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Do dogs always need crossmatching for repeat blood transfusions?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Female | spayed | 60 lbs

Our dog has ITP and had 3 blood transfusion while at the emergency vet hospital. The vet told us they don't need to crossmatch if they did them all within 48 hours. Is this true? I cannot find anythjing online stating that.

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on December 3rd, 2017

A crossmatch looks at antibodies in the recipients serum and proteins on the surface of donor cells that could cause an immune reaction. It is not always considered to be necessary as long as the blood type of the donor and recipient is known and it has been less than four days between transfusions. Some veterinarians recommend crossmatching before any transfusion if the dog’s full medical history is unknown.

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    Answered By Lauren Jones VMD

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    The reason that we crossmatch dogs for whole blood or packed red blood cell transfusions is to determine if antibodies are present that could destroy the donor cells, which can cause anaphylactic reactions. I have read that theoretically, there is up to a 4 day window before this antibody development may occur, but it is still recommended to perform blood typing and crossmatching before any blood transfusion. Ideally, this even includes the very first transfusion, but at minimum, should be performed for all subsequent transfusions. That said, if Venus is receiving other blood products, such as fresh frozen plasma (FFP), blood typing and crossmatching is much less of a concern since there are very few red blood cells, and thus fewer antibodies. I hope this helps and that Venus makes a full recovery! She's adorable!

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