00:00Russell, the domestic short-haired cat, is being put on a drip while he undergoes a biopsy
00:11for an oral tumour.
00:12We would put an animal on a drip somewhere between three and eight times a day.
00:17He's getting the saline he needs despite a global intravenous fluid shortage, thanks
00:23to an idea that came to his vet at the blood bank.
00:26I was aware that that product was being used but a large amount of it was probably spare
00:32or being discarded.
00:33If an IV bag is partially used or expired, it's no longer deemed safe for humans but
00:39can be safely repurposed for animals.
00:42So Felicity Cole asked Lifeblood if they would consider donating their leftover saline to
00:47her Newcastle clinic.
00:48We knew we were not going to be able to provide our service and that first we may have to
00:53start scaling back the routine things to prioritise the fluids for things that were
00:58acute or an emergency but a lot of those routine things still affect dogs and cats' quality
01:03of life and comfort so it really was going to have a huge impact that we had no IV fluids.
01:08Lifeblood were quick to jump on board.
01:11We thought this could be really important in helping to save the lives of these animals
01:16but there was certainly some work to do from our end to get approval to donate that saline
01:22but also to put procedures in place.
01:24Lifeblood developed a system where nurses heat seal the partially used IV bags so they
01:29can be safely donated.
01:30The nurses said, but it's half used, is it going to be enough, there's only 200ml in
01:35that bag and what they're forgetting is that a cat weighs 4kg and so 200ml of fluid for
01:42a cat might be 10 or 20 hours of fluids.
01:46Lifeblood's quickly become a national program, with Lifeblood providing around 5,000 bags
01:52of saline to more than 100 vets and animal clinics each month.
01:57And it's not just helping cats and dogs.
02:00At Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, IV fluids help provide life-saving treatment to animals
02:06suffering from accidents or disease.
02:09We utilise those IV fluids for all sorts of species that come into the wildlife hospital
02:14but for koalas that are an endangered species, they rely on these life-saving fluids primarily.
02:21Ensuring the ongoing global shortage won't leave these animals out to dry at home.
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