When a beloved companion animal is sick, most of us would do anything for our furry friend to feel better. For some animals, their sickness may require a blood transfusion — a fairly new concept, at least in the UK, with the first and only dog blood bank, Pet Blood Bank UK, opening its doors in Loughborough in 2007.
In the United States, dog blood banks have been around since the 1980s, with one of the largest companies, Hemopet, founded in California in 1986. However, while many states allow companion animals to donate blood to veterinary clinics, California is the only state that insists on veterinarians purchasing dog blood from ‘closed-colony blood banks’ — in other words, from Hemopet, or another major, privately-owned company named Animal Blood Bank Resources Limited. And yet, while the principle idea of a dog blood bank is undeniably positive, the realities for many of the dogs involved in these California-based organisations are shocking and heartbreaking.
So what are dog blood banks?