Vets cry out for moggy donors

Published on Tuesday 5 August 2008 10:34

DENNIS might not look like a lifesaver, but in the past three years he has helped three other cats rack up an extra life over their allotted nine – by donating blood.

He is one of several cats on a special list kept by The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, felines who regularly drop their mouse-chasing to give blood at a moment's notice when another animal is in need.

Now the school's small animals hospital is putting out a call to attract new donor cats, as some of its regulars have grown too old to help.

While human blood, and even dog blood, can be stored for some time after donation, blood given by cats is best used within 24 hours, and goes off completely after a month.

When an emergency strikes, vets therefore need a list of pet owners they can phone to bring their cats in at short notice for fresh supplies.

The hospital's visiting clinical fellow, Nicki Reed, explained: "We basically collect the blood into a small version of the human blood donation bag. With dogs and with humans, the blood gets broken down into components such as plasma and red blood cells that get separated so they can be stored, but it's hard to do that with cats because the bags are much smaller."

As well as helping cats on the operating table, the donations can be used to treat a variety of other problems, she explained: "It's used for cats that are anaemic, and occasionally we see cats who have had rat poison or have coagulating difficulties like haemophilia and cats that aren't producing enough blood cells."

New recruits are first tested to check for infections and to find out their blood type. The process then takes 15 to 30 minutes.

The vets are ideally looking for cats over 5kg with a placid temperament. Indoor cats are good donors because they are less likely to carry infections.

The hospital has a list of around 15 regulars, each popping in once or twice a year according to need. The most frequent donors are the staff's long-suffering pets, as they're easy to track down at short notice. Mrs Reed's own British short hairs, Will and Grace, have joined the list – at just over a year old, Grace has already made her first donation.

As for Dennis, a black farm cat from Penicuik, he loves the whole experience, say owners Irene Allan and her husband David Stirling.

Ms Allan said: "He's no problem at all, he's quite relaxed. They give us a call and say 'We need Dennis' and within half an hour we're there.

"Afterwards, he's fine. He gets a bag of food for doing it, and he's quite content."