Humanitarian Cats
If cats have nine lives, Hugo the purebred ragdoll has helped add a tenth to a fellow feline’s; because of his blood donation. Hugo’s owner, Anne Pleash, had no idea cats could give blood until she saw a notice at the veterinary practice while Hugo was in for a check-up. The proud pet-mum of two cats and a dog says she wanted to pay it forward for other pet owners. “I thought, ‘What a great thing to do’ and I popped him on the register,” she said. “I love my animals … I don’t have children so they’re my fur babies and if I ever needed blood, I would hope that there would be a donation for my little cat and my little dog.” Like humans, cats have four different blood types, and they need to be compatible for a successful blood transfusion. During Hugo’s check-up, the vet staff took a sample to determine his blood type before placing him on the register. It wasn’t long before he was called upon to lend a paw in a time of need. “I got a call asking, ‘How soon can you get him here? We’ve got a cat that’s quite sick and needs a donation’,” Anne said.
“That cat had an autoimmune issue and wasn’t responding to medication and the blood donation helped save its life.” He said having access to blood supplies during an emergency is the difference between life and death. “There have been a couple of instances in the past few years where it’s been really touch-and-go, where we’ve said to the client, ‘Your animal needs a blood transfusion. We can try to source one if we can’,” he said. “I’ve certainly lost a few cats over the years because we haven’t had that opportunity to provide a blood transfusion.”
Dr Lauridsen said there were far fewer cat blood donors than dog donors, forcing him to get creative to save one feline’s life when compatible cat blood wasn’t readily available. Eligible cats need to be between 18 months and seven years of age, weigh more than 9 pounds and be fully up to date with vaccinations. Dr Lauridsen said some vet practices also insisted on taking blood from “inside cats” only due to other risk factors. “There’s a few diseases out there that will spread from cat-to-cat and obviously outside cats are more likely to come across each other,” he said. Hugo is an ideal candidate to be a cat blood donor which is why his owner Anne Pleash put him on the register at her local vet practice. “He’s one of the blood types in cats that’s the most popular.
Cats watching people
On July 12, Kassandra Di Cosola, 29, and her fiancé were out for dinner and they couldn’t resist checking the pet camera to see what her feline friends were up to. They were shocked to find the cats staring into the camera, almost as if they knew they were being watched. The video cuts to pet camera footage showing Louie, an 8-year-old tabby cat staring directly into the camera, soon joined by 9-month-old Francois, who investigates further by sticking his face into the lens. “When you spy on your cats with your pet camera and they know you’re watching. The second we opened our camera app Louie was already staring at us, we were laughing hysterically.” She points out that now she believes they are “catching on” and realizing that they are being watched.
Hemoglobin humor
What did the hematologist do to break the ice at the party?
She started a “type O” personality conversation!
I told the paramedics the wrong blood type for my ex
Now she’ll know what rejection feels like
Got an B+ on my blood test
Will have to do better next time, but I’m getting there!
What are the strongest blood types?
AB’s
August 1st Birthdays
1818 – Maria Mitchell, 1973 – Tempest Bledsoe, 1970 – Jennifer Gareis, 1871 – Maria Montessori
1819 – Herman Melville, 1936 – Dom DeLuise, 1942 – Jerry Garcia, 1979 – Jason Momoa