Test for determining blood type in the cat

1. A method of distinguishing blood type in a cat, comprising the steps of providing a biological sample and detecting the presence or absence of a mutation in both alleles of the feline CMAH gene,

wherein the mutation is a G to A substitution at position 139 of the feline CMAH gene coding sequence,

wherein the mutation in both alleles is indicative of blood type B,

thereby distinguishing blood type B from blood types A and AB.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detection of the mutation comprises:

(a) specifically amplifying a subsequence of the gene encoding CMAH containing the mutation, thereby amplifying nucleic acids comprising the mutation; and

(b) detecting the amplified nucleic acids.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the subsequence is specifically amplified using primers comprising the sequences set forth in SEQ ID NO: 6 and 7.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the amplified nucleic acids are detected by sequencing.

5. A method of identifying a blood type B carrier in a cat, comprising the steps of providing a biological sample and detecting the presence or absence of a mutation of the feline CMAH gene,

wherein the mutation is a G to A substitution at position 139 of the feline CMAH gene coding sequence, and

wherein presence of the mutation is indicative of blood type B,

thereby identifying a blood type B carrier in the cat.