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Blue Ridge Veterinary Blood Bank

Golden Retriever (Dog) Laying on Couch with Yellow Blanket

Donor Information

Join Our Life-Saving Team Today!

Our objective at Blue Ridge Veterinary Blood Bank is to provide veterinary hospitals with blood products nationwide for treating medical emergencies, cancer, and other accidents and illnesses. Completing our mission, however, would be impossible without the invaluable generosity of our canine blood donors and their owners that form part of a network of life-saving volunteers.

Benefits for Current Donors

Register for an evaluation today!

All that is asked from our volunteer donor families is to maintain the health requirements for their dog and a commitment of five to seven donations per year to ensure that we are able to provide hospitals across the country with a readily available supply of life-saving blood products.

  • Free treats donated by our community partners at every donation.

  • Shout outs and featurettes on our social media pages.

  • A BRVBB bandana at first donation

  • Exam at each donation appointment.

  • Annual hematologic screenings

  • Annual screenings for Brucella, heartworms, and tick-borne illnesses.

  • Eligible for complimentary blood for emergencies for the donor pet.

  • Knowing that you have made a difference in the life of someone's pet.

Donor Requirements

Flexible donor appointments are available at our home site in Purcellville, VA, and we are currently recruiting donors at several of our satellite locations throughout Maryland and Virginia.

We have just a few specifications that we need our donors to meet:

  • At a healthy weight of at least 40lbs, between the ages of 1-7 years old.

  • Up-to-date on Rabies and Dhppcv vaccines and on year-round heartworm/flea/tick preventative.

  • No history of serious diseases.

  • Donors are asked to visit to one of the many blood donation sites throughout the MD, and VA area approximately every 5-7 weeks.

  • Please note that some medications may exclude your dog from the blood donor program.

  • Be people-friendly and generally healthy.

Owner Walking Dog on a Leash

Important Donation Reminders

Friendly reminders from your neighborhood blood donation team!

Upcoming surgery, emergency surgery, any procedure using general anesthesia, sedated dental procedures, lameness or limping, lump removals, mysterious lumps, vomiting, diarrhea, and medications are important things to call and tell us about prior to your donation appointment.

If you still have questions about your pet donating, allow our Blue Ridge Veterinary Blood Bank team to answer them.

You can reach the Blue Ridge Veterinary Blood Bank team on the donor line at (703) 909-4004 or contact us online.

What is it like to be a blood donor with BRVBB?

You and your pet become a life-saving part of one of the largest all-volunteer, humane, canine blood banks in the country. Donor dogs get free health screenings by LVTs or DVMs; annual blood screenings; annual Lyme, heartworm, Ehrlichia, and Anaplasma (4dx) screenings; treats; snuggles and bragging rights! It is ultimately their choice to hang with us.

Girl Laughing and Holding a Brown Dog

A quick pre-screening over the phone with our donor coordinator establishes that the dog meets our basic criteria.

We then schedule you a convenient appointment time on-site. We will have you and your dog come in for a meet-and-greet evaluation so we can see how comfortable your dog is with our staff. We like to see if dogs are food motivated and what their temperaments are like.

Our staff will happily give your dog treats if they have no dietary restrictions. We practice getting up and lying on the table with your dog, sometimes even drawing our initial blood screening if your pup is super comfortable. If everyone is happy and your dog seems to be a good fit for the program, pending the blood work results, we invite you to enter the program.

All that we ask is for your commitment of five to seven donations per calendar year. We try to schedule all donors every five to seven weeks, and your dog can donate upwards of eight to nine times per year.

Veterinarian and Boy Holding a Dog's Paw

We basically teach donors a new trick: how to lie down on a cushy massage table while being snuggled (this is for safety) and either receive snacks or belly rubs for a total of five to 10 minutes.

Right before the draw begins, we will get your dog comfortable and shave and clean the donation site for sterility, and then your dog will give a donation. The actual donation time varies from three to five minutes, depending on the volume taken and the rate of flow. Sometimes, this is an easy task; other times, we are not successful. Just like with human donations, there are a lot of factors that go into successful donations.

We are excited to have you learn more about our program! If you are interested in participating, please call our donor coordinator, Jamie, at (540) 370-9955 Option 3, or send an email to [email protected].

Visit our Facebook page to learn more about our donors and their families and for more information on on-site visits and events.