When Enid Apsey noticed her much-loved dog Robson, an 11-year-old bichon frise, retching violently one afternoon in May 2005, she rushed him to her local vet. Robson was successfully operated on and a tumour was removed from his spleen. Apsey, from Tyneside, was relieved when he was transferred to an out-of hours clinic in Gateshead, run by the emergency care provider Vets Now, to recuperate overnight.

“During the night Robson deteriorated,” Apsey says. “They told me that his red cell count had fallen desperately low and he needed an emergency blood transfusion.”

Normally vets faced with this situation have to search frantically for a dog able to travel to the clinic for an immediate donation. If no such animal is found, the consequences can be fatal. Luckily in Robson’s case a bag of red blood cells was calmly retrieved from a refrigerator at the Vets Now practice. Robson had become part of a trial for Pet Blood Bank UK (PBBuk), a scheme setting up the UK’s first store of dog-blood products from blood donated by dogs, with their owners’ agreement.

“Without that transfusion, Robson wouldn’t be here,” says Apsey. “And it’s good to know that soon any dog will be able to get the same treatment wherever they are in the Britain.”

That’s because PBBuk, a registered charity set up by Vets Now, has rolled out nationwide. Many of us can expect a blood drive at a vet’s practice near us soon. All blood will be whisked to the PBBuk laboratory in Loughborough and made available to vets across the country. So just how will the idea change life for our pets, and our vets?

The scheme was made possible by a change in the law on pet blood in October 2005, before then storage had been illegal. Richard Dixon, the managing director of Vets Now, the largest provider of emergency veterinary care in the UK, with 27 clinics, says that the implications of the legislation were immediately clear.

“At Vets Now we see about 5,000 emergency cases a month, so we’re well acquainted with the need for animal blood,” he says. “You might have a dog that becomes anaemic because of chronic internal bleeding, or one that has lost blood due to a road accident.

“In emergency cases, our vets found themselves ringing around – often in the middle of the night – to find a donor. Of course, vets build up a list of owners they can call, but sometimes these owners are on holiday, or simply not free to travel. Sadly, dogs died because of a lack of blood available. This change in the law was a huge step forward.”

In October 2005 Dixon set a staff vet, Wendy Barnett, a challenge: could Vets Now set up the UK’s first store of pet blood products? After research, Barnett decided to focus on dogs – the UK’s most popular pet – and to rely on voluntary donations rather than using dogs kept especially to donate, as is the practice in the United States. Barnett says: “I don’t think the British public would like that idea.”

The scheme was launched in March at Crufts and, since then PBBuk has held a blood drive at a different veterinary practice every weekend. They have banked about 50 donations. Any healthy dog weighing more than 25kg (3½ stone) – a restriction that excludes most small breeds – and between the ages of 1 and 8, can donate, as long as the dog has never been abroad or received a blood transfusion.

One major advantage of the project will be the ability to cross match donor-dog blood types against those of recipients, often impossible in emergency situations where the transfusion takes place directly from one dog to another. As with humans, dog blood type carries important implications for donation. There are 29 recognised ways of categorising human blood, but for the purpose of transfusion the types A, B, AB, and O are used. Scientists have found eight types of dog blood, but for transfusion it is sorted into just two types – dog erythrocyte antigen (DEA) 1.1 positive or negative – according to the presence or absence of certain genetic markers on the surface of the red blood cells. DEA 1.1 negative dogs can donate blood to any other, while those that are DEA 1.1 positive should give only to other positives.

The ability to cross match will allow, for the first time, the widespread and safe performance of multiple transfusions in dogs; giving a dog multiple lots of the wrong blood type could provoke a potentially fatal reaction. Blood types will be ascertained via a simple two-minute test that will be carried out at the PBBuk laboratory but the blood bank will also be supplying typing kits to vets across the UK, to promote the widespread typing of all dogs.

Tom, a greyhound belonging to Co Durham vet Helen Day, has been a regular donor since the trial days. “Owners should know that donating isn’t at all stressful for most dogs,” she says. “Tom is always completely unconcerned during the five to ten minutes it takes to draw blood.”

All donors undergo a health check before a small amount of fur is shaved from the neck and a needle inserted to draw about 450ml of blood. “Tom’s so relaxed that he usually falls asleep,” says Day. “But I know that if staff come across a dog that gets nervous they simply don’t take the blood.”

Back at the Loughborough laboratory, blood is spun in a centrifuge that separates red blood cells from plasma; the former can be stored for 42 days at 4C (39F) and the latter is frozen, and can be stored for up to five years at minus 18C. One unit of red blood cells (250ml) is sold to a veterinary practice for between £90 and £110, while one unit of plasma (200ml) is £120, and PBBuk has requested that veterinary practices charge no mark-up.

If the blood bank runs into profit, this will be reinvested in the scheme: “Blood has to be back at our lab within eight hours, so currently we’re only collecting within two hours’ drive of Loughborough,” Wendy Barnett explains. “But we’re saving money for a mobile processing unit that will allow us to go anywhere. We estimate that more than 30 dogs have received transfusions with our products so far.”

Sadie, an 11-year-old lurcher cross, is one. Her owner, Angela Udall, from Colchester, arrived at her local Vets Now clinic in February after she discovered Sadie’s stomach had become distended. During an operation to stem an internal abdominal bleed, Sadie received plasma and red blood cells. “I call her the miracle dog,” says Udall. “Without the pet blood bank she might not be here. Now, I tell dog owners that I meet in the park: ‘Go and donate!’ ” But if there are to be many more Sadies, says the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, more work is needed. Another vet, Mark Johnston, says: “We’ll need to see expansion of this scheme before it has a significant effect on veterinary practice across the UK.”

It’s a truth not lost on Barnett. “Demand is outstripping supply,” she says. Not that the PBBuk staff will be satisfied with meeting the demand for dog blood. “We want to extend this to other pets,” she adds. “We expect to look to cats later on this year.” petbloodbankuk.org

Science comes to the rescue of poorly pets

Not satisfied with patients from just one species, medical experts have turned their attention to animals. Here are the latest medical advances.

Stem cell treatments, not yet commercially available for humans, have already reached animals. Horses with tendonitis are being given stem cell treatment by the company VetCell.

A radical treatment for dogs with leg bone cancer was recently developed in the United States. The cancerous bone is removed, irradiated and replaced. There are several places where this treatment is available for people.

An antidepressant has just been launched for dogs with the blues. The drug, called Reconcile, is beef-flavoured.

The slimming drug Slentrol has been licensed for use in Europe to help all those podgy pooches lose weight.

Glasgow pets now have ambulances, and pet organ donor cards are to be introduced nationally within the next ten years. Pets’ tickers can now be repaired, and heart surgery on dogs and cats is increasingly common. The range of surgery available is growing all the time – cruciate ligament surgery for dogs with damaged knees was once highly specialised surgery, but it is offered now by many vets.

Some new treatments are similar to those available for humans; keyhole surgery is one such example.

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