Feline Blood Donors - Screening and Annual Health Maintenance

We are looking for cats who are:

1. Healthy
2. Friendly and easy to work with
3. At least 10 lbs
4. 1-7 years old
5. Kept indoors only
6. Not on medications (flea preventatives are acceptable)
7. Up to date on vaccines

If you have a pet cat who fits this description and you are interested in the program, what follows is the screening process at the hospital's expense:

1. We draw 6-10 mls of blood and submit 5-7mls for FeLV/FIV (feline leukemia/feline immunodeficiency virus) and heartworm antigen tests.
2. If the FeLV/FIV and heartworm antigen tests are negative, we then submit 3 mls of blood for typing and blood parasite tests. We primarily use cats with blood type A, but we have occasionally used type B cats.
3. Following step 2, we now draw 7 mls of blood and submit it for a CBC (complete blood count), serum chemistry profile, and perform a physical exam.
4. At the same time we also perform an echocardiogram to evaluate your cat’s heart function. This test is to ensure your cat’s safety during the donation procedure*.
5. If the results from step 3 and 4 are satisfactory, then your cat's name will be put on a list which we will use to call donors in when we need blood for a specific patient or when we want to bank blood and store it until needed.
6. Once a donor is in the program, we provide the following:

• An annual physical exam
• Annual bloodwork, to include a complete blood count (CBC), chemistry profile, FeLV/FIV and heartworm antigen test, and blood parasite screen
• A $40.00 credit (to be used at the Hospital) or a large bag of food per donation

We require that all donors be kept current on vaccines to include FVRCP and rabies at the owners’ expense.

*Please be aware that we normally anesthetize feline donors for a short period of time while donating.

If interested, please call 517-432-4546.