scarletfang [forum info]
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I have recently accepted a job at an ER and referral clinic that's going to be setting up a donor site for the Canadian Animal Blood Bank. Currently in veterinary medicine, only canine blood is able to be stored for any length of time, so obviously this means we will be working with dogs (and specifically medium to large dogs, since the little ones can't afford to give up a full unit of blood).
Because I am fascinated by transfusion science, I'm planning on getting in on this from day one. CABB offers their donors a few perks, like free ID microchipping and routine health checks. I am trying to put together a list of other things that might encourage people to bring their dogs in. Ideally, things that will not cost the clinic a lot, but will benefit the donors and their humans.
For those of you who have dogs, would you consider signing them up to donate blood? Why or why not? What might change your mind?
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Lyss [forum info]
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I probably would for zero perks if I knew it was available.
I don't really know what costs the clinic a lot, but free/reduced frontline or a variant? For X months every time they donate? Like give them a 3 month set, then in two months contact them, thank them, and mention that you noticed the dog is almost out of Frontline, would they want to come back in and do it again?
scarletfang [forum info]
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Goddess of Chaos
Fuzzy kitten lemming
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I'm so hot I kill fridges
VFKKK Hottie
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Posts: 66980
That's not a bad idea, especially since flea season tends to overlap pretty highly with trauma season, when we need blood the most.
I was thinking vaccines, and maybe a lifelong small discount for ALL clinic services (like 10% or something).
We'll be doing bloodwork each time they donate, since we need to make sure they're healthy enough to do so, and I think the blood bank already covers microchipping and blood products for the life of the donor if they ever need it.
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scarletfang [forum info]
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Goddess of Chaos
Fuzzy kitten lemming
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I'm so hot I kill fridges
VFKKK Hottie
I may be small, but I'm made of FIERCE
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Right now it's kinda up to the individual donor clinics (they have a main facility in Manitoba where all of the blood is tested, separated into components, repackaged and shipped). CABB itself covers the microchipping, blood type testing plus a tag to put on the collar with the dogs blood type on it, and basic bloodwork with each donation (to make sure they're fit to donate at any given time, just like with people). They also offer free blood products for the lifetime of the donor if they ever need it, up to the total amount they have previously donated.
The main pitch is the potential to save other dogs lives, but I feel like it's a lot to ask someone to commit to without offering them something.
I know that the vets I work with will include a full, thorough physical exam with each donation, because they are awesome vets, and it would be irresponsible not to.
A lot of donor clinics also give out silly bandanas for the donors to wear (I'm convinced it's to cover up the shaved collection site), which is nice, but sorta...pointless.
Some of the things I was thinking about were discounted vaccines and heartworm/parasite preventatives, since all donors need to be up to date on those, and all dogs SHOULD be up to date on them. I don't think it would be reasonable to just GIVE them away, but I'm pretty sure we could do a pretty steep discount. Or maybe have a sliding scale, where the discount gets a little better with multiple donations.
