Do dogs always need crossmatching for repeat blood transfusions?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Dog blood typing is more complicated than humans and not all the sub types come in to play with transfusion and donating. There are 2 main blood types: DEA 1.1 - and DEA 1.1 +. Negative blood is the "universal" blood type. Negative dogs should only receive negative blood but positive dogs can receive both. A dog that is a donor needs to be blood typed, be on flea/tick and heart worm prevention, be up to date on vaccines and have been tested for transmissible infectious diseases. I wish you the best!

No, usually blood test is not required, unless there is another specific reason for it (other than Apoquel). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

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

As long as the donor dog was fit and well there would be no concerns, plasma is used for the antiinflammatory and healing properties on the surface of the eye and is effective as long as it is fresh and stored correctly

Actually this is true in the case of kidneys. It take up to 75% of the nephrons to fail in kidneys before symptoms are seen of kidney disease. It's always good to have blood work done on any dog, even healthy ones. Because our dogs cannot tell us if they are feeling sick or not, these tests are needed to make sure everything is healthy. In addition, many dogs will show no sign of illness until they are extremely sick. You can't know for sure if your dog is healthy without these tests, so if your vet is recommending doing the blood work, I suggest going along with your vet's recommendation.

this would depend very much on Dasiys underlying condition and whether this needs ongoing hospital treatment as well as the blood transfusion. Many dogs in need of transfusions would be hospitalised due to the severity of their symptoms but if she is stable she may be allowed home the same day. Contact your vets office to discuss her treatment plan

Poor Meddy! I am sure you are very worried about him. I wish i could tell you what is going on with him but from the medications you list it sounds like something is wrong with his liver. If he received a blood transfusion then this means he was anemic (low red count). The pictures you show are of a common intravenous fluid solution to maintain hydration, an antibiotic, and a sugar solution (which is often given if the blood sugar is low). It sounds like your vet is working hard to help him. As all of these are supportive medications the really important thing will be finding out why this is happening. I assume you took him to the vet because he was sick and he was placed on these medications to treat him. If this is not the case and he developed sickness after starting a medication then report this to your vet right away. It sounds like Meddy needs more tests to figure this out. Do you have access to any veterinary specialists in your area, such as an internal medicine specialist? If not, you could talk to your vet about he or she getting a phone consult with a specialist to help with the case. I hope this helps and the Meddy feels better soon! Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.