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Posted: 28th May 2024

Blood Donor of the Year Awards celebrate life-saving pets
Rescue cat Lilah has given 13 blood donations since joining the programme.
The RVC is marking its 20th anniversary of pet blood donations.

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has announced the pets being honoured as its ‘Pet Blood Donors of the Year 2024’.

The awards celebrate a canine and a feline blood donor, which have been a part of the RVC Animal Care Trust’s Blood Donor Programme and saved the lives of critically ill animals.

Lilah, a rescue cat, has been named as RVC’s Feline Blood Donor of the Year. Since joining the programme, she has given 13 blood donations.

Lilah’s owner, Jenny Stephany, rescued her at 18 months old from an RSPCA shelter. She had been at the shelter for three months before Ms Stephany met and adopted her.

She now donates at the RVC Blood Donor Programme three times a year.

Ms Stephany said: “Lilah was very affectionate from the start and has always been very calm. I have never had any concerns with Lilah being a blood donor, she is always very relaxed when she returns home after donating.

“It’s important to me that she is a rescue that now helps other cats.’’

Meanwhile the RVC Canine Blood Donor of the Year award was given to seven-year-old labrador Jet.

Jet has now donated to the programme 16 times, with his last donation helping an emergency case. Jet’s owner, Melanie Brand, brought Jet to the RVC just one hour after receiving the call.

As well as being a blood donor, Jet also works as a Pet Therapy Dog. Through this work, he has visited the Stanmore Orthopaedic Hospital and an Isabel Hospice Coffee Morning, where Ms Brand also spreads word of the pet blood donor programme.

Ms Brand said: ‘’The attention that is given to him, you can't beat it. He gets a full vet check and they go above and beyond.

“They’ve even clipped his nails, so they really pamper them.’’

This year’s Blood Donor of the Year Awards mark 20 years since the RVC launched its Blood Donor Programme. In the past year alone, the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals has seen 711 blood product transfusions using donations.

Charlotte Russo, head of transfusion medicine nurse at the RVC, said: “Our voluntary donation programme is totally reliant on the goodwill of local pet owners who bring their pets to donate blood.

“All donors are given health checks prior to donating and receive a full blood screening annually free of charge. All donors are also gifted a special blood donor tag in recognition of their support and receive a special gift when they retire.”

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