Mary Allen
Even cats have different blood groups. This can have fatal consequences: if cats whose blood groups do not match mate, the newborn babies’ lives are in acute danger. Anyone who wants to breed should therefore be well informed.
Cat Minki meets tomcat, Pauli. Both are unneutered and are getting closer. After all, Minki is pregnant, and after a good two months, her owners find five adorable kittens in the basket. All have a healthy appetite and immediately feast on their mother’s all-important first milk. Minki’s human family is happy about that. But only a few hours later something unexpected happens. Two of the boys lie dead between their siblings. A third seems severely weakened, but drinks from his mother again, which gives reason for hope. But then it dies on the first night. When the fourth kitten got weaker and weaker the next day, Minki’s owner went to the vet. But even he cannot save the fourth kitten.
What happened? The reason for the rapid death of the babies is the different blood groups of the parents. There are three different blood groups in cats: A, B, and AB. The blood type of a cat largely depends on which breed it belongs to and where it lives. According to current studies, 99.6 percent of all cats in Switzerland have blood group A and only 0.4 percent have blood group B. AB does not occur statistically.
Blood group A dominates in many countries. In Finland, it is found in 100 percent of cats, in Germany at 94 percent, and in Austria at 88 percent. As long as almost all females and tomcats have the same blood type, the problem with reproduction is small. But: In Great Britain, for example, over 40 percent of all domestic cats have blood group B.
The mother’s milk, which is otherwise so important, is poison for the newly born kittens
Blood groups differ fundamentally by different defense mechanisms on the surface of the red blood cells. Today we know from tests: If you add an antibody from blood group B to a blood sample from group A, the red blood cells dissolve. A similar thing happened in the case described above. Our Minki had blood group B, Pauli had blood group A. Because blood group A is dominant, more than half of the newborns also had blood group A. Up to this point there was no problem. It’s only when the kittens are drinking their mother’s milk, which is usually so important, that they ingest the substance that causes their own red blood cells to break down. This clinical picture is called feline neonatal isoerythrolysis.
The moment the ingredients in the mother’s milk are absorbed through the intestines and enter the kitten’s bloodstream, the process is unstoppable. Blood cell by blood cell is destroyed. In the peracute (“peracute” is used for diseases that occur very quickly and are often fatal) the babies die within a few hours without first showing any symptoms of the disease. In the acute course, the kittens rapidly become weaker, develop pale mucous membranes, are weak, and often die within the first week of life.
Criteria Such as Geographical Location and Race Determine Blood Type
If there is even the slightest suspicion, the kittens must be removed from their mothers and given milk substitutes. If you do this immediately after birth, you can put the young animals back to their mother after 16 hours, provided they are healthy and alert. After this period of time, the antibodies from the mother no longer get into the blood of the offspring.
If the disease has already broken out, there is hardly any help. A blood transfusion could save a life, but there is often no time even for that. Only a few kittens that are born with blood group A to a cat mother with blood group B get off lightly: Such a rare subclinical (i.e. not obvious) course is later recognizable by the typical dead tail tip. But this has no negative effects on a happy cat life.
In addition to the geographical distribution, blood group B is more or less represented in breeding cats, depending on the breed. The leader with blood group B is the Turkish Van – 60 percent of these white cuddly tigers have blood group B, followed by Turkish Angora and Devon Rex with 46 and 41 percent respectively. Tip for breeders: Before mating, have the blood group of the parent cats determined by the vet – this ensures that the kittens are healthy.