Blood types

At the Devon Rex, among others, we are dealing with different blood types.
This could give complications after birth in some combinations, which is also called FNI. The white blood cells are broken down because the one blood type makes antibodies to the other blood type. This mainly happens when a female with blood type B has kittens from a male with blood type A (AA and/or Ab). 

To prevent FNI the kittens need to be hand fed for the first hours after birth. Usually 16-18 hours is long enough. Most important is that the kittens don't get any mothers milk the first few hours after birth. 

As in above schedule you can see that in some combinations you can have either A as B type kittens. The B type kittens can suckle with mum. To find out which blood type the kittens have, you can use a quick test. This will give you a result within a few minutes. 

I myself have used the blood typing tests from Alvedia several times and my experience is that they are very trustful. They give a fast result and are easy to use. One drop of blood from the umbilical cord is all you need. It's most handy to cut the cord yourself, so you can easily get a drop of blood. You drop it on a strip and this strip is mixed with the suspension. More info about the Alvedia blood typing tests can be found here.