Objective: To assess the genetics, frequency, and biochemistry of the AB blood type in cats.
Animals: Domestic shorthair and purebred cats in a breeding colony and privately owned catteries and blood samples from a large feline blood typing laboratory.
Procedures: Samples from cats with blood type AB were selected from the feline blood typing laboratory at the university. Breeding experiments and family studies were used for the genetic analysis of cats with blood type AB. Simple slide hemagglutination assays were used to type cats. Hemagglutination assays, flow cytometry, and ganglioside analysis by high-performance thin layer chromatography were applied to characterize the AB antigens.
Results: Type AB was rare (13/9,239 cats; 0.14% frequency) in cats of the United States and Canada. Type AB occurred only in breeds in which type B was also detected. Cats with type-AB blood express biochemical features of type-A and type-B antigens. Genetic analyses of families with blood type-AB cats are consistent with the hypothesis of 3 alleles: A, B, and AB. The AB allele is recessive to the A allele, but dominant over the B allele. There may be an additional genetic mechanism responsible for the inheritance of blood type AB in cats.
Conclusion: Blood type AE is an extremely rare and separately inherited type in the feline AB blood group system.
Clinical relevance: Kittens with type-AB blood born to queens with type-B blood are at similar risk for neonatal isoerythrolysis as kittens with type-A blood because anti-A alloantiserum from blood type-B queens recognizes AB red blood cells. Furthermore, cats with type-AB blood are best transfused with type-AB or type-A blood.