Can Your Pet Help Us
and Become a Blood Donor?


At Southfields, we are always looking for more cat and dog blood donors. Just as in human medicine, vets rely on pet blood donations to ensure a readily available supply of safe blood products for animals who need transfusions or for use in emergency care.

Find out using the criteria below if you can help us to help other pets in need.

Cats:

  • Aged between one and eight years
  • Weigh over 4kg
  • Fit and healthy
  • Not pregnant or been pregnant
  • Not receiving any chronic medication
  • Up to date with vaccinations, flea, and worm treatments
  • Comfortable and relaxed with people
  • Have never travelled outside the UK and Ireland
  • Have never had a blood transfusion

Eligible cats will initially need to be screened for their suitability. This includes a physical examination and blood tests. The blood tests are to check the health of the donor cat, and the blood type of the donor cat and to check for any diseases that could be transmitted by a blood transfusion.

What happens when your cat donates blood?

For the process of donation, a catheter is placed into the vein, many cats require sedation to make the process more comfortable for them. Blood is then collected from the jugular vein and a conscious donation will be attempted for those cats who tolerate blood sampling. Typically, 45 to 50ml of blood is collected.

After donating blood, cats are monitored for the following few hours, offered water, and fed. Additionally, they receive a drip / intravenous fluids for the initial four hours after the donation. Following this donor cats can then be discharged home.

We recommend outdoor cats are kept indoors for the first 24 hours after donation.

Dogs:

  • Fit and healthy
  • Aged between one and eight years old
  • Weigh more than 25kg
  • Not on any medication
  • Have never travelled outside the UK and Ireland
  • Up to date with vaccinations, flea, and worm treatments
  • Have never had a blood transfusion

What does this involve?

A blood donation session takes 45 minutes in total with it only taking 10 – 15 minutes to collect blood. After the session dogs will receive water and a biscuit. Your pet should take the rest of the day to rest and return to their normal routine the following day.

If your cat or dog is a potential blood donor please email [email protected]

Additionally, if you have any questions or concerns, please email – [email protected]