What led to the creation of the blood bank?
A. Donna: It was started back in 1987 as a response to a need for blood products that we had, and we looked at the way they did it in human medicine, and applied that concept to [dogs]. It just sort of took off from there. The more blood products we had available, the more we used them, and the more we used them, the more we learned, and it just grew so quickly that in 1988, I went public with the program and spent probably the next two years educating the public about the need for transfusions in animals, and usually the first thing people say is that they didn t realize that dogs need blood transfusions, and then the next thing that they d say is, How can we help? So it just kept on getting bigger and bigger and bigger until what you have today is over 3,000 donors that have been part of the program. Q. How do you collect the blood, and what do you do with it? A. Wendy: At least for the last six or seven years, we have scheduled anywhere from two to four blood drives a week. Basicall
