BasepawsCat DNA Test Kit - Comprehensive Breed, Health and Dental Analysis Across 114 Traits for Accurate and Easy-to-Use Genetic Insights

Found out some surprising things! Thorough and broken down nicely in a way that was easy to read and understand. I like that it included information on my cat's oral health which was also detailed and easy to understand.

I always wanted to do a DNA test on my kitty, Jasper. After some research I selected BasePaws. The collection of DNA from Jasper was easy enough and once I sent it in I believe I had my results within 4 weeks. I thought my Jasper looked like a Blue Russian or a Chartreuse but she was 25% Maine Coon! We asked our friends who we adopted her from and they weren’t surprised. The dad is huge. Get the test. It’s worth it.

As a first time (and obsessed) cat mom, I was so excited to purchase a basepaws cat DNA kit for Helix (as appropriately named). I wanted to know what I was getting in for with my little guy healthwise since I’ve always had dogs. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an easy to use kit, support a localist business in Kalamazoo area, and get thorough and I mean thorough DNA analysis. I also loved seeing how he was made up of various breeds but the health aspect was out of this world. I appreciated seeing his oral health piece and will start seeing how I can do better for him and his oral health. I loved this kit so much I purchased it for our other cats (who aren’t originally mine, spare human probs) who are a brother/sister pair. I can’t wait to send it off to see and compare their DNA to Helix’s. If you’re on the fence about it, just do it. You’ll be pleasantly surprised and your cat may or may not thank you long term.

As I read my cats results I saw the breed area. The main bred they classified my cat as was "Maine coon" (20.1 percent). That shocked me because my cat isn't even 8 lbs. She is short haired, no ear Tufts, small, non-muscular frame. She hates water. She is all white with a few black hairs on top of her head. Then I noticed this category called "Polycat" (not even a breed) with no defined breeds under it and said my cat was 21.22 percent this category. Um... I thought the reason people were doing these DNA tests was to find out what breeds their mixed cat was, not to just say the main breed is an unknown mixed breed with no characteristics about what that fake breed meant. Most people know their cats are a mixed breed and it's why they are having this test done. Why not call it unknown because that is basically what was done here.Since I actually did this test because my now 11 month old cat is having major health problems, it makes me not trust the results if they cannot even get the breed right. My now 11 month old kitten is having seizures, tremors, intension tremors, ataxia, vestibular issues, issues getting her claws stuck out, she struggles to walk after resting or sleeping and even push herself up, she has a head tilt, she goes to jump up and misses her mark jumping too short. She relies a lot on her claws by gripping the carpet to get around, but she walks and runs normally at times too. She has seen a neurologist who doesn't know what is wrong with her, but says Multifocal brain disease or vestibular disease are most likely based on her symptoms. Given she might also have kidney disease too, we didn't do an MRI or a spinal test because they cost thousands of dollars each and even the neurologist said they mights show her nothing or show her the symptoms of what is wrong without the actual cause and that most causes are likely incurable. How much life she has left is unknown, a seizure could take her any day (or kidney disease in a year), and she has short seizures almost daily that are not completely uncontrolled by the meds the neurologist put her on.I also have allergies to cats. My cat is white and doesn't bother me as much as some cats do (and I grew up with white cats who didn't eitherwho looked the same), so we decided to do the DNA test. At best result we would see a health marker that explains her issues, at worst we would at least know her hidden breed (since she is white) so we would know what cat to get in the future (when she passes) to know which cat might not bother my allergies.When I read the health report, I was amazed that there were actually like 7 conditions that were neurological in the report, however my cat didn't have any of the markers for them. I was excited reading the names because three of them were things I had found my cat might have when doing research based on the symptoms of the health conditions. So it's kind of disappointing my cat has neurological problems, but none of these came back as markers she has. Her condition could be infectious disease related though (even though the vet neuro tests all came back negative), so she could have other things going on to explain this beyond DNA tests.It also said she has genes for black fur, and that her coat is a gene that makes coats be faded or white (okay, anyone could get that just by looking at her or her picture, which I sent).The only oral health marker they noted her having was tooth resorption. She is too young to know if that will be a problem.The health issues she is noted to have is factor 12 deficiency, a blood clotting disorder. She had a surgery done no problems, so at least so far that doesn't seem to be a problem for her.I will take these results to my vet soon, but they don't explain anything she has going on, which is disappointing. The biggest disappointment though is not even trusting the breed results.Hopefully my baby passes before she has to struggle with any of these other painful conditions if these results are accurate. She shows no signs of being in pain to date even with the problems she has. She is very social and likes to be cuddled in blankets and sit in your lap. She likes to hunt and play. She walks and runs crazy and falls over all the time and gets her claws stuck in things, but she is our baby, she wants to be near us and play with us. She is also super smart. She isn't agile enough to do those word buttons, but when you say anyone's name, she knows who you mean by either going to their room or getting exited when you tell her that her favorite playmate is home. She knows words for "scratchy" (scratching post), mousie, food, play, treat, downstairs, and "go to bed". So even though her brain is failing her body, it isn't failing her intelligence. So she will be our cat as long as she isn't in pain or hasn't succumb to her unknown condition.So overall, this test didn't tell us health issues or breeds that make sense, which is disappointing. We didn't just do this test for fun, which seems to be the main thing people feel they get out of this by reading other comments.

Update Jan 2025: I'm upgrading my review based on their proactive customer service. Our DNA sample did not have enough to work with, so they offered to send me another test for a second chance.It does take about three weeks for the sample to show as received. It was several more weeks before we got the inconclusive results. Exercise patience.Original remarks: For a cat, the swab method was difficult to say the least, and I have a friendly cat who is cooperative at the vet and the groomer. It's been two weeks since I mailed the swab back, and Basepaws doesn't show it has even been received yet. If this changes, I will update my review. For now, my curiosity is dead along with my money.

Got it in the mail got it done mailed off and it didn't take but a few weeks before we got the results highly recommend this if you're wondering what your dog is and not sure and also tells you possible health concerns as well.