“My pet is so healthy, they’ve never been to a vet!” – what your vet is thinking
I look down at the elderly staffie on the table in front of me and inwardly sigh. True to the breed, this gorgeous dog is wagging his tail and looking at me like I’m the most interesting person he’s ever met, but I can see he’s struggling. The muscle wastage and long nails that speak of having not been able to walk properly for a long time. The thickened pigmented skin that says long-standing itching. The scarred ear canals that resulted from years of ear infections left to their own devices. The truly awful breath that tells me I really don’t want to see just how bad the teeth are.
Seeing Is Believing: How Blood Plasma Therapy Is Preventing Blindness in Dogs
Blood donation and use of blood products is well known in both human and veterinary medicine.
Blood transfusion is commonly used to save critically ill pets, with a lesser-known use of helping save our pets’ vision, too.
When a dog or cat donates blood, the blood product can be split and used with multiple patients. Serum can be separated from whole blood to treat infections and disorders in the eye – most commonly a condition known as a corneal ulcer.