links to informative web sites on this subject :-
http://www.colourpointed-british.com
We had Barney our now retired Blue stud, blood typed prior to him showing signs of being ready for stud, and when our vet told us that he was a Blood Group A, we immediately thought that we had made a mistake. But after hours on end, scouring web sites, questioning our very patient vet, other breeders, cat friends and the representatives of our breed clubs, we were very much relieved to learn that a Blood Group A stud is definitely not mistake, in a careful breeding plan.
It did mean that we immediately had to have our girls blood typed because ‘if’ there was going to be a potential problem we needed to be prepared and it was an unexpected trip to the vets with all our ladies (more money for the national debt !) but we felt it very necessary, so be as well informed as possible.
Despite conflicting reports, having already been told that the majority of British Shorthairs are blood group A, we confirmed this when five of our six girls were Blood Type A.
Having had two litters in the last two years that were from our Blood type B girl, very successfully with no distress to either mother or her kittens, we would like to share our experience with other breeders.
To ascertain which if any kittens were likely to be ‘blood compromised’ soon after birth, I rubbed their little tummies and gently wiped their rear ends with cotton wool to stimulate their bladders.
In the first litter there were two out of four kittens, that proved to be blood compromised and in the second litter one of the three kittens, was compromised. At first I was unsure if the urine was clear or very very slightly tinged, so to be on the safe side I carried on doing the 'urine test' for a few hours.
I knew for certain with no doubts at all, when their urine was tinged red, however at this stage the kittens were not still not showing any other signs. Although it did completely unnerve me, I kept going and to be truthful the kittens seemed quite content.
I really did not want to take the kittens away from their mother, as being a very new mum I did not want to distress her.
One solution is to slip mother’s body into a length of support hose with four holes cut out for her legs, thereby covering her nipples and effectively stopping the kittens from suckling at all but this would include kittens that were not effected by the blood group problem.
I simply kept the kittens well fed with Cimicat Supplement Milky feeds every 2 –3 hours and a boiled water and Lectade drink now and again to flush out their kidneys and assist their liver. Treating these affected kittens as babies with jaundice which is exactly what happens in new born babies with this condition..
Mum snuggled with her kittens, washed them regularly and was very content, but the kittens being well fed by me were therefore not suckling from their mother. I kept this up for 18 hours and after that when the walls of their gut had closed to their mothers antibodies, they were completely safe to suckle from their doting mother.
The obvious way to plan any future breeding is to breed only A to A , or B to B, But that would eventually reduce the healthy gene pool of the British Shorthairs and restrict any new lines necessary for some pedigrees
As long as we are responsible and have our breeding cats blood typed, we can be prepared for possible problems, without testing we are leaving our kittens wide open to unnecessary suffering.
We know from the enquiries we get for breeding girls of Blood type A, that there are many Blood Group A stud boys, some of which are at public stud, and in some cases their blood type is not revealed in their stud advertisements
It is the responsibility of all stud owners to blood type their boys.
IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS
and blood compromisation is not the nightmare that some un-informed breeders think it is, with time and patience there is a very easy solution, as we have proved.