DOGGY BLOOD DONORS ARE A RARE BREED, UNFORTUNATELY
By Courtney Feroli, Assistant Community Editor
Eastern Shore Maryland, January 10, 2008

EASTON There are countless blood drives to give people a chance to help save a life, where people are more than willing to step up to the plate.

While people are giving their own blood, the animal population is being neglected. Local blood banks are urging dog owners to donate some of their dogs' blood throughout the year.

On Dec. 13, the Community Animal Hospital of Easton hosted a canine blood drive to better serve the dog population in times of crisis.

"We are chronically short on dogs," said Anne Schneider, a veterinarian from the Eastern Veterinary Blood Bank of Severna Park. "There are always two doctors on staff to help with donations so our goal is to get about 15 donors per day per doctor in a four-day week. Currently we are only getting about 10 to 12 dogs per doctor."

Like any person wanting do donate blood, dogs also have certain qualifications they must meet In order to give blood.

• The dog must be at least 35 pounds and be between the ages of 9 months and 7 years and may be donors until they are 8 years.
  
  
• There is a commitment for the owners to have their dogs donate five to seven times over the course of a year (Dogs can safely give blood every three weeks).
  
  
• Donors must be brought to the Eastern Veterinary Blood Bank or to a blood drive location.
  
  
• Dogs must be maintained on a heartworm preventative and must be current with their regular vet's preventative health and vaccination schedule.
  
  

The procedure to give blood is harmless and it only takes a few minutes. The doctors always try to make the dogs as comfortable as possible, including giving them treats.

"Our goal with the dog blood donations is to make the dogs happy," Schneider said.

Each dog gets a check up before any blood donation takes place. There are benefits that go along with dogs being donors. If an owner whose dog donates blood has an accident, they will get the blood they need for free.

Dog blood is characterized by either being DEA 1.1 negative or positive. DEA, Dog Erthrocyte Antigen, is a protein that stimulates an immune system reaction where transfused cells are destroyed. Approximately 55 percent of dogs test positive for this protein.

Like human blood transfusions, dog donors match up to recipients in different ways. DEA 1.1 negative blood can be safely given to positive patients, but occasionally DEA 1.1 positive can cause reactions with the negatives. Since there is a shortage of blood donations, there aren't enough negative blood donors to donate to negative patients.

For more information on donation sites or qualifications for dogs to donate blood, call 410-224-BANK (Severna Park location), 800-949-EVBB (Eastern Veterinary Blood Bank) or visit the Web site at www.evbb.com.