Type A Cats
By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin’s Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center
Cat blood is designated as either type A, type B, and rarely type AB. Type A is the most common blood type comprising 90-95% of the cat population in the United States. While type B cats are uncommon, it is extremely important that they be given type B blood. Less than 1 ml of blood from a type A cat that is given to a type B cat can cause a transfusion reaction strong enough to result in death (because of the Anti-B that type A cats have in their plasma).
Cats that are type AB can receive blood from either type A or type B cats (that’s cats, not us). Cat blood is screened for a number of blood-borne infectious diseases as well as feline leukemia and FIV. If we continue with our type A shortage, we may look at our cats in a whole new way…