We need help finding heroes! Have you ever wondered what would happen if your dog needed a blood transfusion? What if he or she gets into rat poison or gets hit by a car and needs blood?

Canine Blood Heroes is coming to Advanced Veterinary Care (AVC) in Salt Lake City. Canine Blood Heroes is a canine blood service that finds eligible dogs to act as blood donors. We are excited that Salt Lake City veterinarians will have a reliable source of canine blood for transfusions. There are so many reasons a dog may need blood: rat bait ingestion, surgery, cancer, trauma, the list goes on. It can be a real challenge to find blood in an emergency situation – this program is designed to help with that challenge. AVC will serve as a central location for collection and storage, and local vets will be able to purchase units of blood when needed for their own clinics.

All the dogs in the program are universal donors. Just like humans who are O positive these universal donor dogs can donate blood to any other dog. This saves time and money for the dog on the receiving end of the transfusion. Only a small segment of the general population of dogs are universal donors. Greyhounds, other sight-hounds, boxers, pit bulls, and dobermans are more likely to have the right blood type. The potential donors will be typed at AVC, and if eligible will be screened for blood-borne diseases to make sure they can donate to other dogs.

To qualify for the program, dogs must be between 1 and 7 years old, weigh at least 50 pounds, and have a nice personality (since donations are done while awake). The donation does not harm your dog, and as a thank you for each donation, you will receive a $50 credit good at the local veterinary clinic of your choice. So your dog could be paying his or her own vet bills!

If you have questions about the program, please do not hesitate to contact one of our veterinarians at Pets@UtahRedwoodVet.com or phone us at (801)-966-3974. Advanced Veterinary Care is a specialty referral veterinary practice that we work with and is located in Salt Lake City.