Purrs 4 Peace - Year Two - Month 2: Announcement - Blood equals Life equals Peace

After much ado (i.e., internet access problems) Year Two, Month Two of Purrs 4 Peace is here. Again we purr this month regarding RESPECT for the right of all animals and humans to merely LIVE! Let’s purr for life.

Blood is that fragile scarlet tree we carry within us. -Osbert Sitwell

There is no greater gift of life than to give blood. This month I would like to highlight and honor human and particularly ANIMAL blood donors. When she was three my sister Zelda (a canine but still a good sister nonetheless) was extremely ill with a disease called hemolytic anemia where the immune system attacks and kills the body’s own red blood cells. Zelda was so ill by the time the she was diagnosed that she was very near death. My mummy had to rush her more than 90 miles to a state of the art animal hospital operated by the veterinary school at Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan. Over the course of the next two weeks Zelda required three blood transfusions! Without the generosity of those dogs and their owners who donated blood at MSU my sister would not have been with us giving love and bringing joy for the last 12 years.

How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world. -William Shakespeare

From the website of the MSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital Donated red blood cells and fresh frozen plasma are used for:

anemias from chronic disease

surgeries

traumas, such as hit by car

immune-mediated issues

bone marrow issues

coagulopathies

low protein

some toxicities, like snake venom or rodenticide ingestion

Their donors are volunteer cats and dogs owned by MSU staff, students and area residents. They also adopt 3-5 dogs per year that live at the hospital and donate blood monthly while looking for a permanent home. If you can adopt one of these wonderful life-giving dogs, please visit the “IN HOUSE DONORS” section at www.cvm.msu.edu/hospital/special-facilities/blood-donor-program They have about 50 dogs and 12 cats in their donor program and are always looking for more. The cutie in the photo above is BINKY, one of the current donors.

In 2009 MSU used: “377 units of canine packed red blood cells
199 units of fresh, frozen canine plasma
and
101 units of feline red blood cells
12 units of fresh, frozen feline plasma.”

We salute and purr for the continued life-giving success of the MSU and other animal blood donor programs.

The appointed time is Sunday September 19, 2010 at 3 p.m. Eastern (United States time) which is 8 p.m. in the U.K.

Participants should purr for three minutes.

The cat’s human staff should assist their cats with the project by stroking, nuzzling and generally catering to their cat.

Please post purrs if possible online on twitter (@ConfuciusCat), or on Facebook (as your status or on the wall of Ally Mason). You may also post purrs here or on the wall of the Facebook event page created by the Acolytes of Confucius Cat group. Please include the name of the cat and the country in which you purr.

Spread the meow to all your cat friends. One year of simultaneous purring. Surely if we give it our all we can achieve Peace in the world through the greatness of Cat.

Peace * Paix * Frieden * Vrede * Pace * Fred* Paz * Shalom * Salaam * Om Shanti * Heddwch * Síochán * 和平