Has Anyone Done Dna Tests On Their Cats?

[I_Wuv_Kitties]

Looking at the UC Davis one

Cat DNA Tests | feline DNA testing | UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory

Now I know my kitties are 100% domestic shorthairs but I'm curious how much detail the tests give, like if they'll break down the half a dozen breeds that were mixed together to make my kitty.

The human tests do.

 

[Willowy]

Domestic cats aren't made up of "half a dozen breeds" though. They aren't like dogs, in which the breeds are common and well-developed and most mixes come from a breed background. Purebred cats are a rarity and most cats don't have any breed background at all. I would be curious to see what the test results are for a domestic, but I would be suspicious if it came back with a lot of breeds in the mix. Maybe by region. . .

Looking at the test list, I don't see any that determine breed anyway.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

TinyKittens is doing a DNA mapping project of their feral colony. I'm interested to see what they learn from that. But I don't know that I'd go through that unless I was looking to breed or something like that.

 

[cassiopea]

I'm pretty sure my kitties would insist they were all related to the Bourbon Hasburg Valois Romanov Medici Plantagenets Capetian (Thou shall not question them) why need a DNA test they wonder!


In all seriousness though, it is an intriguing link. Not something I would feel the need to do (Unless for real concerning health reasons) but neat that it is a field that is developing.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

Domestic cats aren't made up of "half a dozen breeds" though. They aren't like dogs, in which the breeds are common and well-developed and most mixes come from a breed background.

Nope, they're not. In broad DNA marker examinations, you'll have a Landrace assigned. There are focused breed examinations via DNA markers using the STRUCTURE algorithm, which compares allele pairs with (currently) 27 known and mapped breeds whose distinct patterns of allele frequencies will allow a pretty good chance (99th percentile) of identifying a cat's ancestry, assuming his or her parentage has been mapped.

The abstract for Dr. Marilyn Menotti-Raymond's original 2008 paper Patterns Of Molecular Genetic Variation Among Cat Breeds [Genomics: Volume 91; Issue 1; January 2008] is online through Science Direct (no JSTOR membership required) here:

Patterns of molecular genetic variation among cat breeds - ScienceDirect

The 27 mapped breeds are given, although my understanding is that at least three others have been added to the database.
.

 

[Willowy]

That's very interesting. Why do they say the test WILL NOT DETERMINE A CAT'S BREED? Just covering their butts?

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

That's very interesting. Why do they say the test WILL NOT DETERMINE A CAT'S BREED? Just covering their butts?

In part, certainly - even with full access to STRUCTURE, many breeds aren't represented, and some breeds apparently showed insufficient unique markers (Balinese/Javanese/Colorpoint Shorthair/Oriental Shorthair/Siamese, for instance, is a single data group). I don't know what tests U.C. Davis is currently offering without Les Lyon's steering. As far as I'm aware, the comparative marker examinations are performed by the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland. My guess - and it's only a guess - is that the current U. C. Davis reports will be limited to Landrace, although they may have a separate and similar allele algorithm database.
.

 

[lorie d.]

In part, certainly - even with full access to STRUCTURE, many breeds aren't represented, and some breeds apparently showed insufficient unique markers (Balinese/Javanese/Colorpoint Shorthair/Oriental Shorthair/Siamese, for instance, is a single data group). I don't know what tests U.C. Davis is currently offering without Les Lyon's steering. As far as I'm aware, the comparative marker examinations are performed by the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland. My guess - and it's only a guess - is that the current U. C. Davis reports will be limited to Landrace, although they may have a separate and similar allele algorithm database.
.

When I adopted Sweetie from a small shelter run by a vet clinic years ago, one person said he was a Burmese cross and another person said he wasn't. Sweetie has a naturally slender build, and I have always wondered about this. I have considered having DNA testing done, but now that I have read your post I see that Burmese is probably in the same group with insufficient markers as Oriental Shorthair and Siamese...etc. So spending money on DNA testing might not be worth it.

 

[basscat]

I often wonder if the results would tell the "average" person...anything at all.
I guess we could find out? I mean, there are no if's or gray areas when it comes to Gibsy.
But, which test? Ancestry?

 

[lalagimp]

I offered to document the process and results of the BasePaws company in California, with their CatKits. It's slow-going. Anyone around the forums that got to theirs before me, said it's been a very long wait. The company was just to have come out of Beta late November, and ran into delays. Results are said to take up to six months. I even turned in two CatKits and they have only begun to process 1. I'm not sure if the other is "lost" or still waiting to be updated. I'm not being charged, as I'm letting other users know what to expect. It's supposed to be lifetime free updates for any user right now as they grow their database and develop further.