Veterinary Tissue Bank

09/09/2024

We are pleased to be able to supply bone allografts to many veterinary specialists for use in orthopaedics and in dental surgery. For this, we are grateful to pet owners for donating tissues from their pets and equally we are thankful to veterinary staff, most of them are from first opinion practices, to facilitate the donation process. Tissue donation is not always an easy subject to talk about when the owner is in distress.

We like to thank the staff at Frame & Swift veterinary centre in Penrith, Cumbia, especially a young vet Harriet Semple who is a graduate of Liverpool vet school, for supporting us for many years. Harriet truly believes in tissue donation, and she has been referring tissue donors to us for many years. In appreciation of her dedication and efforts, and all the staff at F&S vets, we donated £300 to the local Eden Animal Rescue as her choice of charity.
Frame & Swift Limited

We are an independent and truly mixed practice based in Penrith, Cumbria with our own in-house full out-of-hours service. Our caring, friendly staff, on-call 24 hours a day, practice from our modern purpose built premises located on the outskirts of the town. Our patients benefit from excellent faci...

13/08/2024

A short while ago, we introduced you to a staff members spaniels who are all tissue donors.
Sadly, Gabby has since passed away and became the first to be a donor to help other dogs.

To help other pet owners make the decision on whether they would be able to take the step to donate their pet, Gabby’s owner has spoken about their experience of veterinary tissue donation;

“At The Grove we regularly use tissues from The Veterinary Tissue Bank during surgeries and I was aware that the only reason we are able to do so is due to the kindness of owners who donate their pets.
Some of my previous dogs, as well as some of my current dogs, have donated blood in the past, so I made the decision to register the whole pack as tissue donors. Once the spaniels had been registered, the Veterinary Tissue Bank contacted Fakenham to let them know and to make a note on each of the dogs' records that they are tissue donors.

As a family we knew the time to say goodbye to Gabby was nearing, and we made the decision to say goodbye one weekend, so that the whole family were able to say their goodbyes in their own way, and to allow Gabby one last walk on the beach with her family.

As we were saying goodbye over a weekend, someone from the admin team at Fakenham contacted The Veterinary Tissue Bank on the Friday to let them know a courier would be needed on the Monday following Gabby’s appointment.

Other than taking Gabby for her appointment at the Fakenham Hospital, as a family we didn’t have to doing anything else as everything was arranged by the Veterinary Tissue Bank, who kept in contact throughout the process to keep us informed of Gabby’s whereabouts.

Gabby was collected by a private courier at 9.30 on the Monday morning, and three days later we received a letter from the Veterinary Tissue Bank thanking us for our help in donating Gabby and that she would be able to help up to 60 dogs. A week later Gabby’s ashes were returned to us at home. We had Gabby back home less than two weeks after saying goodbye.

Even though we have had to say goodbye to Gabby, to know that she is able to help other people's pets get better gives us some comfort.”

To find out more about registering your dog or cat as a tissue donor, visit the Veterinary Tissue Bank www.vtbank.org

If you are struggling with the loss of your pet, you can find help and support from The Blue Cross www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-bereavement-and-pet-loss

09/08/2024

When pet owners make the generous decision to donate tissues from their beloved pets to Veterinary Tissue Bank, it can be a comfort to know that they are going on to help other pets in need.

Back in 2020, a springer spaniel "Dusty" was diagnosed with Humeral Intracondylar Fissure, a condition where the bone fails to fuse and can readily lead to fracture if not treated. Dusty was referred to veterinary specialists, Ben Walton and John Innes at ChesterGates in Chester. Dusty had already had one of her forelimbs amputated as a puppy, so they were worried that losing the other forelimb would mean the end of her quality of life.

Dusty was surgically treated using a donor bone from Veterinary Tissue Bank and a custom-made metal implant. The surgery was a success and Dusty returned home a few days later.

Her owners, Rob and Clodagh said "We are grateful to the owner of the donor pet for thinking of helping pets in need at such a difficult, traumatic time for them."

29/07/2024

We would like to thank Jacqueline for registering her dog, Archie, as a tissue donor.
Archie was registered back in 2019, but over time the donor tag had worn off. Jacqueline contacted us for a replacement and here's Archie proudly wearing his brand new donor tag.
Veterinary staff are often reluctant to raise the issue of tissue donation when owners are in distress, so seeing the donor tag can help to overcome this difficulty.
If you also need a new tag because the old one has worn off, please email us at [email protected].

02/07/2024

Thank you so much to The Grove Veterinary Hospital & Clinics!

With the help of vet clinics and selfless owners donating their beloved pets we have already been able to help over 10,000 animals and need.

Please visit www.vtbank.org to register your pet as a tissue donor or find out more about tissue donation.

Can you guess what all these spaniels have in common?

Gabby, Echo, Blue, Rossi, Bert, and Fred are all owned by one of our Patient Care Assistants, and they are all registered tissue donors.

This means that much like human organ donation, after they have passed away, your pets are able to help dogs and cats in need.

To find out more about tissue donation, visit Veterinary Tissue Bank www.vtbank.org

If you are interested in registering your pets as donors, you can register them by filling in the online form. Veterinary Tissue Bank will then contact your veterinary practice to let them know.

05/06/2024

Today is World Environment Day! Take a look at some of the things the staff at VTB are doing to look after our environment:
💧Using refillable drinks bottles and lunchboxes instead of throw-away containers
🌱Eating food grown closer to home - we love our local Wrexham market
⚡️Our building uses a biomass generator for our central heating system
♻️Recycling anything and everything that we can!
What other things are you doing to protect our planet?

To find out more about tissue donation or to register your pet as a tissue donor please visit our website via the link in our bio 🐶

03/06/2024

Only a few more weeks until the summer holidays!

To find out more about tissue donation or to register your pet as a tissue donor, visit vtbank.org 🐶

02/06/2024

🚨🚨You only have until June 10th to make sure your cat is microchipped🚨🚨

The government is introducing a new law that says all cat owners must make sure their cats are microchipped, or face a fine.
If your fluffy friend still needs to be microchipped, contact your vet as soon as possible to make sure you're compliant before the deadline.

01/06/2024

If your pet is registered with us as a tissue donor, our newsletter will have landed in your inbox!
Give it a read to find out what we've been up to so far this year.
To become a subscriber, drop us a message or visit our website vtbank.org to register your pets as tissue donors.

31/05/2024

As Veterinary Nurse Awareness Month comes to an end, we wanted to say a huge thank you to all the incredible vet nurses who have helped facilitate donations to VTB this year.
With their help, we have managed to improve the lives of so many dogs and cats in need.
To find out more about what we do or to register your pet as a tissue donor, pease visit our website via the link in our bio 🐶

24/05/2024

We're so grateful to Rutland House Veterinary Hospital in St Helen's for partnering with us to promote tissue donation among their clients. This will give pet owners the opportunity to help many other dogs and cats who are in need of tissue transplants.

Rutland House Veterinary Group has been serving pets in the Merseyside area for over 50 years. The staff offer the highest level of medical and nursing skills, providing a high standard of care for their patients.

To find out more about what we do or to register your pet as a tissue donor visit our website www.vtbank.org 🐶

14/05/2024

More than 15,000 pets have been helped by tissue donation from the Veterinary Tissue Bank near Wrexham. Thanks to Welsh Transport Secretary, Ken Skates MS, for visiting to raise awareness of tissue donation in veterinary medicine.

Pioneering Veterinary Tissue Bank in Wrexham helps over 15,000 pets A pioneering veterinary business in Wrexham has helped more than 15,000 pets since its launch almost 15 years ago. The Veterinary Tissue Bank (VTB) in Chirk remains the only organisation of its kind in Europe. Established in 2009 it...

08/05/2024

Yesterday, we received an amazing donation from a pet owner.
Through their generosity and the help of the team at Windsor Vets, their pet will help up to 60 other dogs in need.
We couldn't do the work we do without other selfless pet owners so THANK YOU!

01/05/2024

It was a great honor to host Ken Skates MS/AS at Veterinary Tissue Bank last week.

We loved being able to show him how Veterinary Tissue Bank is helping pets in need and are grateful for his support in all our work.

30/04/2024

By registering as a tissue donor, your beloved pet could help up to 60 other pets in need.
To register your pet as a tissue donor or find out more please visit our website using the link in our bio

30/04/2024

Check out VeterinaryTissueBank’s video.

30/04/2024

Check out VeterinaryTissueBank’s video.

29/04/2024

If you know anybody who could soon be in this situation please share the information with them. Their vets can check their pets eligibility for them or more information about tissue donation can be found at www.vtbank.org

28/04/2024

🐾🐾The Last Sunday of April, National Pet Parents Day ❤. A day aimed at celebrating the unique bond between pets and their owners 🐾🐾

26/04/2024

A wonderful article in 'Your Dog' showing how Cooper helped Stanley and many other dogs through being a tissue donor. Donating tissue after death can give a new lease of life to other pets and we are extremely grateful to all owners who allow their pets to do this.

24/04/2024

International Guide Dog Day - just how amazing are these dogs, working to make their owners lives better

21/04/2024

Happy National Tea Day, have a seat, have a cuppa and of you don't know all about pet tissue donation then have a read while you enjoy your tea.

https://www.petandvetmag.com/post/life-after-death-pet-tissue-donation

https://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/people/northamptonshire-dog-gives-new-lease-of-life-to-other-pets-after-passing-due-to-tissue-donation-4523866