HOSPITAL-WIDE SERVICES
Blood Bank & Transfusion Medicine
Our on-site blood bank saves the lives of more than 100 animal patients every year
Blood Bank
Just as people can help save human lives by donating blood, cats and dogs can also give the gift of life to sick or injured animals.
At the veterinary hospital, we provide animal patients with blood transfusions from our on-site blood bank. Blood is typed and cross-matched to ensure the safest transfusions possible. Our program, which started in 1988, saves the lives of more than 100 patients every year.
Give your dog or cat a chance to be someone’s hero
The demand for blood continues to increase and we need the help of willing dog and cat volunteers. A donation of blood means giving the gift of life to an animal that is sick or injured.
Common reasons a dog or cat may need a transfusion
- Anemia
- Blood loss due to an accident or injury
- Clotting disorders due to liver disease
- Bleeding from accidental ingestion poison
- Diseases, such autoimmune disease, causing the body to destroy its own red blood cells
- Hemophilia or in other inherited bleeding problems
Can my pet donate blood?
- Dog donors must be healthy and happy, greater than 60 pounds, between 1- 6 years old, and able to lie still for 10 minutes. We ask our donors to commit to the program for two years or up to 12 collections.
- Cat donors must be healthy and happy, greater than 10 pounds, between 1-6 years old, and be friendly and easy to handle.
Hospital Stories
Parrot ‘on death’s door’ saved by emergency blood transfusion
A severely starved parrot could live another 35 years after a WSU veterinarian performed an emergency blood transfusion using her own parrot as a blood donor.
Meet the Veterinary Teaching Hospital team: Sybil Fiedler
Sybil Fiedler has spent the past two and a half years at WSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where she now plays a vital role as a technician assistant in Transfusion Services, Internal Medicine, and Emergent Surgery.
The woman behind WSU’s blood bank
Jane Wardrop didn’t pay much attention to the fact that veterinary medicine was a male-dominated profession when she applied to veterinary school at WSU in 1972.
Questions about giving? Contact Kay Glaser or 509-335-4835.
Thank you to our Blood Bank sponsors.
