What are dog blood types and how do they impact blood donation?

A crossmatch looks at antibodies in the recipients serum and proteins on the surface of donor cells that could cause an immune reaction. It is not always considered to be necessary as long as the blood type of the donor and recipient is known and it has been less than four days between transfusions. Some veterinarians recommend crossmatching before any transfusion if the dog’s full medical history is unknown.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm so sorry to hear that your friend's dog lost so much blood during her surgery. While it is a routine surgery, complications like bleeding can occur. There is a chance that your friend's pet will be OK, she may require a blood transfusion if her anemia (level of red blood cells) is low enough. She may also just need time for her own body to make more red blood cells. There are lots of patients in critical care units that have lost a lot of blood that are able to be nursed back to health. I hope this is helpful!

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Yes, cat blood is very different from human blood. There are different blood types - cats can have either A, B, or AB (rare). There is no such thing has type O in cats, as there is in humans. Humans and animals have a different PCV (packed cell volume, hematocrit) – humans: 37-50%, cat: 24-45%, that means that the number of red blood cells differs a lot between the species. There is also a huge variation between the size of the red blood cells between the species causing a different distribution of glucose in plasma. For example in humans the percentage of glucose in the red blood cells is 42%, whereas 58% of the glucose is situated in plasma. In cats (less and smaller red blood cells) there is only 7% of the glucose in the red blood cells and the majority of about 93% of the glucose is located in plasma. These are just a few of the ways that cat and human blood are different. I hope this is helpful!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Thanks for providing the blood work. Did you allow the belly X-rays. The Vet thinks they felt a mass in Big Mac's belly. That makes me think that he most likely has a tumor in his belly that ruptured and he is bleeding internally. He needs surgery to remove the mass and to biopsy it to see if it is cancer or benign. But he will absolutely need a blood transfusion before surgery. If you can not afford to do further testing, a transfusion and surgery I would highly recommend considering Big Mac's quality of life. He is suffering. That low level of anemia is making him feel weak, light headed and blood in the belly is painful. I am so sorry. I hope this helps you in some way

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! That means that when low, she had a milder reaction to that specific allergen versus the high she had a more significant reaction to that particular allergen meaning that she is more sensitive to it. I hope you found this information helpful. Good luck and have a great day!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Reasons for blood in the stool include colitis, intestinal parasites and dietary indiscretion and some possible reasons of blood in the urine include urinary tract infections, urinary stones and even tumors. I recommend that you have her evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. They would be able to check for these possibilities and treat accordingly. Good luck and have a great day!