A change in legislation in October 2005 made it possible for vets to apply for licensing to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) to bank pet blood products. Recognising this as an opportunity to develop a national pet blood bank, Vets Now decided to support the set up of PBBuk charity, based in a state of the art unit in Loughborough, Leicestershire.
PBBuk collects canine blood from volunteer dogs which will then be processed into various blood products. The opportunity to order these products from PBBuk means that veterinary practices can be permanently stocked with these products, so when a transfusion needs to be carried out the blood or plasma products will already be on site and instantly accessible.
As a charity they need lots of help and support both from the veterinary profession and the dog owners of the UK to ensure that they can provide a successful and sustainable service. If you’d like to find out more visit www.petbloodbankuk.org
Last year PBBuk was awarded $15,000 from the Waltham Foundation, an organisation which provides funding towards research that directly improves the health and welfare of animals worldwide, which has enabled PBBuk to start the research project into collecting feline blood.
The research team has been headed up by Vanessa Ashall, one of the PBBuk veterinary surgeons who also holds RCVS Certificate in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics & Law. Catherine Burniston and Heather Varnam, two of PBBuk’s veterinary nurses are also involved in the project and have many years of experience and a keen interest in cats. For more information, please visit the Pet Blood Bank UK website.