Your dogs are not good enough for blood transfusion! January 17, 15:55

"Immediate need of blood transfusion" There is a longing call from owners who want to save sick dogs on SNS. In the field of veterinary medicine, dogs are running out of blood and can't protect their dogs. (Yamagata Bureau reporter Takehiko Goto)

"Need for blood" on the Internet

"I need urgent blood transfusion" "I don't have any blood, help" "I'm looking for a medium to large dog who can help with blood transfusion." I have more to see above.

Blood essential for surgery

What's going on in animal health? I visited Tendo Animal Hospital in Tendo City, Yamagata Prefecture.

In early December last year, a small three-year-old dog who visited the hospital with his owner had severe anemia. For this reason, an operation to remove the "spleen" that caused it was performed.

An essential part of surgery is blood for transfusion. The operation was completed successfully with blood collected from another dog in advance.

(Director Kurita)
"We couldn't do surgery without a blood transfusion. If we didn't, we would have lost our lives."

I can't even do a blood transfusion

Tendo Animal Hospital operates about 1,000 dogs and cats a year. Blood transfusions are performed by various operations, such as traffic accidents and severe anemia.

Of these, blood transfusions are essentially 100%, or 100 of them. However, it is said that only about 10 out of 10 cases have been transfused. "We are not always able to secure blood and we are in a state of cycling. There are also lives that we couldn't save because we couldn't transfuse blood," said Kurita.

Animal hospital secured by itself

How do you secure blood for transfusion in dogs? There is no "system to collect and supply blood" like a human, and it must be secured by the hospital itself.

Each veterinary hospital pre-registers healthy “large dogs” with large blood volumes as donors. Dogs registered as donors are supported by the owners who go to the animal hospital. At Tendo Animal Hospital, large dogs weighing over 20 kg weighing between 1 and 7 years old. Many veterinary clinics offer free medical examinations and vaccinations instead of free blood when they need blood for surgery.

Owners struggling to secure blood

On the other hand, in some parts of the country, there are cases in which the owners themselves search for blood, but there are many people who have difficulty finding blood.

A 10-year-old dog kept in Tokyo died of a blood disease last November. The owner's woman visited her veterinary clinic in early November last year when her dog became ill. It was said that it was difficult to secure blood at the hospital, and he was asked to look for a dog that would provide blood, and he called on SNS. As a result, he found a dog that he wanted to cooperate with, but the blood of his dog and the dog that transfused it were not compatible and could not be transfused. He was later contacted to cooperate with the transfusion, but he said he had lived far away and was out of date.

(Owner)
"I don't know if I could survive my blood transfusion, but I just wished I had a system that would allow me to get a blood transfusion immediately."

Extended life expectancy Transfusion needs increase

Why is the need for transfusion blood increasing? The average life expectancy of dogs has increased significantly due to the development of medical technology. According to surveys by Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, the average life expectancy of dogs was 8.6 years in 1990. However, in 2014, it grew more than 1.5 times in 13.2 years and more than 20 years.

As life spans have prolonged and medical technology has developed, dogs have become susceptible to various illnesses just like humans, and it is now possible to cure them by surgery. The number of cases of surgery is increasing, and the blood for transfusion is indispensable.

Blood shortage due to increase in small dogs

Why is there a shortage of blood for transfusion? In the background, there is a change in the dog being raised. In the past, large dogs such as the Golden Retriever and Labrador Retriever were popular, but recently the number of small dogs such as toy poodles and chihuahuas has increased due to their ease of keeping.

The number of large dogs registered as donors is decreasing, making it difficult to secure blood. Even at Tendo Animal Hospital, which started donor registration in 2011, there were about 15 donor dogs when there were many, but now it is said that it has decreased to 9 dogs.

In the past, blood for transfusion was stored in a refrigerator in the hospital, but now there is almost no stock because even if blood is secured, it is used immediately in surgery.

Hospital breeding itself Special role

Some veterinary clinics use other methods to secure blood. For nearly 40 years, Nakayama Veterinary Hospital in Nara has raised large dogs.

We still have three large dogs. Usually he runs around the hospital and heals the veterinarians and staff, but plays a special role in emergency situations such as surgery. When blood transfusion is needed, blood is collected from these three animals to secure blood.

(Chairman Nakayama)
"Large dogs in the hospital have saved a lot of lives. Dogs and cats have tripled their lifespan compared to 40 years ago when I opened the hospital, and I think there will be more opportunities for blood transfusions. I will. "

In some cases, blood cannot be transfused

Animal hospitals obtain blood for transfusion in various ways, but in some cases blood transfusions may not be available.

It is said that there are more than thirteen blood types in dogs. Therefore, it is necessary to check whether the transfused blood is suitable each time, and it is not easy.

Artificial blood is expected to grow

How can I save my precious life? Professor Akiyuki Komatsu of Chuo University has been working on the development of artificial blood for nearly 30 years.

It is an artificial combination of multiple proteins and is made specifically for the role of transporting oxygen among the various functions of blood. Its strength is that it can be administered regardless of blood type. At the end of the test on rats, we are planning to conduct demonstration experiments to obtain national approval in the future, and we hope to lead to commercialization within 10 years.

(Professor Komatsu)
"We are losing the lives of pets who help with blood transfusions. We want to work hard to put them into practical use as soon as possible."

Overseas blood donation vehicles

According to Mr. Masanari Nakayama, chairman of Nakayama Veterinary Hospital, in the United States, a veterinary hospital at a university buys a car dedicated to donating blood with donations from citizens and travels around to collect blood. With the idea of ​​“pets save and pets help each other,” the veterinary hospital staff is working on a blood donation car to collect blood.

(Chairman Nakayama)
"There are many lives that can be saved by blood transfusion. It is necessary to build a system that can provide a stable supply of blood for transfusion even in an emergency."

What you can do now

What can we do now? The first idea is to cooperate with the calls for "donor registration" and "blood donation" at hospitals around the world. Consulting your animal clinic first may be the first step in addressing "blood shortage" to save your dogs.

Yamagata Bureau reporter
Goto Takehiko entered in 2002
Fukui bureau Sendai bureau Current affiliation after network reporting department