Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK

Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: Canterbury_cats (Sharon) on December 22, 2006, 23:04:53 PM

Title: Dog and Cat bloodbank pls have a read
Post by: Canterbury_cats (Sharon) on December 22, 2006, 23:04:53 PM: Please take a look at the email below and if you feel able to support Sam, sign the petition.

Hello all. I have been asked to pass this information on by Suzy Gale (Roger Gale MP Wife) who does alot for animal welfare. Have a read!

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Some of you know me, many of you don't

I am emailing you to ask that you take part in a campaign I have started, to set up a national blood bank for dogs and cats in the UK

A strange request you ask, but this affects me personally..

My lovely dog Slick was recently diagnosed with a very rare, severe form of canine anaemia, and, during the course of his very strong steroid treatment (4 - 6 months), is having to have very frequent blood transfusions.

For the initial transfusion, our vet was able to contact the owner of one of their "doggy donors" to arrange for the blood to be taken. But, as this is a long term situation, our vet has asked that we source the blood ourselves, as the "doggy donors" they have on their list are limited in numbers, and may be required for other dogs (a dog can only donate blood once every 3 months, as they need sufficient time to recover)

For you and I, if we have an operation/are in an accident etc, there is blood stored by the national blood service that can be called upon for your use.

Despite having been petitioned on several occasions by the PDSA, DEFRA have decided that the equivalent can not be set up for "non-food animals" and so every time Slick needs a transfusion we have to go through the rigmarole of sourcing the blood ourselves..

Recently a national register of owner details has gone on-line (www.dogblooddonors.com) , but as it is in its infancy, there are no dogs on there that can help Slick at this time - the cat version of this database is due to be up and running soon..

How do I take part you say?

Well it's simple, I have set up a petition that I ask you to sign and send on to as many people as you can think of. I will be presenting this to the Minister for Animal Welfare at the end of February 2007

link to petition -

http://petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=3600

Thank you for your time

Sam Beavis and her doggie Slick
Title: Re: Dog and Cat bloodbank pls have a read
Post by: Sam (Fussy_Furball) on December 22, 2006, 23:27:04 PM: Great idea .... I've signed.
Title: Re: Dog and Cat bloodbank pls have a read
Post by: Ann Clarke (Tabby cat) on December 23, 2006, 12:03:08 PM: Signed
Title: Re: Dog and Cat bloodbank pls have a read and Sign!
Post by: Sam (Fussy_Furball) on December 24, 2006, 18:18:53 PM: just bumping this up
Title: Re: Dog and Cat bloodbank pls have a read
Post by: Mark on December 24, 2006, 22:18:50 PM: It seems a great idea but I can 't imagine allowing any of mine to give blood - I would imagine it would be hard to find donors and I wonder who would pay for screening etc. Silly question maybe but do cats & dogs have blood types?
Title: Re: Dog and Cat bloodbank pls have a read
Post by: Canterbury_cats (Sharon) on December 24, 2006, 22:41:23 PM: Yes they do Mark. Also do to cats small size they cannot give blood very often, all the more need for a register. I talked to my niece about it and some local (big) vets are seeing if people with dogs are interested in donating blood. Screening can be done at source, and I think they need to do a few blood tests before hand.
Title: Re: Dog and Cat bloodbank pls have a read
Post by: ccmacey on January 06, 2007, 11:24:33 AM: I would be fine with letting my cat's donate if it was'nt going to cause them any stress, and is it free of charge like the human 1?