Werribee’s canine blood bank needs more dogs to give blood to meet growing demand.
The bank supplies blood to veterinary hospitals around Australia but is “struggling to fill the need”, according to Melbourne University Veterinary Hospital’s Dr Manuel Boller.
“As in humans, blood transfusions are of vital importance for the survival of many sick or critically injured dogs,” Dr Boller said.
“We simply wouldn’t be able to save as many Australian canine patients without this resource and we hope the community will come forward with their dogs.”
Dr Boller said the not-for-profit bank needed large dogs weighing more than 25kg to donate 450ml of blood up to four times a year. About 200 donors will be needed to meet demand over the next two years.
Volunteer dogs spend about an hour at the hospital and, just like human volunteers, get a biscuit afterwards.
Dr Boller said the bank collects blood from about 50 in-house dogs, but community volunteers were desperately needed.
He said blood transfusions saved dogs during surgery, after accidents and those suffering other medical conditions.
“Aerem, an Airedale terrier, was diagnosed with a disease where the immune system starts to destroy the body’s red blood cells,” he said. “His red blood cell count was so low that he wasn’t able to walk and he was very ill.
“Aerem required several transfusions over the subsequent week to increase his red blood cell number until medications became effective to halt further destruction of red blood cells. He walked out of hospital wagging his tail.”
