Like humans, dogs donate blood too, and not every dog can donate blood. The dogs are screened(检查) for health first. Dogs must have the correct blood type, weigh at least 55 pounds and be younger than 8 years old. They may donate three or four pints(品脱) a year, which can help animals that are suffering from illnesses like cancer or an accident like being hit by a car. One pint can save up to three dogs.
Owners volunteer their pets for the short procedure (程序), which requires nosedative, a kind of medicine given to calm him or her down. It's the dog that finally chooses to lie still and give. If the dogs want to get up and leave, they can.
Sandy Lucas brought her 7-year-old black German shepherd, Rains, to the bloodmobile(流动血站) when it was parked at her small village. Sandy said she wouldn't have troubled herself with highway traffic and city parking problems to take the dog to Penn Vet's animal hospital in downtown Philadelphia, which is twice as far as her home. But the bloodmobile made it easy to find out if Rains could donate. "I was very, very excited that she had the right blood that was needed to help another dog out," said Sandy. "We'll surely do it again."
