Blood Products
Blood Products
At Veterinary Emergency Triage & Surgery, we are proud to have a complete blood bank for dogs and cats available in-house for our patients. We have the ability to provide life-saving treatments with blood, plasma, and platelet transfusions in our hospital – just like in human medicine.
Why Does My Pet Need a Blood Transfusion
Blood is essential to life and the healthy functioning of the body because it is responsible for delivering the oxygen, nutrients, and hormones that keep all of the body’s cells alive and working properly. It is also a vital component of the immune system and is responsible for removing carbon dioxide and other waste from the body.
Pets often need blood transfusions during an emergency, life-threatening medical situations that either result in a loss of blood, a pet’s body’s hindered ability to make blood, or a significant reduction in the pet’s quality of blood. Some situations that might result in the need for a blood transfusion include:
- Serious trauma or injury that results in a significant loss of blood
- The loss of blood during a surgical procedure
- Cancer
- Toxins that result in bleeding (some snake bite venom and rodenticides)
- Blood disorders that affect clotting and bleeding
- Several diseases that cause anemia
Are There Any Risks?
There is always a small chance that a pet could have a reaction to treatment with a blood transfusion. However, we take the utmost care and precaution to ensure your pet receives blood products safely with minimal risk. We carefully blood type all donors and recipients, in addition to screening donors for a variety of diseases that can affect their blood and the antibodies present in it.
Before donating blood, all of our canine donors are tested and screened for the following:
- Dirofilaria sp.
- Bartonella sp.
- Anaplasma sp.
- Babesia sp.
- Ehrlichia sp.
- Borrelia burgdorferi
- Hepatozoan sp.
- Leishmania sp.
- Mycoplasma sp.
- Neorickettsia risticii
- Rickettsia rickettsia
Before donating blood, all of our feline donors are tested and screened for the following:
- FeLV
- FIV
- Feline coronavirus (FIP PCR)
- Mycoplasma sp.
- Ehrlichia sp.
- Anaplasma sp.
- Cytauxzoon felis
- Bartonella sp.
- Dirofilaria sp.
Life-Saving Blood Products at Veterinary Emergency Triage & Surgery
The availability of blood products for pets can mean the difference between recovery and death during an emergency situation. At Veterinary Emergency Triage & Surgery, we are proud to be able to provide our patients with complete blood products and life-saving blood transfusion treatments.
To learn more about veterinary blood products and how they might be used to save your pet’s life, we welcome you to contact our emergency animal hospital in Lakeland, Florida today.
