“Donor Tail”: who looks for blood for pets when their lives depend on it

Most owners learn that a dog or cat may need a blood transfusion at the worst possible moment — when the vet says, “we need a donor, you’ll have to find one yourself.” Clinics often have no blood bank (and most of the time there isn’t one in the whole city), and an animal donor can’t be called out like an ambulance: one has to be found among someone’s pets, brought to the clinic and examined — all within a few hours, when every minute counts.

In Rostov-on-Don, this is the work of “Donor Tail” — a project that coordinates the urgent search for animal donors. We talked to its founder, Anastasia, about how the work is organized and why an ordinary healthy dog sleeping on your couch right now could one day save someone’s life.

“A donor is urgently needed”

If you open the project’s channel, the feed looks the same almost every day: name, age, weight, diagnosis, the clinic’s address, a phone number. Sometimes a note appears next to it: the donor has still not been found.

Behind every such post is an owner who is sitting in a clinic hallway at that very moment, calling everyone they know. Or sometimes there is no one at all — an injured animal may simply have no owner, and no one to help it. 

Anastasia:

A typical day for the project goes like this: an operator monitors incoming requests on all social networks, processes them, posts and spreads them on every available platform, and puts out a call to the existing donor database — small though it still is.

About the project

Anastasia:

For a long time, in volunteer chats we noticed almost every day messages saying that this or that pet needed a donor. Cats, dogs, stray, domestic, fostered, shelter animals… And owners had nowhere to turn; everything happened by word of mouth while time ran out. After that I thought: why not try to create a help group like that? There was nothing like it in Rostov, or in the Rostov region in general. On September 27, 2025, the project started work — and requests to find a donor began arriving almost immediately. Quite a few people also responded by offering to become donors and join the donor database. 

Today the project has 7 people, including a technical lead, operators, a designer and a text expert, and its reach has gone beyond Rostov: requests come from the region — Bataysk, Shakhty — and sometimes from other regions. The team publishes posts from all over Russia.

Here are the numbers so far: 

• 297 transfusions in the first 10 months of work and about 4 requests a day.

Who needs donor blood

An animal may need blood after a severe injury, a fall from a window or a car accident, during a complex surgery, or with anemia, cancer, certain poisonings and infections. Any animal can end up in such a situation — pet, shelter animal or stray.

An added difficulty is that a transfusion is almost always urgent. Blood can’t be stored for years and isn’t always available: blood banks at vet clinics in Russia are still more the exception than the rule.

Most often blood is needed in emergencies — bleeding, a leukemia flare-up, organ failure, accidents. In such cases every minute literally counts and blood is needed as soon as possible — usually within a day or less. There are also planned operations with a risk of major blood loss; then there is a bit more time, roughly a few days.

Who can become a donor

The requirements are simple but mandatory:

• Health. Pets should preferably be vaccinated; cats must be strictly indoor with no contact with the outdoors; the animal must be treated for parasites and have no chronic diseases. Before a planned donation an experienced veterinarian examines it and decides whether the animal can donate without harm to its health — this protects both the donor and the recipient.
• Age and weight. Donors are usually taken from the “prime of adulthood”: not a puppy and not a senior — from 1 to 8 years old; an older animal in excellent health may also be accepted at the vet’s discretion. As for weight, cats are most often required to weigh from 4–5 kg, dogs from 8 kg. 
• Frequency. No more than once every two months.
• Temperament. The animal should calmly tolerate the trip, the clinic and being held. It is important that the procedure does not become stressful for it (it is worth noting that cats are always given light sedation — not anesthesia! — so that they don’t get stressed).

It’s worth knowing about blood types in advance: cats and dogs have them too, and with repeat transfusions compatibility becomes critical. It’s best to know the blood type beforehand so as not to waste the time of the donor and the recipient, but even with matching blood types two animals can turn out to be incompatible, and the donor has to be searched for again.

How donation works

Blood donation in animals takes place only under the supervision of veterinary specialists.

1. First, the history of the potential donor is collected: age, weight, health status, vaccinations, parasite treatments, past illnesses and other important details are clarified.
2. Then the veterinarian carries out a clinical examination: assessing the animal’s general condition, mucous membranes, pulse, temperature, skin, teeth, ears, weight and other indicators.
3. After that, blood is drawn from the animal for tests. Usually a complete blood count and blood chemistry, the blood type, and infections that can be transmitted through blood are checked. The exact list of tests depends on the species, the region and the clinic’s requirements.
4. If, based on the examination and tests, the donor is healthy and suitable for the procedure, the veterinarian calculates a safe volume of blood taking into account the animal’s weight and condition.
5. Blood is most often collected from the jugular vein — a large vein in the neck. It is drawn into special bags or syringes with an anticoagulant so that it does not clot.

The donation itself usually takes little time: in dogs, the blood draw can last about 5–15 minutes, and in some clinics the whole procedure takes about 30 minutes. Together with preparation, tests and observation, the visit can take from an hour and a half to two hours.

During the procedure the animal is under the doctor’s supervision. Calm dogs sometimes tolerate donation without sedation, while cats and anxious animals may need light sedation — the decision is always made by the veterinary specialist.

After the blood draw the donor stays under observation until its condition is stable. At home the animal is usually advised to take it easy, with access to water, its usual food and limited physical activity for the first day or several days. Most healthy animals, when properly selected and monitored by a doctor, tolerate donation calmly. The body gradually recovers within a few days.

What owners are afraid of

The main barrier is the fear of harming your pet.
And that is an absolutely normal reaction: for many people the very thought of blood being taken from their animal sounds alarming.

Anastasia:

The questions we hear most often are: will my pet feel unwell, does it hurt, will too much blood be taken, is anesthesia needed, how will the animal recover after the procedure, and is it dangerous to become a donor at all.

We always explain that animal blood donation should not be done “on trust” or “by eye”. A potential donor is first examined by a veterinarian, and the animal’s health is checked and tests are taken. If there are contraindications, an unsuitable weight or age, poor general condition, abnormal test results or other risks, the animal is not admitted to the procedure. The donor’s safety must always come first.

It is important to understand: “Donor Tail” does not carry out donations itself and does not make medical decisions. We help find a potential donor and connect people with each other, but the final decision on whether an animal is admitted to the procedure is made only by a veterinary specialist at the clinic.

The volume of blood is calculated individually — taking into account the species, weight and condition of the animal. The draw is performed by a veterinary specialist, and after the procedure the donor remains under observation. In most cases a healthy animal that has been properly selected and examined tolerates donation calmly and gradually recovers.

We don’t tell owners: “Don’t be afraid, it’s nothing at all.” We say something different: it is normal to be afraid for your pet. That is exactly why it is important to ask the doctor questions, go through the examination, and agree to donation only at a clinic that follows veterinary rules and monitors the animal’s condition.

It is fundamentally important to us that helping one animal does not become a risk for another. A donor is also someone’s beloved pet, and its health matters just as much as the health of the one who needs blood.

The financial side is worth discussing too: donors’ necessary examinations are paid for. Most often we help with transport and thank them with treats or a small sum of money.

How to help even if your pet can’t become a donor

• Subscribe to the project’s channel, tell your friends and repost — most donors are found exactly this way.
• Mark in the Hani Walk app (the “Health” -> “Blood donation” section) that your pet can be a donor — you’ll need to fill in a short form, and your contacts will end up in the Donor Tail database. 

• Find out in advance whether your clinic has a blood bank and a donor database, and register your pet there if it is suitable.
• Simply know that such groups exist. At the moment when the vet says “find a donor,” this knowledge saves hours.

What to do if your pet needs blood

Anastasia:

If your pet urgently needs donor blood, you can contact “Donor Tail” through any of the project’s social networks.

After contacting us, the owner will need to fill in a short form: specify the city, the species of animal, the clinic, the diagnosis or reason for the transfusion, the urgency, requirements for the donor and a contact for communication. An operator will check the information and publish the request on the project’s platforms so that as many people as possible see it.

If the project’s database has an available potential donor who fits the main parameters, we give the owner the contacts of that donor’s owner. After that, all medical matters — compatibility, tests, clearance for donation and the procedure itself — are handled only through the veterinary clinic.

At the same time, we always recommend not limiting yourself to a single search channel. It is important to ask the clinic for help right away: sometimes a donor can be found among its patients, clients or through professional chats of doctors. It is also worth finding out whether there is a veterinary blood bank in the city, and calling other clinics, shelters, kennels and breeders.

In addition, you can post in city, district, building and volunteer chats, and ask friends, colleagues, neighbors and acquaintances. A donor is often found precisely through one’s personal circle: someone reposts, someone remembers an acquaintance who owns a suitable animal, and the information gradually spreads further.

The more search channels are used at the same time, the higher the chance of finding a donor sooner and managing to help the pet.

About Hani Walk

We make an app about caring for dogs, and helping animals in difficult situations is an important part of our work.

In an urgent situation you will be asked for the weight, age, and the date of the last vaccination and parasite treatment. In Hani Walk you can digitize your pet’s medical record and vet passport in advance, so all of this opens from your phone in a couple of seconds.