About Donating

Not all dogs or cats are eligible to be donors. We have strict standards for qualification to ensure that we can offer the very safest blood products to the community.

We are currently only accepting dogs as donors.

The process of blood donation in dogs is easy and fast, with lots of love, petting, and treats provided during the collection process. Most dogs don’t typically need to be sedated, as the process isn’t painful, and only takes 10-15 minutes (plus some additional time afterwards to monitor them while they eat a snack and rest). Most dogs aren’t even tired afterwards!

Click here to fill out our potential donor survey!

Qualifications to Donate

The perfect dog blood donor is:

  • Young to middle-aged (1 to 7 years of age)
  • Good natured 
  • More than 40 pounds (in lean body weight)
  • Healthy and up-to-date on vaccines and take monthly heartworm preventative
  • Not on any medication (other than flea, tick, and heartworm)
  • Willing to make 3-4 scheduled blood donations per year
  • Never received a transfusion before

If your dog qualifies for donation, please call us at 513.530.0911 to arrange an additional screening appointment.

Benefits of Donating

Join Anakin and become a part of the K9 LifeLine!

In addition to knowing your dog is an elite member of a canine life-saving team, there are other benefits to donating at Care Center, including:

  • Free bag of Hill's Science Diet adult dog food (35lbs.) with every donation
  • One complimentary laboratory screening and heartworm testing per year ($275 value)
  • One complimentary Care Center emergency office visit fee per year ($180 value). *Additional services such as diagnostics and hospitalization not included. 
  • Complimentary blood products should your dog ever become critically ill and require a transfusion. *Complimentary blood products limited to the number of units your dog has donated during their participation in the Blood Bank. Blood products can be packaged and shipped if the donor is not in Cincinnati when transfusion is required.