Become a blood donor

We welcome both dogs and cats to become blood donors. At the animal hospital, we store dog blood after blood donations, whilst blood donor cats are called in when needed.

To become a blood donor dog

Just like humans, dogs must be healthy to donate blood. To become a blood donor, these following requirements, besides being overall healthy, need to be met:

• The dog must weigh at least 27 kg.
• The appropriate age for the dog to start donating blood is around 1–3 years old.
• The visit to donate blood with us takes 5–10 minutes. Therefore, the dog must be able to lie still on its side during this time. 
• The dog must be born in Sweden and not have been or plan to go abroad.
• If it is a female, she must not have been or be intended as a breeding dog.
• The dog must not have received a blood transfusion.

If your dog meets the requirements, one of our veterinarians will then need to examine the dog to make sure everything looks good. At your first visit to the Blood Bank, both the dog's health and blood type will be checked.

Your first visit at the Blood Bank

At your first visit with us, a veterinarian will perform an examination and assess the dog's health and condition and review whether the dog is a suitable candidate for blood donation. During the examination, we will also take blood samples as well as check the blood type. It is important that the dog has not had vomiting, diarrhea, bite wounds or other signs of infection in the past week before the visit.

If everything looks good during the examination, the dog can become a blood donor with us. Blood donations take place approximately every third month. We always want our blood donors to feel safe when they visit us. Therefore, it is important that the dog does not experience the blood donation procedure as something stressful, but instead enjoys visiting us and donating blood.

Benefits as a blood donor

We are incredibly grateful for the important work that our blood donors do. That is why we offer various benefits to our blood donors at SLU University Animal Hospital:

• Annual veterinary examination and blood tests
• Blood test status before blood donation
• Vaccination according to current procedures
• Tick prophylaxis during tick season

Contact us

Do you want your animal to become a blood donor?

Please contact us through e-mail: blodbanken@uds.slu.se