In this Christmas season I am reading in the newspaper that Red Cross is pleading for blood donors. Surprisingly in the last few weeks our veterinary hospital has also been using a lot of blood for transfusions in dogs.
Our staff often bring their pets to work and Teddy was there for the day when a small Lhaso Apso came in with severe blood loss. Having used most of our regular blood donors already I only needed to look at Randy, his caregiver, to have him say he would get Teddy right away to donate blood. At 9 months of age and 42kg, Teddy was growing up to be a big Rottweiler but this would be his first donation.
Teddy was still a puppy and I didn't know how he would act to patiently lay while we collected a pint of blood. Randy talked soothingly and with praise as Teddy lapped in all the attention. With his large veins it seemed like only a few minutes before we had the necessary blood. He was immediately rewarded with a lot of praise and treats and seemed to have actually enjoyed all the attention.
The small Lhaso Apso only needed half of the collected blood and the next day was bright and alert. We stored the remaining blood in case the Lhaso needed more blood but it turned out he recovered uneventfully.
I was surprised when the next day a dog was presented with a bleeding tumour in the spleen. The spleen could be removed but we needed some blood - which we fortunately already had donated from Teddy. The remaining blood was transfused and the surgery went well.
We usually give some treats and a free bag of dog food to the blood donor but in this case Teddy had saved the lives of two dogs with one donation. He earned his two bags of food!
