24/7 Emergency
Blood transfusions are among the most critical, life-saving procedures in veterinary medicine. Like people, dogs and cats face situations where red blood cells, platelets or clotting factors drop to dangerously low levels. Trauma, immune-mediated disease, cancer, surgery or severe anemia may all make transfusions essential to survival.
CARE proudly offers blood transfusion services through our own blood bank, stocked mainly by generous donations from carefully screened, staff-owned pets. This gives us the ability to respond rapidly in emergencies, providing safe and compatible blood products 24 hours a day.
When Does a Pet Need a Transfusion?
Several serious conditions can lead to a need for a transfusion:
- Traumatic injuries that cause significant blood loss.
- Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA), where the immune system destroys red blood cells.
- Bleeding disorders, such as rodenticide toxicity or clotting deficiencies.
- Surgical complications.
- Chronic illnesses such as kidney disease or cancer, which result in anemia.
Your primary care veterinarian may detect one of these conditions, realize the need for a transfusion and refer your pet to a specialty hospital like CARE for advanced monitoring and treatment.
Why Transfusions for Dogs and Cats Are Safest in a 24-hour Specialty Hospital
While some general practices are equipped to perform transfusions, there are several reasons why a 24/7 specialty hospital such as CARE is the ideal setting:
- Continuous ICU monitoring: Pets receiving transfusions are at risk for allergic reactions, fevers or more serious transfusion-related complications. Our ICU team continuously monitors patients during and after transfusions, watching for subtle changes in heart rate, temperature, breathing or behavior that may indicate a problem.
- Access to specialized blood products: CARE’s in-house blood bank allows us to provide not just whole blood but also packed red blood cells and fresh-frozen plasma, so we can tailor therapy to each patient’s needs.
- Expertise in critical care: Transfusion medicine isn’t just about giving blood; it’s about understanding why the patient needs it and what comes next. Our critical care team is trained to manage complex and unstable patients before, during and after transfusions for dogs and cats.
- Safe matching and testing: Before any transfusion, we perform blood typing or cross-matching to ensure compatibility and reduce the risk of reactions, which is especially important in cats and previously transfused dogs.
What To Expect if Your Pet Needs a Transfusion
If your pet is referred to CARE for a transfusion, here’s what typically happens:
- Initial evaluation: Our emergency or critical care team will assess your pet and perform necessary diagnostics to determine the cause and severity of anemia or blood loss.
- Blood typing and cross-matching: We’ll ensure compatibility to minimize the risk of reactions.
- Product selection: We’ll determine the most appropriate blood product (whole blood, red cells, plasma) based on your pet’s condition.
- Transfusion and monitoring: Your pet will be admitted to our ICU, where we can closely monitor vital signs, lab values and the pet’s comfort throughout the transfusion process.
- Post-transfusion care: We’ll continue to support your pet with necessary medications, fluids, or follow-up diagnostics to track response and healing.
Most cats and dogs tolerate transfusions very well, and many show dramatic improvement. Pets that were weak, pale, or struggling to breathe often regain strength and color within hours.
Where Does the Blood Come From?
Pet owners often ask, “Where do you get dog and cat blood?” The answer: from other healthy animals!
At our hospital, we run a volunteer blood donor program, composed mostly of our own staff’s heroically helpful pets. Every donor is:
- Screened thoroughly for infectious diseases.
- Temperament-tested, to ensure they are comfortable with handling.
- Regularly monitored for their own health and safety.
Dogs can donate blood about every 8 weeks, and each donation can help save up to three dogs.
Join Us in Saving Lives
Blood transfusions wouldn’t be possible without the support of our veterinary community and local owners who make our donor program a reality. Unfortunately, donor dogs are in short supply.
If you have a healthy, calm, and friendly dog between 2 and 8 years old and over 45 pounds, we invite you to consider enrolling it in CARE’s donor program. That’s an incredibly rewarding way to give back. To learn more about the program, e-mail us at bloodbank@carecharlotte.com.
You can think of Charlotte Animal Referral and Emergency as the pet equivalent of a human medical center that’s open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It offers all types of treatment, from emergency attention to board-certified specialty work after you get a referral from your primary care vet. Please take a visual tour of the practice at carecharlotte.com/tour.
