Millie’s Basepaw’s Results

89 comments

Hi everyone! Poor Penny got her post bumped again. Millie wants to tell you about his Basepaw results. Almost a year ago, we won a kit on the blog,  Pets Overload. I chose Millie to test because I was certain he had some Siamese in him. He is quite vocal which is one of their traits.

*Disclaimer: I won a Basepaws kit. I am not required to write a review. All opinions are my own.

He was shocked with the results.

This is what they wrote:

Now let’s talk about Millie! We sequenced Millie’s DNA, which we extracted from the sample you’ve submitted to us. This resulted in 19,183,303 DNA fragments sequenced, which represents 2,472,946,222 DNA bases that were sequenced. Using this data along with the latest cat genome (felis_catus_9.0), we analyzed genetic variants across 18 chromosomes to generate this report.

We assigned Millie to the Western breed group based on the comparative genomic similarity to breeds belonging to the Western group. Within the Western breed group, we ranked the individual member breeds based on how similar your cat is to each breed.

Millie is most related to a Maine Coon. I know nothing about genetics, but I am not convinced. I think Basepaws is a good idea, but needs some work. It took around 10 months to get our results which seems like a long time. I am glad I won a kit, but honestly, I would expect more if I had paid the $95. I checked the website and an Alpha kit will be available soon ( I assume it will cost more money), but it will include health information which could be useful.

We are joining Comedy Plus’ Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.

 

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89 comments

  2. Wow, I didn’t even know about this. I knew about tracing family tree lineage from cat colonies like what Shelly is doing from TinyKittens with the feral colony she cares for in British Columbia. I should have known you could trace your pet’s DNA, but I think you’re right, the science probably still needs to be fleshed out. I’m still shocked it’s available for the general public.

  3. Sounds like a bit of a rip-off. We are definitely happy you didn’t have to pay for that kit. And that was a ridiculous amount of time to wait for results. Millie certainly doesn’t resemble a Maine Coon in appearance. Lots of cats are vocal. Mauricio rarely shuts up unless he is eating or sleeping. Think we’ll tell our mom not too bother with one of those kits. XOCK, angel Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer

  4. We won one of those kits too, from Pets Overload. So far we haven’t yet had the time to take the sample they suggest…so are they going to tell us that Pipo is a Turkish Van or something like that?? MOL! Or maybe a Cornish Rex. Tee-hee.

    I think Millie is a Millie Kitty! No way anywhere nearly even resembling any Maine Coon Heritage.

    Pipo is a full Meezer…I wonder what they would have classified Minko as, he was not pure meezer I felt, even though he was ‘advertised’ as such. He had lots of characteristics of a mixed breed.

  5. I think the problem is that cat breeds aren’t that different genetically, especially in mixed cats. They haven’t been domesticated and bred for type long enough. That’s why a lot of cats are registered by phenotype rather than genetics. I have one I really want to test but the science isn’t advanced enough to give me the answers I want yet I don’t think, I’m sure I’d get northern breeds too but they can’t tell me Maine Coon vs Norwegian Forest 😉

      1. Good for you!
        Mum went to the dark side and uses spell check 😉
        She blames it on the face that some of the letters are worn off the keys.Time for a new keyboard, but she will still be lazt!
        Purrs Georgia,Julie and JJ

      2. No worries. I used spell check and still had my bad typo on Saturday 🙂 XO

  9. That would be interesting to find out. But it does sound very expensive. It would be fun to find out what all these cats have in them. Have a great day.

  10. I recently paid almost $200 for a DNA test for myself. It was more than usual because I got the works. Anyway, I think the results came back in less than two weeks so eight months seems way too long.

  11. HUH? Gosh I think maybe they got Millie’s results mixed up with another kitty because I never ever would have guessed he’s got Maine Coon in him! Good thing the test was free (!!!).

    Hugs, Pam

  15. Is that all you got for results? Doesn’t seem very useful. I’m glad you didn’t pay anything for it.

  16. I would have prefered that they simply said, “Millie is the best Millie EVER!” Now, that would have made more sense.
    And don’t worry, Penny! We are here, waiting for your next post.

  17. I’ve always enjoyed the subject of genetics and find these DNA tests incredibly intriguing. That being, the results you received seem very basic, especially for the asking price and the turnaround time. I agree that you’d think they’d give you more than that. This type of testing really could come in handy, such as for medical purposes, if a product that is accurate and extensive can be manufactured. Thank you for sharing this with us!

    1. I am interested in the new test they are going to have- I hope I win one 🙂

  18. That kitty does not look like a Maine Coon kitty. Just saying. What a long wait too. Oh well, at least you didn’t have to pay for it.

    Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Happy Tuesday, Ellen. Scritches to all your babies. ♥

  19. dood…… we R anxiouz then….. ta see ya in that “western” witha… ponee; a cowboy ha; t anda nip nanner six shooter……dood ewe could bee like Butch Cassidy ya noe 😉

    ♥♥

  20. Wow! This is new to me, too. I’d much sooner have my cats tested than myself, but not for that cost. You may be amused to learn I thought it was some sort of baseball knock off game for kitties by the name Basepaws. lol Be well!

  21. It’s hard to see Maine Coon in an all white cat!
    When we had Luke’s DNA done, I was never real convinced either (since the two other breeds than Lab in him were very small dogs). We also won a Basepaws kit, and did Sam’s. We’re still waiting on the results – I guess I won’t hold my breath waiting – that is crazy that it took so long!

  22. I had never hear about Basepaw or these kind of tests for cats before and after reading about your experience I’m quite skeptical about the results. Millie doesn’t look like a Maine Coon at all.

  23. We don’t much about cat breeds, but Millie sure doesn’t look like a Maine Coon to us. Glad you won the kit and didn’t lose any green papers for it.

    Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber

  24. Honestly, most rescue cats have minimal, if any, cat breeds in their background. Especially in the U.S., where intact pedigreed cat are almost never allowed outside. Most domestic cats of indeterminate origins are just that, and nothing more. It’s a way different thing from dogs and dog breeds. I would save my money on this type of thing for cats. Besides, I don’t think it really matters to most cat lovers what their cats’ ancestry is – they just love their cats for who they are.

  25. We received our initial Basepaws results for Harley back in December (and was definitely surprised), but I wanted to wait to share the results until they refined their process. And the new results do differ from the original. I’ll be posting about it later!

  27. You would think they would come up with more than just Maine coon. Sometimes you just don’t know with these companies. Maybe something else will come out soon to have the tests done correctly. Thanks for the share. Have a great day.

  28. I’m glad you wrote about this. It will keep me from buying it if I get tempted. That info isn’t even info. Hi Joanie…

  33. These results may be correct, but i’d want to know more about how they concluded that.

  35. I think some of those tests need extra work. We have reviewed a few allergy test kits that definitely would be awesome if all the results were correct. I doubted several.

  36. Dear Millie (and Ellen!) – We are not happy you are not happy with your results (Really!), and we wanted to add some more content and details!

    As you know, this report is something we’ve been working on for many months and the final version was just released this week. Our initial findings are showing that Millie is a mixed-breed kitty (no surprise there!) with three breeds ranking in the top: Maine Coon, Abyssinian, and Russian Blue. All three are from the same Western family of cats and are fairly close together, genetically. Even if you do not see these breeds in Millie, our algorithms have identified them right now, but as we get more data, they can still flow and change. With more data, the final breed mix will shine through.

    Cat genetics is just SO early that we are still just starting to learn how this all fits together. Cat breeds are defined by physical attributes, and we are learning how to define them with genetics. Big stuff, but really new stuff too. Our understanding of this continues to evolve and is based on our the ever-increasing capacity of our pedigreed cat database, our better and faster algorithms and our work with pet parents as we learn more!

    1. Thank you for your comment and explanation. I know it is very new and look forward to what can be learned of cats in the future.

  38. Millie does look shocked, like “Wat?” … I don’t see any Maine Coon. I am fascinated by DNA in cats and like one other person commented before me I am following TinyKittens’ Shelly’s work with feral colonies in Langley, BC. It is truly interesting. I am also interested in cat colors and patterns. Although I get lost pretty quickly… 🙂 That was a bummer and a shame to have waited that long and gotten the results you did.

  39. Are you sayin’ that MaineCoon is all they said originally? Fur a hunnerd dollars? OMC We read their comment and still…OMC And yes, we’re bein’ nice. ‘Course, at the end of the day, we luv Millie cux he’s Millie. We don’t care what his background is. Mommy would luvs to learn ’bout us since we are a result of backyard breedin’ with Ragdolls and persians and ??not sure. But we fur sure ain’t spendin’ no hunnerd dollars to be told somethin’ like this. Big hugs

    Luv ya’

    Dezi and Raena

    1. It listed other breeds, but Maine Coon was the closest. It would be interesting to see what you two are- maybe you will win a kit 🙂 XO

  42. My husband’s cousin paid some outrageous amount of money to have his dog’s DNA analyzed. This was several years ago. I wonder if they paid hundreds of dollars to get the same level of results as Millie did. We think Kommando is part Siamese for the same reason you think Millie is.Most Western breed don’t talk anywhere near that much

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