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The OCAC Greyhound Project
 | | Please join us as we walk, play with and spend some one on one time with rescued greyhounds.
Hemopet saves the lives of the greyhounds who would otherwise be destroyed, and their donations of blood (and its various components) save other lives in turn. After a strictly limited time serving as donors, the greyhounds are placed with carefully screened families who will provide a permanent happy and healthy home.
Volunteers are needed to play with the greyhounds. Must wear closed toed non slip shoes. Please contact Patrick Bonfrisco for more information.
| The average pet owner often doesn't realize that dogs, just like humans, require blood transfusions when undergoing surgery. Dogs, like humans, have several blood types. The A negative blood type occurs in approximately 20% of the general dog population and in approximately 60% of the greyhound population, and dogs with A negative blood are considered to be universal donors (much like humans with O negative). Greyhounds in general have a greater percentage of red blood cells per unit of blood and have a great personality. For these reasons, greyhounds are the optimal breed to supply A negative blood.
| The Greyhound is a breed of dog that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing. A combination of long, powerful legs, deep chest and aerodynamic build allows it to reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour in less than one and a half seconds, or within three strides. Greyhounds must be bred in large numbers in order to produce only a few exceptional racers. Organized greyhound adoption dates back about twenty years and yet the racing greyhound is still being destroyed in numbers far greater than any other single breed of dog. In 2000, an estimated 19,000 greyhounds were killed. This includes 7,600 greyhound puppies who were farm culls, and another 11,400 "retirees" who were not rescued. Other greyhounds are either sold to research labs, returned to breeding facilities to serve as breeding stock, or sent to foreign racetracks, sometimes in developing countries with appalling track conditions.
| |  | If able to live out his or her full life as a companion animal, a greyhound may live 13 or more years. Unfortunately, the industry kills greyhounds at various stages in the dogs' lives because they appear to lack racing potential or are injured. Many dogs, when they are no longer profitable, are adopted into good homes through rescue groups, but thousands are not. As with any business, profit is the bottom line; as a result, greyhounds are often destroyed using the least expensive methods, including gunshot. Reports of bludgeoning, abandonment, and starvation have also surfaced. Veterinarians humanely euthanize some greyhounds.
Hemopet uses one problem to solve another. Retired greyhounds spend at least one year at the Hemopet facility donating blood approximately two to three times a month. After donating blood for at least one year, the dogs are put up for adoption.
|  | | Located in a small business district pocketed away in Garden Grove, CA, the Hemopet facility houses more than 200 rescued racing Greyhounds. Jean Dodds, DVM, a renowned holistic veterinarian, established the center in 1991, pioneering the first private nonprofit national blood-bank program for animals. Since the facility opened, the program has placed more than 1,000 Greyhounds in new homes. Dr. Dodds has devoted her life as a veterinarian to the study of hematology and blood-banking. Hemopet's work contributes in significant ways to the health and welfare not only of the retired greyhounds we rescue and place for adoption, but supports life-saving procedures performed by veterinarians around the world by providing blood products shipped out on a daily basis. | | Due to the large number of dogs housed at Hemopet, the organization relies on volunteers to walk and socialize the dogs. |
| Check out the pictures from our recent trips to Hemopet: |
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