Every day, hundreds of animals need blood transfusions across the country, but there are few national animal blood banks who can provide for this ever growing demand. With such a severe shortage of blood, many clinics have started to depend on larger emergency hospitals when they need blood. 

Dogs have 13 blood types while cats only have three blood types. One in 15 dogs is a universal donor & there is no universal blood type for cats. When veterinarians purchase blood from a bank, they typically try to get the universal blood type for dogs, which can be used once on almost any animal without much chance of side effects or adverse reactions, but with an almost constant shortage of blood available this is not always possible.  

In response to the growing need for blood transfusions in clinics across the country, many veterinary schools have set up blood donor programs. There are always requirements that the donors must meet, & these will vary by each donating site.  Both dog & cat blood donors are needed.

In the Lansing area, you can sign up thru Michigan State University's Veterinary Hospital/School.  They do have some requirements, which I have included below so you can see if your pet would qualify. 

Requirements:
1. 1-7 years old
2. Weigh at least 10lb
3. Healthy & easy to work with
4. Up-to-date on vaccines
5. No current medications EXCEPT heartworm/flea/tick prevention
Compensation (per donation): $40 credit toward MSU Vet Clinic or 20# bag of food

Thank you for joining us this month for National Pet Month!  I hope you have enjoyed our variety of articles this month.  Next month is National Adopt a Cat Month so our articles will cover "purrfect" topics to talk about all things cat!!  Stay tuned!!  

Once you receive results & find which breeds make up the biggest % in your mixed breed pet, please feel free to take your results to your veterinarian to discuss potential health issues associated with specific breeds. 

We always say that your pet, dog or cat, is a member of your family, so it’s nice to know something more about where they came from & DNA tests are a great way to start that process.  Next week we will be covering Pet Blood Donors, similar to us, as humans, giving blood at the Red Cross, so stay tuned for more information next Monday!

Enforcing basic rules for kids playing with pets at home is necessary in teaching a child pet safety. Screaming, yelling, jumping around, & very loud play can be very startling and stressful for pets & should be avoided or minimized when possible.

Pulling at a dog’s or cat’s tail, yanking paws or ears & sneaking up behind pets is going to get a child nipped or bit.

Never allow your kids to corner a pet, or roughly handle them. Doing this will put pets into a defensive mode (growling, biting, hissing, barking) or could make them always want to hide or can initiate other behaviors such as biting.

Pets are also not playgrounds and therefore should not be played on by children. Do not let children climb all over or ride on the backs of any pet. Any physical attacks by a child on a pet like pinching, punching, kicking & slapping needs to be corrected immediately.  Explain calmly but firmly that you wouldn't hit/slap/kick a friend...your pet is also your friend so you should always treat your pet like you would treat your friend.

This does not only apply to children.  It goes the other way too as you would never permit your dog or cat to bite or scratch your kid & behavior such as this should always be quickly corrected.

Cats use a variety of signals (body postures, facial expressions, and vocalizations) to convey their message and avoid unwelcome confrontations. By learning how to decipher these feline postures, you can deepen the bonds of affection with your cats as well as prevent misunderstandings and potential aggression.  But for many of us, cat lingo feels like a foreign language, difficult to understand and still harder to decipher.  Below in this article I found some really amazing illustrations to provide a visual guide to a variety of cat body language.