I recently bred iCandy Toffee Crunch to Adoremuffins Walnut. I think they will make awesome RagMuffin kittens. But the expected litter has a downside.

You see, Toffee has type B blood. She is my only cat with this. Most cats are type A, some AB. In order to safely breed a type B female to a type A male, specific precautions must be taken to avoid neonatal fatalities.

If the birthing and first twenty-four hours of nursing are not closely monitored, Toffee’s colostrum would produce antibodies that would cause neonatal isoerythrolysis in type A kittens, resulting in death.

So Toffee’s labor and birthing are carefully planned. First, I bred Gertrude several days ahead of Toffee. Gertrude’s litter history is of having only one or two kittens in each litter.

Second, I will have a body suit for Toffee. Even though I have every intention of being present for each kitten’s birth, just in case, the suit will prevent the kittens from nursing off of Toffee.

When the kittens are born, I will take them to be cared for by Gertrude for the first twenty-four hours, so they will not ingest the potentially dangerous colostrum produced by Toffee. In return, Gertrude’s older kitten/kittens can be safely nursed by Toffee as kittens can no longer absorb colostrum after a day of age. After Toffee’s kittens are twenty-four hours old, all kittens may be returned to their birth mothers.

Toffee’s kittens will receive colostrum during their first day from a formula developed for kittens. To be honest, I’ve never had to do this before. But, it is one of the reasons blood typing should be done in the myriad of testing prior to breeding.

The bottom line is Toffee has something to offer my breeding program. She has a super coat and muzzle, along with other quality RagaMuffin characteristics. Likely, she will be retired after this one litter because of her blood type. I am hoping she will produce a type A kitten that will have the best characteristics of both parents.