Kitten saved after blood donation from blind cat

A dying, anaemic kitten has been saved after a blood transfusion from a blind rescue cat.

Dandelion was found on the streets and taken to a vet – which could not treat him – and was just weeks old when he was taken to Bradford Cat Watch Rescue and Sanctuary on 24 July.

Volunteers took Dandelion to Northcote Veterinary Surgery, where he was given a blood transfusion from one of their other rescues, Carrots.

Volunteer Katie Lloyd said Carrots had always "seen with his heart" and was doing well after the procedure, as was Dandelion.

"Dandelion had been in the vets for two and a half weeks and unfortunately, because there was no one able to pay the bill, the vets felt they weren't able to offer the care and his condition deteriorated rapidly.

"His red blood cell levels decreased so much that he went from having anaemia, I mean severe life-threatening anaemia and, when I picked him up, he was pretty much collapsed," she explained.

The team took three of their rescue cats to the surgery where it was found Carrots - who is also a therapy cat - was enough of a match for a transfusion.

"It was a bit of a stab in the dark - which cat shall we use - and I was just like 'oh it's got to be Carrots'. It'll be Carrots and by chance it was," said Lloyd.

"It could have gone very wrong, but it didn't. So we've just got to be grateful for that. But we had a kitten that was dying in front of us, so we really had nothing to lose," she said.

Dandelion, who is about 11 weeks old, is now recovering well but will need to be cared for at the rescue centre for the next few months, she said.

"Dandelion is currently having a blood test every two days to check what they call a PCV - a packed cell volume - and it's how many red blood cells there are per millilitre of blood.

"The average should be around 30 and, when he came in to us, his was nine and it's currently at 14 to 15. So it's just going to be a very, very long process," she said.

Bradford Cat Watch Rescue and Sanctuary is run by volunteers and currently cares for 65 cats.

Lloyd said stories like Dandelion's were "heartbreaking", but they were fortunate to have an "amazing vet practice".

"The vets are very supportive and I talk things through with them, I try and make sense of everything and then we just focus all our energy on helping the cats and getting them better," she said.

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