Incest Kittens

I am a clinical counselor who visits clients at their homes. One of my clients' cats recently had kittens, and her brother is believed to be the father. I have advised her to get the cats altered and given her some information on low cost spay/neuter programs.
As far as the kittens go, are they going to be okay? She showed them to me and they are very small and very cute; they're about two weeks old. They seemed fine to me and I've researched the subject and learned that many breeds of dogs and cats descend from inbred animals, which allows those breeds to "breed true." This has also led to breed-specific health issues. These kittens are dmh/dlh black and white. I guess I'm just looking for input, advice on whether or not it is okay for her to give the kittens away.

I took in a kitten who had brother sister parents. He was fine-got fixed at 6 months old and lived till 8 or so-died when the cat food recall was going on. I would just make sure they were fixed before being given away or given to a shelter to place if your not sure the person will be able to screen the new owners. I would think by now any who would have passed would have gone by now. I would be more worried if a female kitten from this litter mated back to its uncle and father as then it would really exagerate the problems this family may have

If there wasnt severe inbreedeeing in earlier generations, I dont think this is any real danger.

Such is not so uncommon in the cats world. "Father unknown" is not so seldom someone relative...

For pedigree breeders although this is a problem. Such a cat is of much lower use as stud /queeen - they arent supposed to any mentionable degree of inbreeding - unless exactly and knowleably planned, and it doesnt look so good in the show class either.
Thus - a possible show cat suddenly turning into a pet - sold for half the price, is no good for a good breeder, Not financially and not good otherwise....

But for moggies? Nothing good to approve, but usually no catastrophe either. Unless the owner does clearly sees damages as they grown up. Psychical or fysical.
So - keep some extra eye on them, but dont worry unnecessarily. Do not.

Your first advice was good enough. Find them good homes and make sure they get spayed. While kittens still at the first owner, or somewhat later.

Good lucl!

I think it usually takes several generations of inbreeding before you see real problems. I did help one low-income lady have her cat spayed.....she said the cat's last litter was "retarded" because she had mated with her son from her previous litter. I never met the kittens---they got out of the house and disappeared---so I can't say for sure what was going on with them. She said they looked funny and were "too stupid to use a litterbox" (although, of course that can happen for other reasons, too). And I don't know what her cat's lineage might be, there very well might be several generations of inbreeding in her history already. Anyway, her cat is spayed now so there'll be no more of that.