Basepaws Dna Test For Cats?

[KalicoKitten]

Have any of you guys heard of or tried Basepaws out? I stumbled upon it when browsing the internet and apparently it's the 1st DNA test for cats? They send you updates the more they learn by sequencing cat DNA and it'll tell you what your cat could be allergic to in the future and what their best diet should be and things like that. It's cheaper than the UC Davis cat ancestry test (Davis' test is like 120 and Basepaws is 95) and gives you info as it learns so maybe it'll be worth checking out? There's a couple discount codes, one from an article I read about it, and one from a youtuber called 'Jupiter the Cat' where if you use the code 'jupiter' you get $30 off your purchase until Jan 1st, 2018. I'm not being sponsored, I'm just curious as to if anyone has tried it or was thinking about trying it. I think I might get 3 as a Christmas present for each of my furbabies because I'm just so curious.

 

[lalagimp]

I honestly just emailed them a proposal to use their product in exchange for blog and social mentioning. I see excited people about this product having been developed, but no one sharing their experiences in going through the process and what you can expect. The FAQ on their site are short, their Facebook Page ratings are 20 where no one is saying anything useful except how excited they are, and the only ones using the hashtag seem to be the company themselves on social media, and not the consumers. So I said I'm interested in documenting, sharing so that others can get a feel for the experience.

 

[KalicoKitten]

I honestly just emailed them a proposal to use their product in exchange for blog and social mentioning. I see excited people about this product having been developed, but no one sharing their experiences in going through the process and what you can expect. The FAQ on their site are short, their Facebook Page ratings are 20 where no one is saying anything useful except how excited they are, and the only ones using the hashtag seem to be the company themselves on social media, and not the consumers. So I said I'm interested in documenting, sharing so that others can get a feel for the experience.

I noticed that too. Please tell me how it goes, whether they will respond or not, etc. I may just buy one now and see if they actually follow through with everything and then base my future purchase (or lack thereof) off of that.

 

[lalagimp]

I'm getting a CatKit in approximately 2 weeks.

 

[audreysmagic]

I got one for my Siamese boy, and I'm really looking forward to the results! I adopted him from rescue, so I'm interested to see if he's as purebred as he looks, but more in the health info they have. I just got the email that they received the kit, so to expect my results in 6-8 weeks. I'll pop in here and update when I have the results. I will note that the DNA collection is easy unless you have a cat who's not cool with anything being put in his mouth. I got a nice scratch during the cheek swab, but the fur collection was super easy.

 

[abyeb]

I got one for my Siamese boy, and I'm really looking forward to the results! I adopted him from rescue, so I'm interested to see if he's as purebred as he looks, but more in the health info they have. I just got the email that they received the kit, so to expect my results in 6-8 weeks. I'll pop in here and update when I have the results. I will note that the DNA collection is easy unless you have a cat who's not cool with anything being put in his mouth. I got a nice scratch during the cheek swab, but the fur collection was super easy.

Cool! I look forward to hearing the results!

 

[lalagimp]

I will note that the DNA collection is easy unless you have a cat who's not cool with anything being put in his mouth. I got a nice scratch during the cheek swab, but the fur collection was super easy.

Do they recommend doing both the fur and the cheek swab? I'm supposed to get mine in the next week. Marketing emailed me and I told her that I'd just now received the tracking info and I'd need about a week and then email her with my post. Tom is really cool with me handling his mouth. We've done buprenex along the gums, and I used to scale tartar off his teeth with a hand tool. They're probably going to tell me he's like 95% generic tabby, hehe. He's a Russian blue mix, but when he was little he had the tabby ghosting all over him. He's really vocal, so if they could tell me he'd gotten any Siamese like they integrated into the RB line, that would be really cool.

I honestly have no idea what to expect except what I've read, and you're ahead of me. If I find the information that comes back in a few months useful or inciting, I'll get one for his sissy, because we can't tell what she is and she's been the healthiest cat. She looks like some kind of ragamuffin mix. No one in the breed section of Cat Site could tell me anything about her.

 

[lalagimp]

Ack. It's not a cheek swab at all!
My CatKit came in the mail today.
You firmly rub adhesive strips onto your cat and then pull back against the grain upon removal?

They say it doesn't hurt, but the mom part of me just keeps thinking back to when I had to do DNA on my birds and I decided to overcut their nail vs plucking feathers right out of their chest.

I'm the weirdo that was looking forward to swabbing my cat's cheek.

 

[-Mia-]

What surprises me about this, is that upon researching them, I see that they gave away hundreds (?) of kits back in July or August as part of their research and/or promotion, so you'd think there'd be quite a bit of reviews or experiences posted about this by now, right? -- unless people were subject to an NDA, which doesn't really make sense to me if you want word about your product to get around.

 

[lalagimp]

Which is why I approached them. Something about a report being compiled late November was the response I received. I'm not grasping the lingo, but I guess stay tuned and more will be publicized around December?

 

[audreysmagic]

Sorry for the delay in responding - been busy! I got a swab in mine, as a back-up to the fur collection, according to the instructions. The adhesive was the EASY part for me, LOL, but I have the little weirdo cat who likes having the lint roller used on him. Maybe it's just because he sheds like a bandit anyway, but it seemed to pick up mostly loose fur and undercoat. He didn't mind that part at all. It was the cheek swab he was willing to draw blood over! They sent me a nice email, too, thanking me for the use, and invited me to send pictures of him to feature on their social media. I'm wondering, too, if more reviews will come in time, as it's only recently they've been able to get down to 6-8 weeks return time on the results - since it's new. They've been in beta for awhile now, but I guess that's understandable when unraveling DNA.

 

[lalagimp]

They actually sent me two parcels: the envelop early in the week with just the adhesive strips/the little box on the weekend that has adhesive strips plus the swab and receptacle. I'm a little confused so I'm waiting on an email back from my POC, but I don't know if they are getting time off for the holiday or what kind of backlog they may have. There are different numbers between the two kits.

 

[lalagimp]

#BasePaws feline DNA CatKit

 

[abyeb]

Hmm... I wonder why they do the adhesive to collect the fur sample instead of just collecting off a brush?

 

[beckbjj]

I was one of the recipients of a free one. They're doing some study on a specific list of conditions that are hereditary. In my case, they sent one for my asthma kitty Grace. I had to send in a bunch of medical records from her asthma diagnosis to qualify. I have sent my kit in to them now, but have not heard anything yet other than that they have received it and are testing it and will let me know.

As far as why the adhesive and not just hair off a brush, they say they're getting the DNA from the hair root. So they want the bulbs from the ends of the hairs. Having done this, I very much wish they would've sent a cheek swab. I do agree with what they say though, the adhesive removal doesn't hurt the cat, so no need to worry about that. She didn't really react to that part. But she completely freaked out when I placed the adhesive on her back. She's a former feral and is very, very difficult to put it mildly (and in fact is now on Prozac to help with that). As a friend of mine says, Grace is a bundle of neuroses. In her case, with all her quirks, I could've done a cheek swab much easier than the adhesive. Also, Grace doesn't allow us to properly brush (or really even touch) her, she'll only occasionally let my husband pet her with one of those grooming gloves on his hand, so although I tried to get off loose hair, I'm honestly not sure if I got even one hair root on those adhesive strips. It looked like just hair to me.

Basically my advice is that it seems like a pretty neat thing, but if I was actually paying for a kit, I would want them to send me *both* the adhesive and a cheek swab, just to make sure I sent them back at least something viable.

The other thing is, I have the ID code for my kit, and I set up an account and registered it, but now that I've sent it in, I can't find anyplace on their website to log in and check status. I see links to order, and to activate/register, but nothing to log in to my user account. I do have the email for the woman who made the offer to join the study, so I'll wait a bit longer for them to (hopefully) process the DNA, then contact her to ask about this.

I'd also be interested to hear the experiences of others who try the kit!

 

[sabian]

I've been thinking of having this done with Manny. If I can find the discount I'll do it for sure. $65 why not!?

 

[lalagimp]

"catster" is supposed to give you $25 off the kit through the holidays because it's on their pick list.

 

[sabian]

"catster" is supposed to give you $25 off the kit through the holidays because it's on their pick list.

Thanks! I ordered it. Promo code is CATSTER

 

[kdm1984]

I also got this done for my cat and got an email update on Nov. 14 saying that they were processing what I sent. An update on their site in late November indicated that they are almost done with the initial reports. I can't wait, and it looks like ancestry and wildcat index will be the first things they do. That's great because that's exactly what I want to know about my cat -- is she quite a bit of Oriental Shorthair as I think she is, does she have any wildcat ancestry like Bengal or Savannah like some others think she might be, and what other breeds might be in there? She is such an elegant, aggressively affectionate, ultra-purring cat with a unique chirp/squeak instead of traditional meow, and she loves to explore, play, and jump up on counters.

 

[lalagimp]