Sick Dogs and Cats Used as Blood Bags: PETA Urges Mars Inc. to Stop Supporting Blood Prisons

For Immediate Release:
February 8, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

After a new PETA undercover investigation exposed that BluePearl Pet Hospital and VCA Animal Hospitals, both subsidiaries of locally based Mars Inc., reportedly obtain blood from a facility in Indiana that confines more than 900 dogs and cats to barren cages and severely crowded pens for life—including animals who suffered from infections and cancer—PETA sent a letter to Mars Inc. urging the company’s leadership to immediately implement a policy against obtaining blood from captive animals and commit to obtaining it only from healthy dogs and cats who live in homes with loving families. PETA notes that The Veterinarians’ Blood Bank (TVBB) in Indiana draws blood every three weeks—far more frequently than industry standards dictate—and by taking blood from sick animals, the facility potentially jeopardized the lives of dogs and cats who depended on that blood to survive critical illnesses or injuries.

Following PETA’s investigation, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health inspected TVBB’s facilities, corroborating many of the group’s findings, and PetVet Care Centers—a nationwide network of veterinary hospitals—dropped TVBB as a supplier.

“Animals at this supplier are treated like live blood bags, serving a life sentence amid deafening noise and in barren pens, denied a home or family, and deprived of needed medical attention and any semblance of joy,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on Mars Inc. to stop supporting blood prisons and commit to obtaining blood only from healthy dogs and cats who live in homes and are volunteered for periodic blood donations by their loving guardians.”

PETA’s video footage revealed that some captive animals at TVBB were emaciated and that others had pressure sores and growths from being forced to lie on hard floors without respite. Dogs were seen with wounds after being attacked by stressed kennelmates—including one who developed a deep infection of the skin and underlying tissue, causing a massive wound that still hadn’t healed seven weeks later—and cats with respiratory infections were still bled, among other atrocities.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.