Dog's Blood Used to Save Cat

Feline survives procedure with no side effects
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2013 2:20 PM CDT
Dog's Blood Used to Save Cat
Stock image.   (Shutterstock)

Who says dogs and cats can't be friends? When her cat ingested rat poison last Friday night, a New Zealand woman rushed the feline to the vet. But the blood laboratory was closed, so the cat's blood type couldn't be determined, and the animal needed an immediate transfusion. "He was dying," the owner tells 3news. "We didn't have time for the cat blood to arrive." So the veterinarian called a friend, who agreed her dog would serve as blood donor. Rory received blood from black Labrador Macy, and managed to make it through with no apparent side effects, the New Zealand Herald reports.

"I hadn't heard about it or read about it. It's not in any textbook. ... People are going to think it sounds pretty dodgy," says the vet of the rare procedure. "And it is—but hey, we've been successful." Cats don't reject dog blood because they don't have antibodies that do so, meaning a cross-species transfusion could buy a feline enough time to regenerate its own blood cells, 3news explains. (More strange stuff stories.)

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