mood: 
sleepy
music: baby monitor
Dawn took Marta to the vet again this morning, leaving her there for the day for tests and observation. Unfortunately, they determined that she was extremely anemic, as in life-threateningly so.
What do they do when a cat is severely anemic? They give her a blood transfusion. Okay, no big deal, a blood transfusion. Wait....
Where do they get the blood for the transfusion? I don't recall ever taking an animal to the vet for a checkup and having them ask, "Would your pet like to volunteer to donate blood?" Sometimes people take their animals to the vet to be put to sleep, so perhaps they could draw some blood then, but taking blood from an animal that is so sick that it is going to be put to sleep doesn't seem like a smart move, so that seems unlikely. Perhaps there are breeders that raise vast herds of pets specifically for the purpose of donating blood. That's a vaguely troubling idea, reminding me of The Matrix for some reason.
In Marta's case, the answer turned out to be much simpler. They had a homeless cat there at the animal hospital who they knew was disease-free, so they drew some blood from that cat to use for the transfusion. How fortuitous! I've no idea what they would have done if they hadn't had a spare cat lying around the place. Perhaps they have an arrangement with the animal shelters to handle emergencies (such as surgeries).
Hopefully her anemia was just a result of bleeding caused by her reaction to that antibiotic, since that will presumably heal now that she's no longer taking it. A worse possibility would be that the liver cancer has caused problems with her bone marrow. Only time will tell. Dawn will be taking her back to the vet again tomorrow morning, for yet another day of tests and observation.
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