Understanding Dog Blood Types Why Knowing Your Pet’s Group Matters

Did You Know? Dogs Have as Many as 8 Blood Types

As humans, most of us have known our own blood type since childhood. This information isn't just useful for reading blood-type horoscope columns -- it's also medically important in case we ever need an emergency blood transfusion.

The same goes for dogs. As you've probably seen, there are often announcements asking for blood donations to help save a dog's life -- because dogs have their own blood types too. So today, we'll introduce you to dog blood types...

• Blood types come from protein differences: A dog's red blood cells are coated with small proteins called DEA. These proteins differ and are incompatible with one another, which is what creates the different blood types. Simply put, if a dog's body suddenly receives blood cells from another dog with a different blood type, it will immediately trigger a rejection reaction, because the body recognizes that protein as foreign.

• Dogs have 8 blood types -- don't be surprised, but dogs actually have as many as 8 different blood types.

That means there are 8 different types of DEA protein on the surface of red blood cells: DEA 1.1, 1.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. In addition, each blood type also has its own specific antibodies.

• Cross-Matching: This is a veterinary term referring to taking blood from both the donor and recipient dog

to test for blood type compatibility before a transfusion takes place, in order to prevent a severe rejection reaction in the body. This process is necessary because, as mentioned,

dogs have so many blood types, which makes the risk far greater than with human blood transfusions.

So it's essential to test whether the blood is truly compatible first.