It is well known that people have different blood types. The discovery of blood groups in humans stimulated the search for similar systems in animals, and indeed, cats have a similar system. In cats, there are three main blood types: A, B and AB. Type AB is extremely rare. Cats do not have type O.
The frequency of each blood type varies depending on the geographic area and the cat’s breed. The vast majority of domestic shorthaired (DSH) and domestic longhaired (DLH) cats in the United States are blood type A (98.2 percent). Only 1.7 percent are type B. Type AB is quite rare (0.1 percent, or approximately 1 out of 1,000). This varies significantly with geographic region. In the Northeast, less than 0.5 percent are type B. In Florida and the Southeast, 1 to 2 percent are type B, while on the West Coast, the percentage that are type B rises to 4 to 6 percent.
**Get the February 2008 issue of CAT FANCY to read the full article.**