Blood Typing
It is extremely important to find out the blood type of any stud boy. Incapatability will result in kitten deaths due to N.I. ( neonatal isoerythrolysis ) also known as Fading Kitten Syndrome. This website is helpful and informative and should be checked out before starting any breeding programme. Years ago such information was hard to come by and many kittens were sadly lost to this condition. With this knowledge you can protect the kittens by hand-feeding for 24 hours after the birth of the last kitten.
Simplified, if a Stud boy is blood group A and the Queen is blood group B any kittens born blood group A are at high risk of developing N.I. as the Queen produces antibodies that pass through the kittens stomach wall into their blood stream attacking the red blood cells, after 24 hours the stomach wall is sealed and the kitten can safely feed from the Queen.
Don't make the mistake of assuming the blood types are compatible if you have had 1 or 2 successful litters from the mating, as the problem very often occurs on the third and subsequent mating this is due to the Queens antibodies increasing with every litter.
Simplified, if a Stud boy is blood group A and the Queen is blood group B any kittens born blood group A are at high risk of developing N.I. as the Queen produces antibodies that pass through the kittens stomach wall into their blood stream attacking the red blood cells, after 24 hours the stomach wall is sealed and the kitten can safely feed from the Queen.
Don't make the mistake of assuming the blood types are compatible if you have had 1 or 2 successful litters from the mating, as the problem very often occurs on the third and subsequent mating this is due to the Queens antibodies increasing with every litter.
Blood typing can be done at your vets or by sending a swab to Langford Diagnostic Laboratories or UC Davis Clinical Laboratory
If you are a member of a cat club you can obtain a code from them which you can use to get the test at a reduced cost from Langford. The swab is very easy to do and results come back fairly quickly.
If you are a member of a cat club you can obtain a code from them which you can use to get the test at a reduced cost from Langford. The swab is very easy to do and results come back fairly quickly.