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Blood
donors
save Nyla
When Nyla, a three-year old Pomeranian, came into
season it lasted longer than usual. Nyla became lethargic,
was passing blood clots and had red blotches on her
belly. Referred to the RVC Queen Mother Hospital for
Animals (QMHA) vets discovered that Nyla had immune-
mediated thrombocytopenia (IMTP), an autoimmune Nyla
condition which prevents blood from clotting.
Her owner, Jo, said: “Nyla was severely anaemic and Nyla needed eight blood transfusions during her treatment
continually needed blood transfusions to keep her alive. at the QMHA from four different dogs. These helped to
We were desperately losing hope.” restore her red blood cell count and allow more oxygen
to travel around her body. Sarah revealed: “Without the
As Nyla continued to bleed from her uterus and
gastrointestinal tract, the decision was made to spay her availability of these blood products Nyla wouldn’t have
to remove the hormonal source of the bleeding. Dr Sarah survived. The blood donor team work incredibly hard with
Tayler, Lecturer in Small Animal Internal Medicine at the RVC our amazing blood donors and their owners to make sure
explained: “Platelets help the blood to clot. Without platelets, we have blood available for patients at their time of need.”
animals are prone to spontaneous bleeding from many Nyla also received immunesuppressant therapy steroids
different sites. The surgery was risky as at this stage, Nyla and a drug to kickstart her bone marrow to start producing
still had no platelets, and therefore the surgeons had to be platelets. It was a complex case and one that involved a
careful to control any surgical bleeding. Thankfully due to their multi-disciplinary approach. After spending 16 days in the
expertise the surgery went smoothly with minimal bleeding.” QMHA, Nyla returned home to her loving family.
Margaux Jo, Nyla's owner, reflected:
one of Nyla's Blood donors
When the vet rang and said
'I have good news, Nyla has
platelets in her blood I can't
describe how wonderful our family
felt. We'd gone through weeks of
heartbreak thinking we would lose
her. We owe her blood donors
so much. They’ve enabled
our beautiful dog to live and
come home to us. Nyla would
have most certainly died if this
service was not available.
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