The good cat donor should weigh over 4.5 kg, be between 1 and 7 years of age, have a good temperament, be in an excellent state of health and be regularly vaccinated and treated against the common ectoparasites and endoparasites. It should not have been previously transfused.
Before designating a cat to be a donor, it is essential to determine its blood type and to make sure it is in an excellent state of health through clinical examination, blood chemistry tests (complete blood count, biochemical profile, electrophoresis, coagulation profile and urinalysis as well as some tests for the main infectious diseases, such as serological investigations for Feline immunodeficiency virus and Feline leukaemia virus, and polymerase chain reaction analysis for Cytauxzoon spp., Mycoplasma spp. and Bartonella spp.
The described screening tests should be repeated once a year to guarantee, as far as possible, the safeness of the collected blood.