A cat may have nine lives, but sometimes he needs a little help from man’s best friend. This friend was a black Labrador named Macy.
Rory, a ginger feline from New Zealand, was in dire need of a blood transfusion after he ate rat poison. Decisive action was imperative because without it Rory was in equal danger of using up the last of his nine lives. However, it was late on a Friday evening and there wasn’t time for the laboratory to receive and match the right type of cat blood. Tauranga vet Kate Heller told Stuff.co.nz that an ounce of the wrong type of blood would kill Rory, but there was a chance he could survive if given dog blood. After consulting colleagues, Ms Heller decided to take a chance and perform the operation on the sick feline using dog’s blood. Cats don’t have antibodies against the blood cells from dogs so chances of a serious reaction to the blood were small. This is when Macy, a black Labrador, was rushed to the hospital for the emergency blood transfusion.
There are some significant risks of doing what we did, He could have died because of it. He would have died without it.
Had Macy and Rory not had the same blood type, the cat would have died instantly. Fortunately the blood was a match and Rory quickly recovered. Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, Ms Heller said:
People are going to think it sounds pretty dodgy – and it is – but hey, we’ve been successful and it’s saved a life.
Ms Edwards, the cat owner, was equally positive about the operation.
The vets just went above and beyond… it’s incredible that it worked.
Rory appears to have recovered without acquiring any canine characteristics ;-)