UP’s Onderstepoort Animal Blood Bank : how donor animals are saving other animal lives

Abstract

Since the 1990s the Onderstepoort Animal Blood Bank (OABB) has been the saving grace of many dogs, cats, and even prized stud sheep, horses and cattle in need of life-saving blood transfusions. The OABB is housed in the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (OVAH) of the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Veterinary Science. Blood from the OABB is used for the hospital’s patients, and some is sold to veterinary practices in Pretoria and beyond that might experience blood stock shortages. The service was started in the mid-1990s by veterinarian Dr Trudie Dippenaar, who was also a specialist in Veterinary Clinical Pathology. The facility was extended in the early 2000s by Professor Amelia Goddard and Dr Liesel van der Merwe. Through their initiative, a blood separation centrifuge was acquired to process donated blood. Since 2001 vets across the country have been able to buy fresh frozen plasma and stored whole blood from the OABB.