Upon arrival, our client service representative will register you and your pet in our medical record system. Then a registered technician will meet with you, review the process, and take your pet to our treatment area for a basic health assessment. If there are no health concerns, we will draw blood for laboratory evaluation. The entire procedure take about 30 minutes, so you may wait in our lobby or leave your pet if needed.

Laboratory Evaluation

We conduct a full laboratory evaluation for the first donation, and then annually after. For every donation we check your pet’s concentration of red blood cells (PCV) and total protein to ensure they are not anemic. If required, cats will be tested for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus and Feline Leukemia Virus. If your pet’s lab results are normal, we then proceed collecting blood.

Abnormal Laboratory Results

If your pet’s blood work is abnormal, we will determine they are unable to donate. Depending on the blood work results, our medical team may recommend further diagnostics and/or treatment. Any and all associated costs will be the owner’s responsibility and should be done at the primary veterinary practice or with VSCNL’s Emergency Services department.

Blood Collection

If your pet’s laboratory results are normal, we then proceed to collect blood. Generally, we collect the blood from the jugular vein. This is quicker but requires the pet to lie very still on their side. Approximately 450 ml of blood is collected from dogs and 53 ml from cats.