Tsai Yi-lun, an assistant professor who heads the center in southern Taiwan, said the blood bank is urgently needed in order to save the lives of dogs. The center will build a complete profile of donors as per the high standards of human blood banks so as to meet the needs of animal hospitals around Taiwan.
After the center takes root at NPUST, it will send its mobile blood donation unit to communities cooperating with Kaohsiung Blood Center, move toward developing dog stem cell research and build a database for expanding services to other animals like cats and economic animals.
“There are many types of dog’s blood,” Tsai said, adding that canine transfusions are more complicated than human ones as a comprehensive program of allergy testing and blood matching must be undertaken before initiating the process.
“Although there are some blood banks at private veterinary hospitals and clinics, their blood storage equipment is not as good as the center’s,” Tsai said.
Following the example of blood banks set up by the University of California, Davis, and Karsetsart University of Thailand, the NPUST center employs refrigerators specially designed for blood banks and special anticoagulants kept in blood bags so as to extend the life of dog’s blood to about 35 days.
Following the launch ceremony, center staffers took blood from a 3-year-old dog named Neo, which was rescued from the street and rehabilitated by NPUST students. After passing a health check, the dog was disinfected by a veterinarian, who also tested its hemoglobin, shaved its fur and then drew around 250 milliliters of blood from its carotid artery.
The best candidates for blood donations are dogs aged up to 8 years weighing no more than 20 kilograms and routinely dewormed and vaccinated. The volume of blood taken each time should not exceed 20 percent of the animal’s total supply.
“We plan to cooperate with similar institutions around the world in holding international conferences once the center is firmly established,” Tsai said.
According to the latest statistics from the Animal Protection Department of the Council of Agriculture, Taiwan had 1.74 million pet dogs in 2013 and 1,353 veterinary clinics in 2014. (WF-E)
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