CITY OF EL PASO ANIMAL SERVICES, EL PASO, TX

pet medicine Blood transfusions save furry friends

Donor dogs and skilled vets help sick and injured pups lead longer lives.

By Lauren Teruya

Jessyka Larson was three months pregnant when her miniature boxer, Brighton, refused to leave the car to take a familiar walk down Old Pass Road. For a dog who woke up every day excited to accompany Larson to her lively workplace, Axis Gymnastics, Brighton’s behavior sparked fear in Larson.

By the next morning Brighton was completely immobile. Larson rushed over to the Jackson Animal Hospital, where Dr. Joe Wienman diagnosed Brighton with immune-mediated hemolytic anemia.

Wienman recommended an immediate blood transfusion as the only solution to save Brighton’s life.

For Larson, the decision to go forward with the transfusion was easy: “We wanted her to get better and live long enough to meet the new baby,” she said.

Wienman said dog blood transfusions aren’t that different from those for humans: “There are tests that we do to determine whether or not a donor dog’s blood would be suitable for a recipient dog’s blood,” he said.

According to Wienman, dogs have at least eight blood types.

Dogs are classified as positive or negative for each dog erythrocyte antigen or DEA. According to PetMD, DEA 1 is most medically important because most dogs are DEA 1.1 positive and can give blood safely only to dogs DEA 1.1 positive. Dogs negative for DEA 1 can give to

COURTESY PHOTO Jessyka Larson and her 5-month-old daughter, Ru, celebrate Halloween with Brighton last year at Axis Gymnastics. A blood transfusion gave the miniature boxer a new lease on life.

both negative and positive DEA 1.1 and DEA 1.2.

Negative DEA 1.1 blood is the closest type of universal donor blood for dogs.

In most cases, dogs do not seem to have preformed antibodies to any specific blood type. That makes a dog’s first blood transfusion unlikely to cause a reaction — even if the blood is incompatible — because those antibodies have not formed yet.

But Wienman warns that with additional transfusions it becomes critical to crossmatch and type the blood.

So, most veterinarians will give firsttime receivers universal donor blood from a blood bank or perform a major crossmatch.

At the Jackson Animal Hospital, Wienman does major crossmatches by testing the recipient’s blood plasma and the potential donor’s red blood cells. If clumping does not occur, it’s likely the recipient does not have antibodies that will destroy the donor’s red blood cells and will be an appropriate match.

At Dr. Theo Schuff ’s private clinic on Fish Creek Road, patients most commonly in need of a whole blood transfusion are dogs that have life-threatening anemia, have sustained trauma with blood loss, have consumed a toxic substance or have tumors causing internal bleeding.

At the Jackson Animal Hospital and the Fish Creek Veterinary Clinic, donor dogs are staff and patient pets.

Most hospitals, clinics and blood banks sedate donor dogs so they don’t experience any discomfort or pain. When the donor reaches a relaxed, calm state, blood is drawn from the jugular vein. For that reason, not every dog is eligible to give blood.

“Our donors have saved a lot of pets who are really on the brink of nonrecovery.”

— Dr. Theo Schuff Fish Creek Veterinary clinic

The ideal donor dog is up to date on required vaccinations, under the age of 6, relatively friendly and calm, meets basic health and behavioral criteria and is of a proper weight and size to tolerate the amount of blood being collected.

“It’s a nice thing to be able to do,” Schuff said, speaking as a practioner and as the owner of a donor dog himself. “And our donors have saved a lot of pets who are really on the brink of nonrecovery.”

Doing blood donations where donor dogs are contacted, tested, sedated, and ready to donate all within an hour to save another dog in need does not happen without some stress. See BLOOD on 12

Join us for a virtual

Thursday, July 16, 2020 6:30-7:30pm

LEARN MORE & GET REGISTERED animaladoptioncenter.org 307.739.1881

Dedicated to saving the lives of homeless animals through rescue, adoption, education and spay/neuter.

Give Your Dog the Gift

of a Great Education

In-Home Private Training • Basic Manners • Behavior Challenges • Therapy Dog Skills • Hunting Dog Foundation

Training Outings • Puppy Socialization • Real World Practice • Physical and Mental Exercise

Classes • Puppy Socialization and Skills • Basic Manners • Hounds on the Town

Learn to train your dog using force-free, reward-based methods