The Pet Blood Bank

Blood Drive at Oak Springs Veterinary Hospital

2004-11-08T06:13:00.000-08:00

The Pet Blood Bank held a blood drive at the Oak Springs Veterniary Hospital in Austin, Texas.

Thanks to the support from Dr. Hurwitz and the great staff at OSVH, the blood drive was a great success.

Gold Ribbon Rescue Fall Picnic and Dog Swim

2004-10-23T06:23:00.000-07:00

The Pet Blood Bank participated at the Gold Ribbon Rescue's annual Fall Fundraiser Picnic and Dog Swim event.

Blood Drive at Oak Springs Veterinary Hospital

2004-08-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

The Pet Blood Bank hand another community blood drive at the Oak Springs Veterinary Hospital in Austin, Texas. Thanks to the support of the staff at Oaks Springs and the great pet owners that participated in the blood drive, other pets around the country in need of life saving transfusions will have blood products available!

Pet Blood Bank Sponsors Training for Police and SAR Dogs

2004-06-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

The Pet Blood Bank sponsored a special training session for Texas police and search-and-rescue dogs. The special day long educational seminar covered topics on emergency first aid for working dogs, how to identify, treat and prevent heat stroke, and proper preventative care for working dogs.

In attendance were over 30 canine officers and their human handlers.

In recognition for the value role these canine officers play in our community, The Pet Blood Bank awarded each canine officer with a certificate for a free unit of blood should they ever need a transfusion

Pet Blood Bank Sponsors the Gold Ribbon Rescue Annual Picnic

2004-05-24T05:43:00.000-07:00

Gold Ribbon Rescue and Pet Blood Bank Hold Blood Drive
The Pet Blood Bank held a blood drive this weekend in conjuction with the Gold Ribbon Rescue's Shake, Paddle and Roll lake swim event. The pets and owners alike had a great time!

Blood Drive at the Lago Vista Animal Clinic

2004-05-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

The Pet Blood Bank Holds Blood Drive At Lago Vista Animal Clinic

The Pet Blood Bank held a community blood drive in Lago Vista in conjunction with Dr. Williams' and the Lago Vista Animal Clinic. The blood drive was a big success, with over 10 dogs donating at this initial area blood drive.

American Animal Hospital Association Article Features The Pet Blood Bank

2004-03-21T05:28:00.000-08:00

New Animal Blood Banks Open, Raise Questions about Industry Standards
Employees from Sun States Animal Blood Bank draw blood from a blood donor. Photo courtesy of Sun States Animal Blood Bank.

Two new animal blood banks opened in Texas and Florida in the last two months, bringing the number of private U.S. blood banks to seven and underscoring the industry demand for blood. The Pet Blood Bank, Inc. opened in Lago Vista, Texas, March 1 and Sun States Animal Blood Bank opened in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Jan. 30. The Florida blood bank had orders pending. In the absence of national guidelines, both banks sought advice from Jean Dodds, DVM, president of Hemopet, a non-profit animal blood bank in Garden Grove, Calif., that’s operated since 1991.
“I’m happy to be the grandmother of the industry, trying to push people to have better standards,” said Dodds, a member of the Association of Veterinary Hematology and Transfusion Medicine (AVHTM), whose blood bank has a 10-week backlog for plasma orders. “There’s more than enough demand to go around. We’re not worried about competition here."
She does, however, worry about the quality of blood sold to veterinarians. “I’m concerned about the growth in the industry, people with different ethical standards trying to use it as a commercial venture,” she said.

Last year Dodds drafted a set of guidelines, now being reviewed by AVHTM members, which she shared with executives from the new blood banks.

“It’s fairly difficult to find resources,” said Mark Ziller, president of The Pet Blood Bank. “There’s not a lot available and no universal agreement on standards. This is sort of a new industry in veterinary medicine. Veterinarians have used animal blood for decades on a small scale but nothing with large production or a commercial basis that lends itself to universal standards. Some [animal blood banks] have created their own science as they’ve gone along and we feel there’s some room for improvement.”

The standards gap among blood banks prompted Dodds and the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights to sponsor legislation in California that tightened regulations. California is the only state that regulates animal blood banks and passage of SB 1345, which took effect January 2003, requires annual inspections by the state’s Animal Health & Food Safety Services Division and recommends several other quality standards.

“It’s kind of sad that there are no government oversights for animal procedures,” said Rick Johnson, managing director for Sun States Animal Blood Bank. “There aren’t any minimal standards.”

Even if AVHTM members pass the proposed guidelines, they will be set forth as suggestions, not mandates, said Andrew Mackin, BSc, BVMS, MVS, DVSc, FACVSc. “The guidelines are not intended to be enforceable, and they will recognize and accept individual differences in approach between the different blood banks. They are being created more as a resource,” he said.
Without enforcement, Dodds fears that some blood banks will not provide veterinary care to animal donors, which could lead to a tainted blood supply. “It’s like going to the supermarket – you buy meat from a case that is neat and tidy and don’t even think about the health or treatment of that animal. We need to alert the profession: As the need for blood grows we need to be careful about the health of the animals, the medical integrity of the blood. We need to investigate the source.”

She urges veterinarians to ask about overall health, dental hygiene, housing conditions as well as how long animals have been donors. “I don’t think we can go on blind faith alone,” Dodds said.
The two new blood banks adopted the AVHTM draft guidelines and conduct blood tests and screening panels to detect blood-borne diseases and pathogens in donor dogs.

Ziller spent a year and a half researching animal and human blood banks to determine the best course of action, and is working with the state department to establish animal blood bank regulations. “We really want to raise the bar on quality,” he said

Austin Business Journal Article Features The Pet Blood Bank

2001-05-03T05:31:00.000-07:00

Barking up a new tree
Veterinary supply company forms blood bank for pets
Colin Pope
Austin Business Journal Staff

Mark Ziller, co-founder and president of TW Medical Veterinary Supply in Lago Vista, kept hearing the same thing from many of his clients: They need blood.

TW Medical stocks more than 5,000 veterinarian products and ships them out daily to veterinary clinics, universities, research labs, zoos and the armed forces. But storing and transporting blood for transfusions has been unrealistic.

This month, however, it is a reality. Ziller and TW Medical co-founder Genae Girard have launched a company called The Pet Blood Bank Inc. It's only the fifth blood bank in the country that caters to dogs and cats, Ziller says, so the company has the chance to quickly grab market share and set industry standards.

"Transfusions for pets have really grown in the last 10 years," Ziller says. "There are thousands performed each year, but there is a severe shortage [of blood]. Our goal is to be the largest pet blood bank two years from now."

The number of pet surgeries and the demand for transfusions is undeniably growing, but there isn't any data on the subject, according to the Schaumburg, Ill.-based American Veterinary Medical Association.

"Vet medicine has become very specialized," says Chris Copeland, general counsel for the Austin-based Texas Veterinary Medical Association. "It mirrors human medicine. Just about anything that can be done in human medicine can be done in veterinary medicine."
Private veterinarians often rely on their own dogs or cats as blood donors when emergencies arise, or refer to an on-call list of pet blood donors, says Dr. Maureen McMichael, a veterinarian specializing in emergency and critical care at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Ziller says those who want blood or plasma from other pet blood banks -- which usually serve only patients in their region -- can wait as long as four months for a shipment.
Girard and Ziller, who started TW Medical in 1994, have raised about $250,000 from investors to give life to The Pet Blood Bank.

The hope is to produce a monthly supply of about 600 units of blood by this summer, Ziller says. Industry experts say a unit of pet blood can cost $175 to $500.

The Pet Blood Bank will supply the vet industry with a much-needed product, but another goal is to bring new standards to the industry, Ziller says. The company has joined the American Association of Blood Banks and intends to use state-of-the-art equipment and blood screening processes.

"We're trying to use the same standards as the human industry," he says. "Some pet blood banks use residential refrigerators, for instance, to store product. We all love dogs and cats, so we really want to bring some higher standards to the industry."

The Pet Blood Bank's founders already have a strong position in the vet industry. TW Medical Veterinary Supply racked up sales of more than $12 million last year, Ziller says. The company, which has 16,000 square feet of office and warehouse space in the Austin suburb of Lago Vista, employs 23.

To start, The Pet Blood Bank is leasing about 2,000 square feet in the same building and is expected to employ about eight people as production increases this year. Ziller says the company is converting a new RV into an animal bloodmobile.