Morph and Mindy, Bailey and Bonnie – they’re the latest potential additions to Cambridge’s dog donor pack.
Corey Regnerus, with labradors Bailey and Bonnie.
More dogs have been signed up as donors at Cambridge Vets in the wake of a Cambridge News story about a greyhound turned “bloodhound”.
Two greyhounds and two Labradors were registered in the past fortnight to undergo the free blood typing process and health check which determines whether dogs or cats can be donors.
Corey Regnerus, one of the vets who helped save Odom’s life last month with the help of Disco the greyhound, said having a pool of animals to contact in emergency situations is vitally important.
“When we need a blood donor, we tend to need them urgently, so the more we have on file, the more chance that we have one available when it really counts.”
Corey was prompted by the Cambridge News article to finally sign up his mother and daughter Labradors Bailey and Bonnie for the donor list.
He had planned to sign them up for some time.
“They love coming in to visit the clinic, it really is like bring your child to work day.”
“We would really like to acknowledge the many and varied animals we’ve had over the years that have been life savers, most of them are the staff dogs and cats and all of them have donated several times in their lives.”
Cambridge residents Andrew and Lana Martin have also signed up their greyhounds Morph and Mindy for the emergency service.
“We perform a full health check on the animal to ensure they are in good standing health and have no obvious illness or injuries that might exclude them from becoming a donor,” Corey explained. “They then have a blood sample taken and sent to the lab for screening the blood type. The result is sent back to us and we inform the owner what blood type they are and keep their contact details on file.”
Corey said Odom, who was saved as a result of a blood transfusion with Disco’s blood, was still doing fine after his brush with death last month.
“He has a long road of recovery ahead of him still, and likely lifelong medications for preventing a relapse, but he and [owner] Michelle are very happy.”
Disco, as Ring the Bell, won the $88,000 Duke of Edinburgh Silver Collar final at the Manukau Stadium last June to become the first dog to win it two years in a row. He also holds two track records in New Zealand.
Veterinary services to use a blood bank in Palmerston North for blood transfusions, but in emergency situations it pays to have Waikato based, pre-tested animals ready and available in emergency situations where time can make all the difference.
