My cat passed after surgery. Should ER vets have blood on hand?

Question

Cat passed today. Had surgery to remove tumor in abdomen causing bleeding. Took surgery well. Came out of anesthesia. Post op blood transfusion needed. They ran out of blood. Passed due to low blood pressure, low red blood cell count and eventual organ failure. Was lack of blood transfusion the cause? Should an ER vet always have type A blood for cats before doing surgery? Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 9 years and 7 months old

Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA · Accepted Answer

I'm very sorry to hear about Rugby's passing! How awful. It sounds like you did everything you could to try and help him. Without knowing more details of the situation and possibly even having an autopsy done, I'm afraid it's impossible to say whether an additional blood transfusion would have saved him. Unfortunately, it sounds like he was in very critical condition - if a cat is losing so much blood after any surgical procedure that multiple blood transfusions are needed, this is a very risky situation with a guarded prognosis regardless of what resources are available. As far as what an ER vet should always have on hand, this will vary quite a bit from place to place depending on what types of cases are common there. I would certainly expect a large referral hospital, such as the hospital at a veterinary college or something similar, to be fully equipped with everything that might be needed - just like a large human ER. Smaller emergency clinics may or may not have these supplies available due to issues with cost of keeping them stocked, available storage space, etc. - especially if the need for them is very infrequent based on the caseload they see. In the area I practice in, I can tell you that our local emergency clinics normally have access to a limited amount of whole blood for transfusions (usually taken directly from a resident donor cat), but may very well not have been equipped to do anything more in this situation either. Again, I'm very sorry for the loss of your kitty. It sounds like he was in very serious condition from his original medical problem and the surgery that he needed to remove his tumor - in situations like these, it's very possible that he may not have been able to be saved even at a very high-end specialty clinic with unlimited blood supplies and special equipment.

My cat passed after surgery. Should ER vets have blood on hand?

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