Dog News

Dog’s Blood Saves Cat’s Life

by Katherine

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A Florida cat used up all his nine lives but he is alive today thanks to a dog.

Buttercup collapsed in his Key West, Monroe County, Fla., home and was rushed to a vet clinic. There, veterinarians determined his red blood cell count was dangerously low and the only way to save his life was to perform and emergency blood transfusion.

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However, the clinic did not have cat blood available at the time, and the next best thing was to use dog blood. Thankfully, Buttercup did not reject the canine blood and is now enjoying his tenth live.

“Cat’s blood is a little harder to come by and not as available as dog’s blood,” said Dr. Sean Perry. “You can’t give type A blood to a type B blood cat because it’ll cause a severe immune reaction. It was actually safer to give [Buttercup] dog’s blood. It is a very rare procedure.”

It took four hours to finish the blood transfusion and thankfully, the kitty did not show signs of rejection while the procedure took pace.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, this rare, inter species blood transfusion, has only been done on 62 cats. Buttercup is now the 63rd case.

If for any reason Buttercup disliked dogs before, he now has no other option but to love them. After all, a dog saved his life.

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