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Whole blood transfusion collection in a dog | VETgirl Veterinary Continuing Education Videos

In this VETgirl online veterinary continuing education video, we demonstrate how to collect blood from a canine blood donor for a whole blood transfusion. This was a veterinary staff’s personal dog who has been previously screened as a healthy blood donor.

Make sure to be well prepared in advance. In VETgirl’s opinion, the easiest way to collect blood from blood donors is to purchase preloaded 500 mL sterile, closed blood collection bags that already have the anticoagulant, CPDA, in it. (This provides an approximate 35 day storage life for the blood product.) The preloaded blood collection bag should be weighed, while holding the tubing and needle up off the scale. (This should be approximately 60 grams total weight, empty).

Before the blood donor is sedated, the amount of blood to collect should be calculated out. For example:

(450 mL of blood x 1.06 grams/mL) + 60 gram bag = 537 grams

Once the dog is sedated, sterile blood collection can be initiated by clipping and sterile preparation of the jugular vein. The tubing should be clamped so no air enters the tubing. Once phlebotomy occurs, the tubing should then be unclamped to allow blood to flow into the blood collection bag. As this is a completely closed system, there is no air in the tubing. Gently rock the blood collection bag during phlebotomy to mix the blood with the CPDA, while weighing the bag constantly until the target weight is achieved (e.g., Again, 537 grams, in this case). Before removing the needle, the tubing should be clamped to prevent any free air from entering. Next, strip the tube back, clamp and fill purple top tubes for crossmatching, and appropriately identify the unit (e.g., expiration date, type of product, etc). The unit should be stored appropriately, rotated gently daily, and be placed in the refrigerator (as it is whole blood) with space around the unit for air circulation.

This procedure takes about 20-30 minutes, and either IV fluids or SQ fluids should be given to the donor to replace the volume removed. The patient should also be monitored carefully during sedation, and given an appropriate reward for donating blood and saving yet another life!

  1. Hello, I have a question regarding the formula for calculating the amount of blood in the bag. I recently used it to collect blood from a donor, but I made a mistake apparently because the blood coagulated in the bag. Where did I go wrong? Could I have the bibliography regarding the formula, please?
    thank you very much!

    • Did you add anticoagulant? It might not automatically be in the bag – the dose ranges from 1:7mls per anticoagulant but check with the type you are using.

  2. No, the anticoagulant was already in the bag. it was a 350 mls bag for human blood collection. My supervisor said that I should have added the amount of blood written on the bag itself.
    So I’d like to understand when to use the formula showed in this video:

    (450 mL of blood x 1.06 grams/mL) + 60 gram bag = 537 grams

    Thank you very much 🙂

  3. what if we do not need 450 ml of blood? I am transfusing a chihuahua and only need 60 ml of blood. So using CPDA, I would put 7 cc of CPDA in syringe and 53 ml of blood? That is what I remember from using ACD but not sure if it is the same ratio for CPDA. Hard to find this info anywhere and was hoping you had it somewhere. thanks

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