DISCLAIMER:  This post is about dog blood donations.  While no especially graphic images are included, there are images that involve needles and blood.

For pet owners around the world, we know and understand that taking on one of these little critters means we’re responsible for every facet of their lives – be it dog, cat, or spider monkey.  One of the things I had never thought about was how, in emergency situations, our dogs get blood.  The answer is a small group of dedicated and awesome volunteers who take time out of their days to have their dogs donate blood.  Earlier in the documentary, we introduced “Adventures with Bailey.”  Adventures is a non-profit based in the Chicagoland area.  They focus on providing animal assisted therapy and activities free of charge.  One of the things that Susan and her five leonbergers also do is donate blood.  Earlier this week, I drove out to the Animal Emergency & Treatment Center to follow the dogs as they donated blood.  It was a phenomenal experience and the incredibly talented vets and vet techs their made the process easy and painless.  On average, they take about 450 grams of blood per dog.  Before they get to that though, they give each dog a thorough physical examination and an updated blood screen to ensure that their are no contaminates in the blood.  Then they give the dogs some electrolytes to ensure that the blood that is donated isn’t missed by the dog.  When the time comes they go ahead and bring each dog into a examination room individually and work to hoist the 100+ pound dogs onto the table.  The blood is taken from a vein in their neck and gravity driven into the bag.  One would think that the initial entry of the needle would frighten the dogs but the skilled ladies who were working with the dogs today made it painless donation.  Afterwards, everyone was nice enough to take me back to where they process the blood and seperate some of it out into plasma in their huge centrifuges.  The AETC supplies area clinics with plasma and blood along with a few other locations including one in Boston.  I want to thank everyone from the AETC and Adventures for letting me illustrate to everyone a side of dog ownership that is rarely considered.  If you have a dog that is large enough and healthy enough, you should definitely consider becoming a donor.  Your contribution could save someones best friend.
Thanks for reading,
Evan