13/01/2010
Pet Blood Bank UK (PBBuk), the UK’s first national canine blood donation charity is delighted to announce that this week, it welcomed its 2000th donor!
Jinny Fletcher, a five year old greyhound from Dudley, visited the charity’s blood collection session at Manor Vets in Cradley Heath, in the West Midlands.
PBBuk was launched at Crufts in March 2007 by Vets Now which has 36 emergency clinics across the UK. The company launched the charity after a change in legislation in October 2005 made it possible for vets to store pet blood. PBBuk holds regular blood collection sessions across the UK, similar to the human blood donation service, collecting blood from volunteer canine donors to supply to veterinary practices and referral centres across the UK to ensure there is blood available if they need to perform a lifesaving blood transfusion.
This was Jinny’s first donation and she enjoyed lots of tummy rubs and doggy treats after the donation took place. Jinny’s owner commented; “We appreciate that there is the same requirement for blood within the pet world, so we’re delighted to support Pet Blood Bank. The charity also gives dogs a thorough medical check so it’s a good opportunity to find out if Jinny’s in good health. I think that PBBuk does a terrific job and we are incredibly proud that our dog will have helped save the life of someone else’s dog.”
Speaking about reaching this milestone, PBBuk’s Executive Director, Wendy Barnett said; “We are absolutely delighted to have reached this important milestone and it just shows how far we have come as a charity. The fact that we are at donor 2000 now is testament to the generosity of dog owners all over the country who bring their dogs to donate at local blood collection sessions and of course the veterinary practices who kindly provide the premises for these sessions to take place. Without these owners, we wouldn’t be able to supply the veterinary profession with the blood products they need to save the lives of hundreds of dogs in the UK.”
She added; “We have a big push for negative blood at the moment and whilst we welcome any dog who meets our criteria as a donor, we are keen to increase the number of donations from breeds which are more likely to be negative blood types to help meet the continual demand for negative blood.”
The breeds which the charity is keen to target are:
• Greyhounds
• German Shepherds
• American Bulldogs
• Dobermans
• Bloodhounds
• Border Collies
• Boxers
• English Bull Terriers
• Flat coat retrievers
• Bull Mastiffs
• Weimaraners
If you are an owner of one of the above breeds and would like to register your dog as a donor at a future blood collection session, please contact Pet Blood Bank on contact PBBuk directly on 01509 232 222.