The UK's first national blood bank for dogs will visit the town to collect blood this weekend and it is hoped animal lovers - via their pets - will answer the call to donate.

The charity Pet Blood Bank UK is the first organisation of its kind to collect, process, store and supply pet blood products and dogs will have access to them through their vets' practice.

The ability to carry out blood transfusions is often essential for vets when they are fighting to save the life of a family pet.

Like humans, dogs benefit from transfusions during surgery and to treat major traumas and disease.

The PBBuk session will take place at Beechwood Veterinary Hospital, in Bawtry Road, Bessacarr, from 10am on Sunday and dog owners are being urged to bring their pets along to make a donation.

Beechwood is the only place in the country where dogs and people can give blood as staff also hold sessions for people to donate aboard the National Blood Service's 'bloodmobile'.

Before 2005, in order for a blood transfusion to take place, a donor dog had to be available when the blood was required.

However, a change in legislation made it possible to apply for licensing to bank pet blood products.

Recognising this as an opportunity to develop a national pet blood bank, Vets Now - an out of hours emergency vets with a network of clinics - decided to support the set up of PBBuk.

The charity will collect canine blood which will then be processed into various blood products and stored on the premises.

The blood products will then be sold to vets across the UK. Any profits will be fed back into educational programmes such as developing veterinary transfusion medicine.

Wendy Barnett, executive director of PBBuk, said: "This exciting new initiative will help to save the lives of dogs across the whole country. One donation can help to save as many as four dogs and virtually all larger types of dog can donate.

"We are coming to Doncaster on May 18 and I really hope local dog owners will lend us their support and bring their pets along to donate blood."

Beechwood's Mark Straw, veterinary surgeon and associate director, said: "I'm a regular blood donor and know how important it is to give. I thought it would be a great if I could do it at work, luckily enough so did the other staff and the owners of our patients.

"Once we were on the way to arranging our first NBS visit one of the dogs we were treating needed a transfusion so we made some calls and our first canine session takes place in May."