As with people, there’s a good reason to know your cat's blood type, especially if it's intended for breeding, and even more so if it's an exotic breed. Some blood types are incompatible, and mixing the two can result in death.

There are three feline blood types: type A, type B and the rare type AB. In pedigreed cats, the frequency of type B blood varies greatly from breed to breed. Type A blood and type B blood are incompatible with each other, and severe reactions occur when the two are mixed either through transfusion or mating.

Transfusion risks

Cats with type B blood can die if they are given a transfusion with the common type A blood and vice versa. So, knowing a cat's blood type in case of an emergency can save precious seconds and possibly its life.

Mating risks

Blood type incompatibility is extremely important to breeders of pedigreed cats. Specifically, type A blood is dominant over type B, meaning that the kittens of a type B female bred to a type A male will usually have type A blood. When these type A kittens begin to nurse from their type B mother, she passes her anti-A antibodies to them through colostrum, or "first milk."

The mother's antibodies attach to the kitten's red blood cells, causing their destruction. A high percentage of these kittens will die suddenly after nursing from neonatal isoerythrolysis (NI), a common cause of fading kitten syndrome.

 

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Neonatal Isoerythrolysis