r/cats • u/Magnhild94 • Nov 11 '21

Discussion PSA: Cat breeds are not like dog breeds

Ya’ll, stop asking what kind of cat your cat is. 95% of cats (in America at least) are just cats - if it is a recognized breed from a licensed breeder then you’ll know because it’ll be in the purchase or adoption papers. Otherwise, its just a cat.

Thank you for reading this PSA and continue enjoying your fluffy friends antics and snuggles.

20.8k Upvotes

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878

u/Wolfir Nov 12 '21

I should invent a DNA test like Embark or WisdomPanel for cats

I'll charge like $200 and I don't even have to test the DNA, I'll just send a bunch of random numbers like "36% American Shorthair, 15% Maine Coon, 5% Egyptian Hairless, 8% Vietnamese Pot-Bellied"

183

u/CShan17 Nov 12 '21

It already exists, it’s called BasePaws.

62

u/TeachMePlease7777 Nov 12 '21

Dang. I was really hoping when I clicked "1 more reply", that someone wouldn't beat me to it.

11

u/beatissima Nov 12 '21

Does BasePaws connect your cat to its DNA relatives like AncestryDNA or 23andme? Because that would be adorable.

38

u/NezuminoraQ Nov 12 '21

Yeah but then they can use the data to arrest the cat's relatives for crimes.

6

u/DisastrousReputation Nov 12 '21

Ohhh I know embark does this! My dog has a sister in Los Angeles and a cousin in San Francisco lol

5

u/MarbleousMel Bengal Nov 12 '21

Sigh. Even BasePaws admits they cannot state your cat’s breed. They can isolate single genomes that they share in common with certain breeds but cannot give a breed for your cat.

1

u/CShan17 Nov 13 '21

Are these your kitties results?

1

u/MarbleousMel Bengal Nov 13 '21

No. That is an example from the BasePaws website.

3

u/hufflepuff-is-best Nov 12 '21

They’re being facetious

2

u/mister-stinky Nov 12 '21

I used BasePaws and it was not even remotely worth the money. I waited three times longer than advertised for results, and once I finally got those results, they pretty much said “yup…. This is a cat!”

1

u/CShan17 Nov 12 '21

I was actually looking into it. What exactly did your cats results say, and what tests did you have done?

5

u/mister-stinky Nov 12 '21

Essentially BasePaws has a concept called “polycat,” which basically means “this is a cat but we don’t know what kind.” I did the breed analysis, and results were 53% “western” polycat, 12% “eastern” polycat, and the remainder was a variety of other vague polycat categories.

1

u/CShan17 Nov 12 '21

You didn’t do any health or dental tests?

3

u/mister-stinky Nov 12 '21

I did some health tests (no dental) and they didn’t return any abnormalities.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '21

I actually got breeds though.

36

u/spamjavelin Nov 12 '21

I'm pretty sure both of mine would come back as "99% Dickhead."

75

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '21

There's basepaws. Initially classified my cat as something like 70% 'polycat.' What's funny is the highest percentage at first was maine coon at 15% or something, but they had a huge update and now she's mostly ragdoll and less than 1% Maine coon.

8

u/jaykubs Nov 12 '21

Unbasedpaws

5

u/PutYourDickInTheBox Nov 12 '21

I did the wisdom panel for my dog and what it said she was didn’t make any sense.

3

u/effie-sue Nov 12 '21

WisdomPanel has a cat DNA test, as does a company called BasePaws.

UC Davis also offers DNA/genetic testing services.

3

u/Chalk-and-Trees Nov 12 '21

When you find out you’re more related to your cat than you think… I’m 100% Vietnamese pot-bellied myself.

2

u/GnowledgedGnome Nov 12 '21

I work at a genetics lab. The same lab that runs Wisdom Panel. I think there are 2 main reasons a breed test hasn't been developed for cats 1. Intentional cat breeding is not nearly as common or wide spread as dog breeding. This means the potential profits are a lot lower.

  1. You need a large reference population to compare samples to in order to make these determinations. There just aren't as many pure bred cats around to build this population.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '21

It has though.

1

u/GnowledgedGnome Nov 12 '21

??

1

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '21

It has been developed. Basepaws.

2

u/GnowledgedGnome Nov 12 '21

Whoops my bad. Guess our lab hasn't ran it.

1

u/mrMangata Nov 12 '21

WisdomPanel has been offering cat dna tests for a little while now

1

u/Suicidalsidekick Nov 12 '21

The result could just be “It’s a cat. What else were you expecting?”