K-9 blood drive aims to help furry friends through holidays

Aholiday seasoncanine-blood drive this weekend will help save the lives of dogs throughout the Christmas break, organizers say.

Canine blood supplies tend to run low over the holidays, said MichelleSpurway, an educational lab technician at NAIT.

"People are traveling with their pets more and unfortunately there's more instances of trauma due to motor vehicle accidents or dogs getting into things they shouldn't (like) eating tinsel off the Christmas tree, ornaments, chocolate, any sort of toxicities like that," she said.

NAIT is a satellite collection site for the Canadian Animal Blood Bank. Itprovides Canada with about a quarter of its canine blood supplyand is the only collection site outside of Winnipeg.

To donate, dog owners are encouraged to talk to their local veterinarian about the next available clinic.