STOCKBRIDGE, Mich. (AP) — One of only 13 animal blood banks in the country has turned its attention to animals affected by Hurricane Katrina, shipping 25 units of dog blood to Louisiana State University’s veterinary school.

Midwest Animal Blood Services in Stockbridge sent a third of its weekly production from 10 dogs to help the school care for pets evacuated from the New Orleans area. Blood donated by the bank’s 62 cats could be headed to the Gulf Coast region next.

Anne Hale, board president for the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association and director of the blood bank 25 miles southeast of Lansing, has been in touch with veterinary medical assistance teams deployed to Louisiana and Mississippi.

She said yesterday that many cats and dogs survived the hurricane’s initial blow, but need blood to recover from heatstroke and serious injuries. Large farm animals either didn’t survive or were evacuated ahead of time.

Many veterinary clinics in the Gulf Coast region lost their blood supply because blood couldn’t be refrigerated in the wake of power outages, she said.

“Dogs and cats have needs, too,” Hale added. “If people have healthy pets, now is the time for them to donate.”

Midwest Animal Blood Services gets half its blood from so-called “working donors” — animals it saves from euthanasia in shelters, the Humane Society and animal control. Besides cats and dogs, animals that live at the blood bank include horses, sheep, goats and llamas. They donate once a month for a year. Employees then try to find them permanent homes.

The rest of the blood bank’s supply comes from pets that live within a four-hour drive of Stockbridge in southeast Ingham County. The bank collects the blood at volunteer blood drives in veterinary clinics.

“We always need more,” Hale said, adding that animal blood banks could barely meet demand before Hurricane Katrina.

The Stockbridge blood bank is holding at least six blood drives through November in Grass Lake, Adrian, Milan and the Lansing area.

Cats are anesthetized when blood is drawn; dogs are not. It takes about eight minutes to draw blood from a dog, which receives a treat or toy for the effort.

“Dogs do really well,” said Hale, who sometimes does joint human-dog blood drives with the American Red Cross. “They’re so much better than people. We always end up with more dogs than people.”