Prevalence and characteristics of adverse reactions in dogs donating blood

This article aims to analyse the safety of canine blood donation by describing the frequency and causes of any adverse reactions in donors.

In this prospective study, any blood donor adverse reactions detected by the clinical staff during and immediately after donation were recorded. The owners of the dogs were also surveyed by a veterinary practitioner or veterinary nurse 3 days after donation, using a predefined questionnaire to assess for any clinical or behavioural changes. Data were collected between December 2020 and December 2021 from blood donors enrolled in an animal blood bank programme.

From the 4439 blood donations, 37 (0.83%) adverse post-donation reactions were reported, with no other reactions identified in the remaining 4402 donations (99.17%). Of the total of donations in the studied period, 0.63% (n = 28) of canine donors developed a haematoma in the puncture area, 0.11% (n = 5) developed mild bleeding at the puncture site during the monitoring period, 0.045% (n = 2) developed a skin rash after clipping for donation, and 0.045% (n = 2) developed acute weakness, pallor, tachycardia and tachypnoea during the 30 minutes monitoring period, consistent with hypotension. In both cases showing acute signs of weakness, pallor, tachycardia and tachypnoea, all parameters stabilised and resolved within 10 to 15 minutes upon administration of a 10 mL/kg bolus over 10 minutes of intravenous NaCl. No other delayed reactions were reported by the owners other than the acute reactions already registered by the donation staff.

The low incidence of post-donation reactions in this study is encouraging, suggesting that a high level of safety can be achieved in a structured canine blood donation programme.