A dog blood transfusion is a veterinary procedure in which blood (whole) or blood products (plasma, serum, etc.) are transferred from a donor dog to a recipient dog. This procedure is typically performed when the recipient dog has lost a significant amount of blood in cases of severe tick fever, accidents, immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA), kidney failure, blood cancer, severe liver disease, or toxicity.
Are There Risks with Dog Blood Transfusions?
The primary risk with dog blood transfusions is rejection of the donor blood by the recipient. However, the chances of this happening are quite low as veterinarians usually run thorough checks before a transfusion. Additionally, dogs undergoing blood transfusion for the first time usually show no reaction, regardless of their blood group. This happens because the dog’s body typically doesn’t recognize the donor blood as foreign at first.
Reactions are more common in second or subsequent blood transfusions. A dog's body is more likely to react if it has previously received blood and developed antigens against foreign blood. The most common symptoms of reactions include fever, vomiting, and haemolysis (breakdown of red blood cells). Fever and vomiting are usually self-limiting but haemolysis can be fatal. Other signs include a change in heartbeat, difficulty breathing, collapse, drooling, tremors, convulsions, and weakness. Fortunately, severe reactions are rare in dogs.
Research surveys have shown that, out of all dogs that received a blood transfusion, only 2-13% of recipients showed any adverse reaction. None of these reactions were associated with dog blood group mismatches. Vets believe that most reactions could have resulted from other blood components or factors related to blood collection, processing, storage, or individual host characteristics. Hence, it might be safer to use freshly collected blood for transfusions instead of blood from a blood bank.