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Local Vet's Pet Donates Blood -- Others Can Participate PDF Print E-mail
Written by Stefan Schuster   
Thursday, 28 June 2012 21:59
Abbey Dillon is a veterinary tech at the Enon Veterinary Hospital, with a dog that happens to be a blood donor. Her two-year-old Rottweiler “Capone” is one of the pets at the clinic suitable for donating blood.  He has donated twice this year thus far.  But he isn’t the only one. Other vets at the hospital draw blood from their pets as well.  “If we have an animal that is need of a blood transfusion we volunteer our own pets to be drawn on,” said Dillon.
Stan Carlin, DVM was responsible for creating the world’s first blood bank for pets back in 1988.  Since then the technology has expanded outward opening new blood banks across the world.  In order for a pet to be a suitable blood donor, he has to fulfill all the requirements.  Those requirements include being between the ages of one and six, current on all vaccinations, free of parasites and in overall good health.  A pet can usually donate up to four times within a year for two to three years.   
“A lot of things don’t need to be treated with a blood transfusion, but when it’s needed, there is the technology to do it,” said Dillon.
Some clinics allow people to bring in their pet to donate to a blood bank, but those are typically in larger cities.  Enon and some of the adjacent communities don’t provide the opportunity.
“Some bigger clinics in Dayton or Columbus have blood banks where you can bring in your pet, but generally speaking, whoever works at the clinic use their own pets,” said Dillon.
Anyone interested in having their pet donate blood should call their veterinary clinic to see if it offers the opportunity or if it can provide information on where donations can be made.
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