to make donating as cat -friendly as possible, » says an employee of Animal Bloodbank Benelux. On the treatment table, Georgia, a gray cat, rolled up in two blankets, is ready to donate blood. She gently lets herself get a meow.

The Medical Center for Animals (MCD) in Amsterdam has been distributing for about two years on behalf of the ABB Donorbloed for dogs and cats. The MCD always had a bag for dogs. But Marrit Meester (51), veterinarian at the Emergency Department, has experienced ‘several times’ that she received cats who could not wait four hours for the courier with blood, who had to come from the Blood Bank in Nijverdal or even from further. « Terrible if you know you might have saved an animal. »

In the context of Blood Donor Day on 14 June, where attention is drawn to the importance of blood donations in people, the ABB also created a day for animal blood in collaboration with various clinics of Anicura. That it is necessary to expose lovingly pets to such an inconvenience, according to the list of disorders that she lists for which donor blood or plasma is necessary. From rat poison or an accident to an autoimmune disease and more. « Because we continue to treat our pets, we also need more and more blood, » says Masters. In the Netherlands, the demand for donor blood last year increased by 90 percent, « on top of an explosive growth of 600 percent the year before, » said the MCD spokesperson.

The day turns out to be a MediaMagnet. In the treatment room there are two photographers and two reporters around Poes Georgia. In the corridor, where a white Golden Retriever with bright red plaster is driven around the left leg leg on a stretcher, silence must be, due to recordings for the NOS.

Front leg

It is obvious that an animal cannot choose to donate blood. « The only other option to get donor blood is to keep laboratory animals, » says Masters. « But we don’t want that. »

« Hello dear Burrito, » Baasje Angelica May tells Georgia, it tickles between her ears. May works at the MCD as a veterinarian and decided to go into the call of the ABB to have a pet donated to save other animals. She also saved Georgia herself from the streets of a city in Brazil. « Then she wasn’t so handsome, more Sméagol (Gollum) Lord of the Rings« , » She says. « She was half bald and had mold everywhere – and then we and our other cats too. »

In the Netherlands, the demand for donor blood for animals has risen by 90 percent last year

After shaving, searching for the vein starts in the left front leg. Initially, Meesters only taps a little bit of blood. That blood is dripped into two boxes of a tester. That is to see if Georgia has no FIV (Katteneids) or FELV (cat leukemia). Extensive free blood tests for owners is an advantage for donorship.

Georgia test negatively. She can donate. She gets a little anesthesia – « a drop of ketamine, a little diazepam » – on which her pupils increase. « Go well, sweetheart, » says Masters. The blankets are settled, after which the hair clipper passes her neck. The blood from her neck flows into a « from pediatrics » plastic bag. « We separate that into red blood cells and plasma. »

Plaster and ready. It took fifteen minutes, after ten minutes the anesthetic will also be worked out. They don’t get a pink cake in the animal house, such as people, but a bit of glucose, that works the same. « Not too bad, » says Masters.

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Photos Saskia van den Boom

Donating therefore does not have to be a drama. But « of course, » says the spokesperson, it was a cat’s turn exactly when the NOS was there that « terribly screaming. » From the moment he was lifted out of his basket. « I told that journalist, you can’t broadcast this, » says the MCD spokesperson. “Even the owner called her onedramaqueen.  »

Blood groups

Can a Maine Coon give blood to a British short hair and a Danish dog to a pomerian? Yes. All cat breeds can donate to each other and all dog breeds too, but there are different blood groups. With cats A, B and AB – administering the wrong blood group has a fatal outcome. For dogs it is slightly more complicated. « The only drawback is that they break some blood groups faster. »

To be able to donate, requirements are set for the animals. Cats must weigh at least three and a half kilos, dogs more than twenty. A chihuahua just can’t get much to get. « While Greyhounds have a lot of red blood cells, » says May.

Can a Maine Coon give a British shorthair blood and a Danish Dog to a Pomerian?

When she was still working on the ‘first -line help’, ‘on a Sunday’ an owner with a small Maltese who needed very loud blood came. They knew they had a greyhound in the system. « We called his owner if he would like to bring his dog and make it a blood donor. He did that. That was so moving. » The Maltese was saved. “We have made a medal for that dog Superhero up.  »

Flyers who are everywhere in the MCD say: « Your animal can save a life. » Peanut, a black -and -white cat with one eye, gets a red scarf after a fairly difficult donation with ‘I am a Blooddonor, I am a lifesaver’. He is « pretty high, » says Masters. He got a little extra sedation. In the end, a vein was found in his hind leg. Small suffering for a great importance finds his owner, also working in the MCD. It is not so impressed by the procedure. « I castrated it myself, » she says shoulder.

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