Blood Groups in Cats - Types and How to Know

Author: John Stephens
Date Of Creation: 23 January 2021
Update Date: 4 November 2024
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Cats breeding, importance of the blood typing
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The determination of blood groups is important when it comes to performing blood transfusions in cats and even pregnant females, as the viability of the offspring will depend on this. although there are only three blood groups in cats: A, AB and B, if a correct transfusion with compatible groups is not performed, the consequences will be fatal.

On the other hand, if the father of future kittens is, for example, a cat with blood type A or AB with a B cat, this could generate a disease that causes hemolysis in the kittens: a neonatal isoerythrolysis, which usually causes the death of little ones in their first days of life.

Do you want more information about the blood groups in cats - types and how to know? So don't miss this article by PeritoAnimal, in which we deal with the three feline blood groups, their combinations, consequences and disorders that can occur between them. Good reading.


How many blood groups are there in cats?

Knowing the blood type is important for different reasons and, as we mentioned, for cases where the blood transfusion in cats is required. In domestic cats we can find three blood groups according to the antigens that present on the membrane of red blood cells: A, B and AB. We will now introduce the blood groups and breeds of cats:

Group A cat breeds

group A is the most frequent of the three in the world, being the European and American short-haired cats the ones that present it the most, such as:

  • European cat.
  • American shorthair.
  • Maine Coon.
  • Manx.
  • Norwegian Forest.

On the other hand, Siamese, Oriental and Tonkinese cats are always in group A.


Group B cat breeds

The cat breeds in which group B predominates are:

  • British.
  • Devon Rex.
  • Cornish Rex.
  • Ragdoll.
  • Exotic.

Group AB cat breeds

AB group is very rare to find, which can be seen in cats:

  • Angora.
  • Turkish Van.

The blood group a cat has it depends on your parents, as they are inherited. Each cat has one allele from the father and one from the mother, this combination determines its blood group. Allele A is dominant over B and is even considered to be AB, while the latter is dominant over B, that is, for a cat to be type B it must have both B alleles.

  • An A cat would have the following combinations: A/A, A/B, A/AB.
  • A B cat is always B/B because it is never dominant.
  • An AB cat will be either AB/AB or AB/B.

How to know a cat's blood group

Nowadays we can find multiple tests for the determination of specific antigens on the red blood cell membrane, which is where a cat's blood type (or group) is located. Blood is used in EDTA and placed on cards designed to show the cat's blood group according to whether the blood agglutinates or not.


In case the clinic does not have these cards, they can collect a cat blood sample and send it to the laboratory to indicate which group it belongs to.

Is it important to do compatibility testing on cats?

It is necessary, as cats have natural antibodies against red blood cell membrane antigens from other blood groups.

All group B cats have strong anti-group A antibodies, which means that if the blood of a cat B comes in contact with that of a cat A, it will cause enormous damage and even death to the group A cat. This is relevant both in a case of blood transfusion in cats or even if you are planning any crossing.

The group A cats present antibodies against group B, but weaker, and those in group AB have no antibodies to either group A or B.

blood transfusion in cats

In some cases of anemia, it is necessary to a blood transfusion in cats. Cats with chronic anemia support hematocrit (volume of red blood cells in the total blood) lower than those with acute anemia or abrupt blood loss, becoming hypovolemic (decreased blood volume).

O normal hematocrit of a cat is around 30-50%therefore, cats with chronic anemia and a hematocrit of 10-15% or those with acute anemia with a hematocrit between 20 and 25% should undergo transfusion. In addition to the hematocrit, the clinical signs which, if the cat does, indicate that it needs a transfusion. These signs indicate cellular hypoxia (low oxygen content in cells) and are:

  • Tachypnoea.
  • Tachycardia.
  • Weakness.
  • Stupor.
  • Increased capillary refill time.
  • Elevation of serum lactate.

In addition to determining the recipient's blood group for donor compatibility, the donor cat must have been checked for any of the following pathogens or infectious diseases:

  • Feline leukemia.
  • Feline immunodeficiency.
  • Mycoplasma haemophelis.
  • Candidate Mycoplasma haemominutum.
  • Candidate Mycoplasma turicensis.
  • Bartonella hensalae.
  • Erhlichia sp.
  • Filaria sp.
  • Toxoplasma gondii.

Blood transfusion from cat A to cat B

The transfusion of blood from an A cat to a group B cat is devastating because B cats, as we've mentioned, have very strong antibodies against group A antigens, which makes the red blood cells transmitted from group A rapidly destroyed (haemolysis), causing an immediate, aggressive, immune-mediated transfusion reaction that results in the death of the cat that received the transfusion.

Blood transfusion from cat B to cat A

If the transfusion is done the other way around, that is, from a group B cat to a type A, the transfusion reaction is mild and ineffective due to reduced survival of transfused red blood cells. Furthermore, a second transfusion of this type would cause a much more severe reaction.

Blood transfusion from an A or B cat to an AB cat

If blood type A or B is transfused into an AB cat, nothing should happen, as it does not have antibodies against group A or B.

Feline neonatal isoerythrolysis

Isoerythrolysis or hemolysis of the newborn is called blood group incompatibility at birth that occurs in some cats. The antibodies that we have been discussing also pass into colostrum and breast milk and, in this way, reach the puppies, which can cause problems as we have seen with transfusions.

The big problem of isoerythrolysis occurs when a cat B mates with a cat A or AB and therefore their kittens are mostly A or AB, so when they suckle from the mother during the first few days of life, they can begin to absorb numerous anti-group A antibodies from the mother and trigger a immune-mediated reaction to their own group A red blood cell antigens, causing them to break down (hemolysis), which is known as neonatal isoerythrolysis.

With other combinations, isoerythrolysis does not occur no kitten death, but there is a relatively important transfusion reaction that destroys red blood cells.

Isoerythrolysis does not manifest until the kitten ingests these mother's antibodies, therefore, at birth they are healthy and normal cats. After taking colostrum, the problem starts to appear.

Symptoms of feline neonatal isoerythrolysis

In most cases, these kittens weaken over the hours or days, stopping breastfeeding, becoming very weak, pale because of anemia. If they survive, their mucous membranes and even their skin will become jaundiced (yellow) and even your urine will be red due to the breakdown products of red blood cells (haemoglobin).

In some cases, the disease causes sudden death without any prior symptoms that the cat is unwell and that something is going on inside. In other cases, symptoms are milder and appear with dark tail tip due to necrosis or cell death in the area during its first week of life.

The differences in the severity of clinical signs depend on the variation in the anti-A antibodies that the mother transmitted in colostrum, the amount that the puppies ingested and on their ability to absorb them into the small feline's body.

Treatment of feline neonatal isoerythrolysis

Once the problem manifests itself, cannot be treated, but if the guardian notices during the first hours of the kittens' life and removes them from the mother and feeds them with milk formulated for puppies, it will prevent them from continuing to absorb more antibodies that will aggravate the problem.

Prevention of neonatal isoerythrolysis

Before treating, which is practically impossible, what must be done in the face of this problem is its prevention. To do this, you need to know the cat's blood group. However, as this is often not possible due to unwanted pregnancies, the best way to prevent it is neutering or neutering cats.

If the kitten is already pregnant and we have doubts, it should prevent kittens from taking your colostrum during their first day of life, taking them from the mother, which is when they can absorb the disease antibodies that damage their red blood cells if they are group A or AB. Although before doing this, the ideal is to determine which kittens are from group A or AB with blood group identification cards from a drop of blood or the umbilical cord of each kitten and remove only those groups, not those from B who would have no hemolysis problem. After this period, they can be reunited with the mother, as they no longer have the ability to absorb maternal antibodies.

This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Blood Groups in Cats - Types and How to Know, we recommend that you enter our Other health problems section.