From:
"April Armstrong Campbell"
Date: 2005-06-06 22:17:59 UTC
Subject: RE: Ferret blood transfusions/safety of such
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <001401c56ae5$9914f630$6401a8c0@bigbox>
Ferrets generally do pretty well with the transfusions themselves-complicat=
ions are not very common for donor or recipient; it is pretty unusual, I be=
lieve, for the transfusion itself to be fatal-it is usually whatever else i=
s going on that is ultimately the problem. Unlike cats and dogs, ferrets d=
o not have blood types, and are pretty much universal donors to each other =
(barring obvious disease; i.e. it would be bad for both donor and recipient=
to use blood from an insulinomic).
I have even read that as an emergency measure while awaiting a suitable fer=
ret donor, one can use a cat's blood for a ferret VERY short-term.
I have had two of my ferrets have transfusions with no complications to the=
recipient from the transfusion itself, and have assisted with many other f=
erret transfusions that were compoication-free. My Finnegan has donated th=
ree times without any complications rom donation.
I am not a vet-just a vet tech and ferret owner.
Just FYI!
-April