Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Why newborn kittens need colostrum for immunity transfer
By Claus, Melissa A et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2006·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Immunoglobulin concentrations in feline colostrum and milk, and the requirement of colostrum for passive transfer of immunity to neonatal kittens.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Newborn kittens need to drink their mother’s first milk, called colostrum, to get important antibodies that help protect them from illness. A study found that kittens who didn’t get colostrum had lower levels of these protective antibodies compared to those who did. Even if colostrum-deprived kittens were fostered onto nursing queens, they still didn’t receive enough immunity. However, giving them serum from an adult cat can help restore their protective antibody levels. This highlights the importance of colostrum for kittens' health in their first weeks of life.
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to clarify whether cats have a colostral and milk phase of lactation differentiated by concentrations of immunoglobulins, and whether colostrum ingestion by newborn kittens is essential for optimal transfer of passive immunity. Milk from specific pathogen-free queens was analyzed for IgG and IgA concentrations from parturition through 6 weeks of lactation. Serum IgG and IgA concentrations from birth through 8 weeks of age were determined for colostrum-fed kittens, colostrum-deprived kittens that were fed a milk replacer, and colostrum-deprived kittens that were fostered onto queens in the milk phase of lactation. The total IgG and IgA concentrations in milk were significantly higher on the day of parturition than on day 7 of lactation, indicating cats do have a colostral phase of lactation. The predominant immunoglobulin in both colostrum and milk was IgG. The serum IgG concentrations in colostrum-deprived kittens fostered on queens in the milk phase of lactation were similar to colostrum-deprived kittens fed a milk replacer, and the concentrations were significantly lower than in colostrum-fed kittens for the first 4 weeks of life. The serum IgA concentrations in both colostrum-deprived groups were significantly lower than colostrum-fed kittens on day 2 after parturition, but were similar thereafter. Colostrum-deprived kittens fostered onto queens in the milk phase of lactation had failure of passive transfer of maternal antibodies. Protective concentrations of immunoglobulins can be restored in kittens with failure of passive transfer of immunity by parenteral administration of adult cat serum, but not by fostering on queens in mid-lactation.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16600652/