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Amazing Greys: Racing to the rescue

A veterinary technician, a blood donor, a professor, and a horse doctor walk into a hospital. This sounds like the start of a joke, but it really happens at the Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH). With the assistance of veterinary technicians and staff veterinarians, retired racing greyhounds, brought to Purdue by a retired equine veterinarian, come to the VTH to donate their blood, which helps save the lives of other dogs.

The Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Blood Donor Program, which serves as a canine blood bank to store blood from universal canine donors, acquires greyhounds in need of adoption or coming off the dog racing circuit. “Once a month, the dogs donate their blood,” says Julie Commons, small animal internal medicine technologist at the VTH. “This can be used for any canine recipient in need.”

Victor

According to Dr. J. Catharine Scott-Moncrieff, professor in Small Animal Internal Medicine in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, greyhounds are ideal donors because of several characteristics:

  • A high percentage of them are universal donors.
  • They are large enough to give a human-sized unit of blood.
  • Their blood has a very high red cell count in the collection.
  • They are very easy to work with.

Purdue alumnus Bruce M. Olson, DVM, retired equine veterinarian and resident veterinarian for the Sanford-Orlando Kennel Club in Longwood, Fla., first learned of the blood donor program through the August 2010 issue of the college’s alumni newsletter. “I called and explained that I work with greyhounds and asked how I could help.” After a few conversations, Olson became an integral part of the program by identifying dogs coming off the race circuit, collecting blood samples to determine suitable donors are free of blood-borne diseases, and arranging transportation for them from Florida to Purdue.

Arriving at Purdue through transportation by an adoption organization, the dogs are introduced to a new way of life. Commons works with the VTH family to provide a safe and secure environment for the dogs, who have never known anything other than kennel life and racing. “When the dogs arrive, we assess their needs and determine if they have any behavior issues,” she says. “If needed, our behavior department and staff work with the dogs to help them overcome the problems.” Dogs can stay in the program for up to four years.

Veterinary technicians – like Commons – and in-house veterinarians provide ongoing care for the dogs. Commons explains, “It is imperative that our blood donors get the best of care. It is an excellent environment to teach our future veterinarians and registered veterinary technicians how to properly care for a blood donor.”

Scott-Moncrieff adds, “Greyhounds make great pets, so we felt we could continue to be effective with our program by having these dogs live in homes. Veterinary students, faculty, and the community adopt the dogs, and we provide the medical care.” In return, owners bring the dogs in to donate blood.

While some of the dogs are adopted immediately, others stay part of the blood donor program as in-house donors. “We only keep two or three dogs as in-house donors at any given time,” says Commons. “But every dog that has come through the program has been adopted.”

The donor dog’s quality of life and medical care is important to everyone at the VTH and the basis of what makes this program so great. Purdue’s VTH is always prepared to administer a transfusion at a moment’s notice, even when fresh whole blood is required. “This is why we have in-house blood donors,” says Commons.

Barbara White

Barbara White, administrative assistant and graduate program coordinator in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, adopted two greyhounds who are part of the blood donor program – Amelia Earhart (Amelia) and Palmolive (Paulie). “They get so excited and dance around when I ask them if they want to be a hero today,” says White.

Commons says, “They love us, and they love coming in to see us. They perform their job, and we have a celebration every time.”

White, who contributes financially to the program as well, is very proud of her furry babies for being blood donors. “It has done so much for me personally to see these dogs part of a program that saves lives,” she says. “It makes me happy — no, joyful — that the dogs can give in this way.”

“This program saves a lot of lives,” says Olson. “It benefits us at the track as well because we know that all of these dogs will end up in good homes. Besides the benefits to the animals, I believe that this program – and the results it makes possible – can only enhance the stature of our already excellent veterinary hospital.”

For the recipients of these blood products, blood transfusions can save a life by treating a vast array of diseases and disorders such as toxicities, trauma, immune-mediated diseases, infectious disease, kidney and liver disease, clotting disorders, and cancer.

These retired greyhounds are on a new circuit now and racing for a new cause – the life of a fellow canine and someone’s beloved pet.

Editor’s note: Along with the canine blood bank, the VTH also has a feline blood bank where cats give their blood for other cats. To learn more about the program or find out how you can help, e-mail Julie Commons or J. Catharine Scott-Moncrieff, or call 765-496-7497.

Dogs from the track that are not suitable blood donors for the Purdue program are adopted out through the local adoption groups who send the dogs all over the United States and Canada.