Why is the blood bank needed?
All too often, injured or sick animals require blood transfusions as part of their treatment. DoveLewis provides blood products to veterinarians all over the Portland area. Our blood bank supplies enough for 1,000 blood transfusions each year, but even that’s not enough. Without the participation of canine blood donors, animals in need might not be able to receive critical transfusions in time. Does the program only serve dogs? Yes and no. DoveLewis’ Canine Blood Donor program may only collect blood from dogs, but of course, cats need transfusions too. Cats must be anesthetized in order to give blood, so we don’t ask privately owned cats to become volunteer blood donors. However, our staff at DoveLewis adopts stray cats who become blood donors in exchange for a fun place to live, and a lot of attention. Do dogs and cats have different blood types? Yes. Today, the veterinary community has not only recognized the many different blood groups for canines, but our understanding of what exac
