With the prosperity of medicine, the prosperity of veterinary medicine also occurs. If human blood groups have been studied for a long time, then interest in similar studies in animals has appeared recently. This issue should be of particular interest to those involved in breeding thoroughbred animals. Let us try to figure out how many blood groups there are in dogs and cats and what causes their mixing.
What is a blood type?
A blood group is what makes it possible to combine individuals (both humans and animals) into specific biological groups. These are immunogenetic characteristics that determine the hereditary combination of cells - red blood cells. It does not change during the life of a person or an animal. Therefore, to the question: "Is there a blood type in cats and dogs?" it is safe to answer "Yes, there is."
Group characteristics are formed in the prenatal period. This occurs under the influence of allelic genes, which are responsible for the characteristics of antigens in red blood cells.
How to determine the blood type in animals?
The determination of the blood group in cats and other animals is carried out using special reagents. Certain serums are used that contain one labeled antibody for each specific antigen.
The determination procedure itself is a mixture of blood and serum. When serum agglutination does not occur, this will mean that the material belongs to the group whose antibodies were contained in the serum.
Different reactions are used to determine blood types in different animals. For example, in birds and pigs, the agglutination reaction is taken as the basis, but to determine the group in cattle, the reaction of conglutination and hemolysis is evaluated.
The value of blood type for animals
Blood groups in dogs and cats, and especially farm animals, are of great importance in their breeding. One type of animal can have hundreds of different options.
The assignment of an animal to one or another group is important for blood transfusion or transplantation of organs and tissues. In the practice of animal breeding, the genetic characteristics of blood are used to track the origin and pedigree, as well as the genetic structures of entire groups of animals. Taking into account group characteristics allows the withdrawal of animals with improved rates.
How many blood types do animals have?
We figured out the presence of the latter in animals. Now the question may arise: "How many blood groups do cats and other animals have?"
For example, in cattle, 12 blood groups were detected, in pigs - 15, in chickens - 14, and in horses and sheep - 7 each. As for our pets, 8 groups were found in dogs, and 3 in cats.
Such a large number of groups in animals is explained by the fact that in their blood there are a large number of antigens that are not yet fully understood. As a result of this, new groups appear among one animal species.
Interesting fact! The blood of animals and humans is absolutely not suitable for transfusion to each other. Even a chimpanzee or a monkey so close to us would not do. And all this despite the fact that the first experience of blood transfusion was from a sheep to a person, even before the discovery of the latter blood groups. By the way, it was completed successfully.
Feline blood types
Cats, like humans, have 2 antigens: A and B. If a person has 4, then cats have only 3: A, B, AB. Moreover, the group AB is the rarest, and the group 0 is not at all, at least for now.
Given the above, you need to keep in mind that cats and cats need blood transfusions only their groups. This is a significant difference between them and other pets, such as dogs. For them, this process does not require such control and takes place practically without risk to life and health.
Two other groups (A and B) are common, with group A being the most numerous.
Studies of blood types in cats began not so long ago as the study of a similar question in humans. Only in 1953 they were bred by an English scientist who also investigated the laws of their inheritance.
After this discovery, there was a thirty-year hiatus. No one was engaged in the study of this issue, since it began to be considered not so important in veterinary medicine. After they faced the sudden mortality of newborn kittens and the hemolysis of their blood (as it turned out later), interest in this issue increased again.
Only in 1981, scientists Auer and Bell experimentally proved the fundamental nature of this issue in blood transfusion of sick animals and the prevention of mortality in newborn kittens.
Since cats and cats do not have a Rhesus factor, the inheritance of blood types occurs according to the laws of Mendel, which everyone is well known from school for his experiments in crossing peas.
You can now find out which blood type a cat has in a veterinary or diagnostic laboratory that specializes in this.
Breeds and blood types
By their research, scientists from America and England have proved that the breed and the area where the animal lives affects the inheritance of certain blood groups in cats.
Group A. Most cats without a breed have it. As for the pedigree, this group is observed in Siamese and oriental cats, as well as in breeds close to them, such as burma, okciet, etc.
Group B. This group is less common, for example, in only 5% of the Maine Coon and Norwegian forest species. But in the Abyssinians, Somalia, Scottish fold, Burmese, Kurilian Bobtail and Persian cats, this group is found in 20-25% of animals. The most numerous breeds having this blood type are British cats, short-haired exotics and rex. They have it 30-60% of representatives.
Group AB. It is very rare, therefore, cats have no statistics on this blood type. Breeders try not to mix the blood of groups A and B to exclude the mortality of offspring and preserve the purity of the pedigree of the animal.
Blood transfusion
As we have already found out, each animal has specific blood, so its transfusion between different types of animals can be fatal.
If a person has about 5 liters of blood in the body, then in cats it is about 70 ml per kilogram of weight. Thus, in a 3-kg cat there will be approximately 210 ml of this red liquid, but in a large cat weighing 6-7 kg, there will be about half a liter (420-490 ml).
Blood transfusion may be required under various circumstances. Basically, if all the points are correctly observed, then this procedure is very successful for preserving the life and health of the pet. However, it is worth bearing in mind the risk of transmission.
If the blood is used stale, that is, not one that has already disappeared, but one that has undergone cooling and storage, then there may be problems in the cat's immune system. You may experience slight fever or nausea during a transfusion or after a procedure.
An acute hemolytic reaction is possible, which can end fatally. The presence of any reaction should be reported to the veterinarian. It is also necessary to notify him if the cat has received a transfusion in the past.
Incompatibility of group characteristics
The compatibility of blood groups in cats is important for their life and health. If incompatibility is observed, then deplorable consequences are possible, which most often lead to the death of the animal. It can occur in two cases: at birth or at transfusion.
Incompatibility of the blood of a cat and its kitten develops as a rhesus conflict in humans. When a cat has group B and a cat has group A, and the kitten inherits the father’s group, that is, A, or has group AB, then a conflict develops. In the womb, kittens are not at risk, they can be born healthy and without complications. But after a while you may notice the following:
- sudden death of a seemingly perfectly healthy kitten;
- poor appetite, dark urine, lethargy during the first three days, then death;
- kittens look absolutely healthy, eat well on mother’s milk and develop, but after 1-2 weeks the tip of their tail dies.
All this happens because they consume maternal antibodies with breast milk, which are harmful to their blood. In this case, people are recommended to refuse breastfeeding and transfer to artificial. In veterinary medicine, this can also be applied, but the problem is that in animals this cannot be determined in advance and the necessary measures can be taken immediately after the birth of the kitten.
Of course, there are times when incompatible kittens survive and remain healthy. But for this, the kitten must have such individual characteristics that will not allow the absorption of maternal antibodies by the intestinal walls.
There is another option, how to save the litter. Immediately after birth, separate all kittens from the mother for 2-3 days, so that the patency of the intestinal walls is reduced so as not to let maternal antibodies pass into the blood of the kitten. Then the cat can calmly feed its kittens on its own. But this method can significantly impair litter health.
What is the danger of incompatibility?
In addition to the above symptoms of incompatibility, the following options are also possible:
- the death of a kitten without visible symptoms of underdevelopment or the presence of a disease;
- a newborn kitten is very weak, it is not able to suck mother’s milk on its own;
- the kitten sucks milk on its own, but less and less each time;
- jaundice in a kitten (yellowness of the mucous membranes);
- anemia due to hemolysis of blood (destruction of red blood cells with the subsequent entry of hemoglobin into the blood plasma);
- further growth and development while maintaining minimal anemia.
How to prevent incompatibility of blood groups?
In order to avoid unpleasant consequences, there are several ways to prevent the incompatibility of the group characteristics of a cat and a kitten.
- Prevention is better than mitigation. For this, only a cat and a cat with a group B happen. In this situation, antibodies to the blood of the fetus do not arise.
- Incompatibility occurs only in the case of combinations of blood groups such as cat B + cat A = kittens AB or cat B + cat AB = kittens AB / B. We must try not to allow such a confusion.
- Take measures to save the litter if nevertheless cat B and cat A. were mated. Separate the kittens from their mother immediately after birth for at least a day, or preferably two or three. At this time, feed them yourself every 2 hours.