Veterinarian's creativity helps ease IV fluid drought

All appeared normal in the treatment room of Dr. Felicity Cole's clinic on an overcast and muggy afternoon in the Australian city of Newcastle. The day's scheduled surgeries were done, and four canine patients — including two cocker spaniel siblings with brilliant golden coats — sat peering out of their recovery cages, eyes glazed by the lingering effects of anesthesia.

Each dog was hooked up to a customary bag that provides patients with intravenous fluids after surgery. Only there was something about these particular bags of saline solution that was far from ordinary: They had been used initially on human blood donors.

This story was published on Jan. 30, 2025.