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Give a person blood from the wrong blood type, and she can suffer a life-threatening immune reaction as the antibodies in her body work to mount a rejection of the foreign “invader.” But dogs do not start out with antibodies to foreign blood types. It’s only after they receive blood of a different type from their own that they build up the antibodies.
|That’s critical if, say, a large dog is rushed to the hospital after getting hit by a car and needs several units of blood. The blood match may not be on hand, but the dog can safely receive the stored blood that is available, assuming she has never received a transfusion before. It only works for a short time, however. After about 4 or 5 days, the dog will build up antibodies to the foreign blood type and reject a second transfusion.
