101 Donations

The blood donor wagged his tail.

“Chandler, you’re up!” announced veterinary assistant Sheila Budd.

She wrapped the 70-pound greyhound in a bear hug from behind. Stroked his tiger-striped face. Told him he’ll get a new home in January with a couple cats.

Meanwhile, Chandler, 3, sat still while another assistant slid a needle into his jugular vein, filling a pouch with half a pint of blood.

Two minutes later, Chandler was done with his civic duty and got a dog biscuit for his trouble. His blood would be shipped out immediately, perhaps to save another dog’s life.

Chandler and 100 other ex-racing greyhounds give blood about twice a month for use in more than 1,200 veterinary hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. The greyhounds were adopted by Hemopet, one of three major dog blood banks in the country and the only nonprofit one.

None of the blood banks can keep up with the overwhelming demand. Recent advances in veterinary medicine allow animal surgeons and emergency doctors to perform life-saving procedures that once were reserved for people--providing that the veterinarians can find the blood for transfusions.

“Just the mere fact that they have easy availability to large quantities of [blood] products enables us to save a large number of patients we wouldn’t otherwise be able to save,” said veterinarian Scott Anderson of California Animal Hospital, where dozens of dogs get Hemopet blood every month.

The demand has prompted Hemopet President W. Jean Dodds to set up a national blood bank network, a sort of American Red Cross for dogs.

A veterinary medical supply company has agreed to provide an unspecified amount to fund the network’s hotline, which will allow veterinarians nationwide to find out what type of blood is available and where. The network also will support research in veterinary hematology and produce a national journal on animal blood bank issues.

Dodds, a veterinarian for 32 years, plans to open the network next summer. The three blood banks already work together unofficially, she said.

“It’s a tremendous responsibility,” said Dodds, who founded Hemopet in July 1991. “We have all these lives to deal with. . . . We’ve got people fighting [with each other]--’You have units in your place, I need it.’ ‘No, I need it.’ ”

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It’s the same story at Animal Blood Bank near Davis, the first and largest laboratory of its kind in the country.

Animal Blood Bank, which opened in 1988, ships more than 12,000 units of dog blood each year to countries including Germany, Austria and Israel, owner Pat Kaufman said. The donors adopted from animal shelters are dogs that would otherwise be euthanized, she said.

California regulations prohibit animal blood banks from using blood from the dogs of private owners because of contamination fears, said veterinarian Larry Allen of the state Department of Food and Agriculture. Instead, the blood banks must keep their own carefully screened donor dogs on site.

(Private veterinarians can accept blood donations from outside dogs for use in their clinic but are not allowed to sell the blood.)

In Maryland, state regulations do not restrict Eastern Veterinary Blood Bank from using outside donors. About 30 local residents regularly bring their dogs in to the Annapolis blood bank to donate blood as a public service. The donor dog also gets free health exams.

“It makes us sound like we’re screening a lot less, and it’s more of a risk, but that’s not the case,” Eastern spokesman Patrick Lee said. “It’s actually more of a paperwork regulatory thing than an actual health” requirement.

So far, the blood banks collect dog blood only. Each animal has a unique kind of blood and blood cell size. Dogs have 14 different blood types; cats have three.

But the blood banks don’t stock bloods from cats, which are more prone to blood-borne viruses and more difficult to handle when drawing blood.

Before the blood banks opened, veterinarians relied on a few strays kept at the clinic for blood or dogs belonging to the doctor or staff. Typically, the in-house blood was not typed or screened for infectious disease, Dodds said. But in the past decade or so, experts say, the expectations of pet owners changed--many demand the same standard in veterinary care that they get in human medicine. Since 1986, the number of veterinary specialists have doubled or tripled in fields including internal medicine, cardiology and oncology, according to the American Veterinary Medical Assn.

Before and after cancer surgeries, a dog may need several units of blood. Dogs with hemophilia need a constant supply of blood.

The blood bank owners say most animal rights activists don’t object to their use of dogs from shelters or racetracks.

“If they didn’t use the [dogs] they’re using, where would the supply be coming from?” said Ruth Frankel, president of the Animal Assistance League of Orange County.

A spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States said the blood banks’ mission is important, but “we’re uncomfortable with the use of animals from the shelters. We feel like that’s a violation of public trust. When people bring their animals to shelters, they expect they’ll be given a good home, or they will be humanely destroyed.”

Hemopet workers get retired Arizona racing greyhounds that otherwise would be euthanized, Dodds said. They only take the greyhounds that have the universal blood type, similar to “O” in people.

Greyhounds are good blood donors because they tend to be healthy, easy to handle and have big veins, Dodds said. Dogs are kept about a year before they are eligible for adoption. Hemopet’s adoption arm, Pet Life-Line, has found homes for 230 greyhounds, she said.

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The greyhounds have had no health problems related to their regular blood donations, she said.

At Hemopet’s two clinics, in Irvine and Garden Grove, the dogs live in large indoor runs full of stuffed animals and blankets. Volunteers take each of the dogs outside three times a day for walks or air. Each day, the dogs get an iron supplement to help keep their blood healthy.

The blood is sold to veterinarians for prices ranging from $63 to $80 a unit for red blood cells or plasma. The Irvine blood bank sells about 600 units every three months.

“You can’t just exploit them,” Dodds said. “We save their lives, and they get to live in a home. It’s 50% to save [other] pets’ lives, and 50% so they can be adopted.”

For information on adopting the greyhounds: (714) 252-8455. The adoption fee, based on spay or neuter costs, are $150 for males and $175 for females.

Also contributing to this report was Times researcher Sheila Kern.