Donated human pacemakers in pets: A heartfelt gesture but an outdated practice for some 

Open a new tab and search for “donating pacemakers to pets.” What pops up? I’ll spoil it for you, so you don’t have to search – several articles, some up to as recent as just a few weeks ago, highlighting how donating human pacemakers to veterinarians or veterinary institutions, can help save a pet’s life. Additionally, officials with companies that supply new pacemakers say the amount of social media posts claiming to call your veterinarian if you’d like to donate a deceased loved one’s pacemaker is also on the rise.  

There’s a slight problem with that though. While many institutions once accepted these pacemakers, the list of those no longer accepting donated human pacemakers continues to grow. That doesn’t mean some organizations still don’t perform the practice. But, as a result, it does mean others are getting an influx of calls due to these constant headlines.  

Moving away from donated human pacemakers 

For the last decade or so, donated pacemakers from humans who died were not uncommon. And that practice still exists today. But recirculated social media posts can cause headaches for organizations like CanPacers, who distribute brand new pacemakers for pets.

“We have so many people that are calling,” said Hollie Krivan, the administrator at CanPacers. “They see something on social media and when they Google animal pacemakers [we’re] like the first hit [online].”

Although CanPacers have never accepted donated pacemakers, the internet leads people to the organization. As the administrator, Krivan essentially works as a first line of defense when fielding phone calls about donating pacemakers. She also works closely with CanPacers cardiologists.  

“Essentially before this was all set up… It was, I think a general common practice that pacemakers would be donated from humans and certain models can be implanted in animals, but it was never truly like correct in the processing,” Krivan added. “They are not meant to be reused and so even though they sterilized them, they’re not meant to be sterilized.”  

CanPacers is sponsored by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (AVCIM) Cardiology subspecialty. According to their website, their mission is to provide new cardiac pacemakers and leads from Medtronic, a medical device company headquartered in Minneapolis. Krivan added that it’s much easier now to distribute new pacemakers. 

“But it was being done commonly. And then once we started getting a good source of donated new ones that need sort of fell off right because you know, wouldn’t you rather have a brand new, you know, fresh one.” 

Problems with social media claims  

 What Krivan says is one of the biggest issues with donating used human pacemakers is that they were not made with pets in mind. The social media posts claiming it’s fine to donate any pacemaker are wrong, she adds. 

“Not all pacemakers are usable in animals, there’s a select few because there’s too many bells and whistles in a lot of the human ones,” she says.  

Additionally, some posts claim you can donate them to any veterinary hospital. Another claim Krivan debunks, noting that staff likely are not equipped to handle someone showing up with a pacemaker.  

“[Many veterinarians] don’t know what to do with them… they’re not cardiologists,” she adds. “The long story is that, yes, it was done in veterinary medicine a while ago and it’s theoretically can be done still… I think some places probably are still doing it, but we do not do it, and I know the major universities, they just use brand new ones.” 

Krivan says that with more, new pacemakers on the market now, the act of using donated pacemakers is becoming outdated.  

“It really isn’t necessary,” she says. “There’s more than one outlet to get brand new ones.” 

Photo credit: Jan-Otto via iStock / Getty Images Plus   

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