Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,
The time has come and I have gotten my hands on Beau’s DNA results. If you’re new to the blog or haven’t heard about Basepaws here’s a little catchup on our experience:
Our adventure started just before October 22, 2017. I was contacted by a member of Basepaws in hopes of having me review the product. I wasn’t interested at first, because the concept of checking your cat’s DNA sounded weird to me, but after reading Basepaw’s write-up (mentioning that they hope to be able to tell you certain qualities your pet may have or health issues your cat may have in the future) I quickly changed my mind and became interested. I’m always interested in trying to learn everything I can about my cats. I want to make sure I’m on top of their health and have the knowledge and resources I need before anything happens to them.
At initial glances at their e-mail, I thought Basepaws was much further along in their process. My understanding (or I guess assumption) was that they had equipment and samples and that they were going to give a fast result. (Similar to Human DNA tests). But this wasn’t true. Basepaws was truly in its infancy, which is exciting, but it does come at a fairly high cost for a “trial-phase.”
On February 19, 2018, I got an e-mail from Anna at Basepaws. You can read all about it in this post. To summarize, they weren’t able to extract any DNA from Beau’s samples so they asked me if I would like to try again. I said yes, and they also included 3 CatKits for some of our readers. I will say, it’s fantastic that they would give me a replacement, but I did lose some trust in the process when I got that e-mail. Now, I’ll admit I don’t know how many DNA kits don’t work out and I’m not a very science-oriented person, so I might just be ragging on them too hard. But, when you’re going to spend $95 on a product, you would hope that it works… right? This sample was sent on March 20, 2016
On June 16, 2018, I got an e-mail saying that my CatKit was finally sequencing. They said that my delivery would be in about a week. Not much more information about this, but you can read my thoughts on it here.
And finally August 2, 2018, I got the e-mail that the results were here… but I haven’t opened them until this morning. Let’s go over everything I think about Basepaws:
What Basepaws is said to Offer/is Hoping* To Offer
Basepaws uses a lot of asterisks on their website, the thing is… nowhere does it explain what that means. I’ve scoured their site to find out, so if anyone has found out if it means that they are working on the product, let me know. That aside, their website currently states the fact that their CatKits will provide the following information:
Health Information
- Simple Disease Markers*
- Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD)*
- Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM)*
- Comparative Markers*
- Complex Disease Markers*
- Personalized veterinary medicine*
Ancestry Information
- In-Breeding*
- Maternal and Paternal Tracing*
- Breed Index *
- Family tree, Percent of breeds, percent breeds by chromosome*
Features
- Send report to vet*
- Health and wellness assessments*
- Make decision-based on genetically similar cats*
Fun Facts
- Wild Cat Index *
- Predicted weight*
- Traits*
- Predicted user submitted traits*
- Catnip*
A pretty awesome list, eh? The unfortunate thing is, Basepaws has only released the two bolded features which while interesting, don’t really have the information I was hoping I’d get from the kits (at least not as of yet.) I do have faith that they will be able to provide that information but I’m curious when it’s going to happen and how the information will be interpreted for cats who participated before they knew how to understand that DNA. (I hope that makes sense.) I know they promise to update their older customers with the information they discover, however, what if the DNA gets damaged over time or they didn’t collect all the information they needed? Again, I’m not a scientist, but this is a worry as a customer who doesn’t understand DNA.
My Results
| Basepaws included a variety of cats Beau could be (actually 27), but all of them showed as fairly inconclusive making the final answer: he’s domestic. I don’t know if every vet has the same joke, but our vet always jokes around saying that it’s never worth asking what breed your cat is… because it’s always going to end up being “domestic” unless it’s a very clear breed like a ragdoll.
Before I go into my specific results, let me tell you… Basepaw’s system is so confusing. It’s not their website design or navigation, but their graphs, which is the most important part of the site! I honestly don’t understand why they chose to format their results this way, but I’m assuming it’s so they don’t give out specific numbers just in case the results are off… although… I don’t know… Their instructions are as follows: The width of the marker indicates the exactness of our prediction. If your cat does not clearly match a breed, your cat is most likely a Domestic. Okay… is it just me or are you confused about that too? I mean, I get that the more it leans to one side, the more likely it is that your cat is that breed, but when you look down at my results Beau is a lot more likely to be an Abyssinian and a lot less likely to be an Abyssinian… what does that even mean!? It’s funny because their Wild Cat section breaks everything down into percentages… and that’s information I kind of find irrelevant. It’s cool to know that my cat is a “leopard cat”, but how does that information actually help me? |
Oriental Shorthair |
American Shorthair
|
Abyssinian
|
The thing that irks me is the fact that I’ve seen a number of people’s results and their shockingly similar to Beau’s and if they aren’t… well they’re equally as confusing. To this day I haven’t seen anyone with results that show that a cat is absolutely a specific breed. Again, this might be because most of our cats are mixed breeds, but still… you’d think that there were clearer differences.
Basepaw’s Price
Currently priced at $95, Basepaws is a very steep price for an unfinished product. I’m appreciative to have been given the chance to try the product for free, but I don’t think I would purchase this product or try it on my second cat. I’ve also seen many complaints that there are no deals for buying multiple CatKits. It’s a great marketing trick that a lot of companies do, and honestly, it works really well for me. If I know that you’re going to give me a little back for buying more… I’m a happy customer! I know a lot of my readers own multiple cats and this can get mighty expensive if they were going to test all of them!
I would recommend waiting a few more years to see where this company goes before buying a CatKit. Thing is: they have their heart in the right place and are probably working very hard… it’s just not ready for the price that they’re asking for… I do like their tactic of contacting pet blogs to review their product in hopes of raising more awareness and collecting some extra samples along the way. That’s a great choice, however… you might have wanted to get more samples before approaching blogs.
So… do you dislike Basepaws?
In the state it’s in right now, I’m not so happy with it. I will say I’m still very hopeful that they are going to turn this around and be able to provide some amazing information, I just think it’s going to take more time than I originally thought.
I’m personally very interested in the Health section, including the Complex Disease Markers and Simple Disease Markers. The Ancestry stuff doesn’t really interest me too much (since not even human ancestry really interests me.) I will say, they have amazing customer support and have responded fairly quickly to all my e-mails.
Do you think Basepaws is a Scam?
No. I will say, there was some time I thought that they were a scam. I was worried they were collecting a bunch of money and weren’t going to return results. I actually got a fair number of e-mails about the product asking me for updates so folks could get refunds. I’ll tell you the same thing I told them and the same thing that I’ve said throughout this review: I think their heart is in the right place, but they’re not ready. Basepaws needs to be promoted as a startup. They send a lot of update newsletters, but from the beginning, they were telling us that we would have full results between 2-4 weeks. My whole wait time has been over 10 months. 10 MONTHS to get my preliminary results. That’s not a great way to start off this adventure.
What do you think? Have any of my winners gotten their results back yet? Let me know!
UPDATE – MARCH 2019
Basepaws has officially revamped their genetic report and has sent new information. The reports now include the following:
- Information on how to read the report
- A summary of the breeds/wildcats our cat is similar to
- The breeds which my cat potentially belongs to
- A breakdown that shows how much my cat matches these breeds
- A specific breakdown of the 3 top breeds
- Health & Wellness information
THE NEW REPORT FORMAT
I will say, the newest version of the reports is much easier to understand and read.
My biggest problem with the original format was how confusing the graphs were, and while I read over the instructions a few times over… I still had to question if I was reading the charts right.
Overall, Basepaws seems to have done a much better job actually explaining their process in this report and actually dive deeper into how they came up with the results.
The first page shows images of the top 3 breeds your cat is similar to and then the 4 Wildcats in order of similarity. It doesn’t show any percentages, however, is a good introduction to what you’re going to be seeing over the next few pages.
The second page then shows a breakdown of the chromosome map, which to be honest is great information to have, although I personally get a bit of a headache trying to understand it. It is cool, however, to see the data placed this way.
BEAU’S NEW RESULTS
The following is the information Basepaws has provided in regards to Beau’s genetics
BREED GROUPS
- 34.88% Polycat (Mixed Breed)
- 27.30% Eastern
- 22.48% Western
- 15.34% Hybrid (A cat who is part wild & domestic)
TOP 3 BREEDS
- 84.43% more similar to Maine Coon than other cats
- 83.82% more similar to British Shorthair than other cats
- 78.33% more similar to American Shorthair than other cats
It’s no surprise to me that Beau is some sort of shorthair… I mean look at him! That being said, we have called him a British Shorthair in the past, so it’s good to see it rank so high on the breed list.
Now, I don’t know where they are getting the Maine Coon from, to be honest. We all know that Beau was a street cat, although we will never actually know his origins. Were his parents street cats? Was he originally a domesticated cat who ran away?
That being said, he does have a bit of a “raccoon tail” but to me, that’s not enough to be a “Maine Coon.”
Beau is a very small cat. He’s actually the smallest out of all of the cats in my family. He also doesn’t show any physical resemblances of Main Coons, so I’d be interested in why he placed here.
SPECIFIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE BREEDS
The following was some of the information given about the breeds that matched and didn’t match Beau as well as some cool additional information.
MAINE COON
Match: Very Muscular (was true of Beau), heavily boned
Don’t Match: Usually around 20lbs, largest and heaviest cat breed, thick uneven double-layered coat, bushy tail, long whiskers, often have extra toes
Additional Information: Higher risk of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) which is a progressive disease that often results in heart failure, sudden death and paralysis of the hind legs.
BRITISH SHORTHAIR
Match: Large solid chunky body, strong legs, broad head, large piercing eyes, easygoing, patient temperament, prone to obesity
Don’t Match: Commonly a British Blue Fur, not usually good lap cats, do not like to be held
Additional Information: Seseptible to polycystic kidney disease and HCM
AMERICAN SHORTHAIR
Match: Outgoing; friendly; hunter; a dense coat that is gold, brown, cameo or calico; large eyes that are hazel, blue, copper or gold; social; laid-back; affectionate; gets along with other pets
Don’t Match: Not a lap cat
Additional Information: they were originally used as mice hunters, prone to craniofacial defects such as crooked jaws and misaligned teeth
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Honestly, this section is pretty dumb, to be honest. It’s filled with a bunch of information you would already know to do with your pet… let me share some of the headers…
- Visit Your Vet
- Keep Your Cat at a good weight
- Clean Their Teeth
- Provide Water Daily
- Exercise your cat’s body and mind
- Proper Nutrition will increase their life expectancy
- Give your cat mini exams at home
Seriously? This is the health and wellness section? What did I learn? Nothing.
This seems so shameful after the beautiful breakdowns they provided and honestly… I wish this wasn’t included, because again… it’s so unhelpful!
I guess I’m still waiting on the other information they said they would provide regarding health, but man… what a letdown!
FINAL THOUGHTS FOR THE MARCH 2019 REPORT
I will say that this version of Basepaws is much, much, much better. Although I don’t agree that Beau is anywhere near similar to a Maine Coon, the other two choices are fairly similar and Beau is actually showing some signs of the health concerns mentioned.
If you don’t know our family well, you may not know that Beau actually has a heart murmur which we’ve been warned may progress into a heart disease that will ultimately take his life. Our vet has said that there’s nothing we can really do about it other than monitor it and try to condition him when the time comes, although this genetics test is helping give me the impression that no matter what… this may a way we lose our dearest one.
Basepaws really redeemed itself for me by breaking down everything and showing the process of how chromosomes were analyzed and how they got the results they displayed in the first version, so really great work there!
I’m still not fully sold on Basepaws, especially when it got to the last bit of the report, but at this point, I would say… hey… this may be worth it!
I’m officially very excited for more information to come out on the website, especially if it’s going to be in the format that has been shown. So, keep doing what you’re doing basepaws.
I’m curious to hear about your experiences so far with basepaws? What are your results looking like! Let me know in the comments below.
I read in another review that you can fill out a form and list everything you know about your cat. To me this is just a way for the company to cheat (they can just combine the findings from the DNA with what you told them to guarantee your satisfaction). Did you give them any information about your cats that may have influenced the test or was the information you received based soley on the test results? Thanks in advance.
Hey Michael, that’s really discouraging to hear. That was 100% not my experience.
After posting my first comment I noticed that some of the recent comments were say either they just got strips or just swabs. I actually got both. I done the hair sample myself and my cat was ok with it. I had to be sneaky about it. I had the vet help me with the swab though. My cat will literally clinch his mouth shut if you try and give him a pill. I knew I only had one chance to get the swab sample done right without contamination so I felt better about going to the vet for help. He was due his check up anyway.
I’m not exactly sure when I sent my Basepaws kit in but, I did get in early on like maybe March of 2018. I done my research before my purchase so I had a good idea what I was getting into. I didn’t really have high expectations and did it more out of curiosity. I wound up paying $75 for it after a discount code I obtained off a cat site. If you look you can usually find a discount some where. I didn’t think the price was that bad. Most people spend that much on coffee, cigs, beer, etc. in less than a month.
I admit it took awhile to get the initial report and follow up updates. The first reports were a little hard to understand but, I understood them. The last report was easy to understand so they made adjustments.
My cat was a rescue but I always thought he looked like a Siberian as well as people that saw his picks on a cat site I’m on and friends and family members. All his results came back with big breed results as a top match. Once it was MC and Ragdoll. I think the first one. Siberian was in there but like #6 closest match. I think the second one MC slipped down a few places but Ragdoll was still #1 Siberian was still around #6. The last one came back Siberian as #1 and all the big breeds where in the western section in various spots. There where other matches as well in other regions but Siberian was the #1 match. The health reports are due to come out soon.
Overall I’m happy with the results and the purchase. Since I purchased early updates are free so I’m looking forward to what is revealed next. It my case. It seems like they’re kind of honing in on things. I’m a satisfied customer.
Hey, thanks for sharing your experience Phil! I’m glad it has been positive for you. Also, that’s pretty awesome that your vet helped you out with the swab. Was your vet curious about the results?
They thought it was interesting that I was doing the test but they didn’t follow up to find out the results or discuss what breed he possibly could be. I recently changed vets because my old vet retired and sold the practice. Not really happy with the new one. I may be trying a new vet on his next check up.
I just bought one of these kits a few weeks ago. There was a promo code that reduced the price to $80.
I hadn’t seen the shark tank episode, just got advertised to on Facebook or some such.
We have a very small “domestic shorthair” who was born in the neighbors’ garage. She had 2 liters of kittens and was in the second trimester of her third litter at one year old, when we rescued her from the garage situation, had her spayed, shots and microchipped. Now she lives like a queen as an indoor/outdoor cat with a microchip pet door.
She is a muted tortie and her second litter was very mixed: 1 Siamese, 1 orange tabby, 1 tuxedo, 1 pure black, and 1 tortie that looked just like her. I didn’t even know it was possible to have that many different kittens in 1 litter and wonder if all the fathers are the same?
She is very tiny at 8lbs, and we think her baby daddy is also her daddy. He is a large, black, feral cat, with the jaw tufts of a Maine coon, and her own tail is raccoon striped as were her tabby and tortie kittens, so I’m pretty positive there’s some Maine Coon in there despite her small size. She’s also very muscular, but that could also be because she’s a huge hunter and climber.
Anyway, They only send the swab out now, which is fine. I’m curious to see the results, even though they might not mean much.
It seems to me the best way to tell what is going on would be to send in two identical swabs from the same cat under different names, and see if they both come back the same. That will tell you if it’s a scam and give some idea of any accuracy.
Interesting that they are only sending the swab out now. I wonder if they ran into too many issues with the strips.
Let me know what her results look like! She sounds like she’s going to be difficult to pinpoint! I feel like her litter must have come from multiple dads.
I agree with you (regarding sending in two test samples). I wonder how many people have tried that.
Thanks to Tequilatamm for rescuing that kitty! I trapped a feral family a year ago and I could tell by the behavior of dad and the two “teen” girls that pretty soon dad was also gonna be grandad, so you’re probably right about yours.
I know the swabs are more accurate than the tape because the information they gave me said the tape relies on the chance that it will actually pull out the hair bulbs…but most cats have so much loose hair of course that’s gonna stick to the tape first. Also, I think swabs are easier. Almost everybody can manage to give their cat a pill, and the swab requires similar skills. The tape scared the living hell out of my cat and a chase and really ugly scene ensued.
I agree it would be great to be able to send in two on the same cat and see what happens! I don’t have that kind of money, but if I did, I’m sure I would try that!
FWIW, I was sent a free Basepaws kit way back in August 2017, when they were giving away kits to test cats who had been diagnosed with asthma. It took well over a year to get the first version of the report, and it has since been updated, and I understand another update with health info is coming very soon, so that’s good.
I had the fur sample version, but as far as cheek swab vs. fur sample, my cat is downright psycho but I’d still 100% rather do the cheek swab. I know I can open her mouth and get meds in there safely and efficiently. The sticky tape absolutely freaked her the f*** out and it was really an awful scene. On top of that, the DNA test relies on there being hair bulbs attached and TBH I’m shocked that there were any (I received results so I assume there were). I brushed her before I did it but still ended up with almost entirely dead hair. She is on steroids for her asthma which make her coat very poor quality and always shedding. I really wish I could repeat the test on her with the cheek swab…and one of these days I might if the right discount offer comes along.
Here is my experience. I learned about Basepaws from watching Shark Tank last Sunday. I was excited about finding out more information about Brooke, a rescue we adopted 4 years ago. What was shown on Shark Tank was a video to place a strip on the cat’s back to collect hair/fur to be submitted for the DNA testing. There was a second test available for hairless cats which involved a cheek swab. I purchased the kit, but ONLY received the cheek swab portion. When I called and left a message that I needed the other kit (since Brooke would not allow us anywhere near her mouth without getting bitten or scratched), the return call stated that now they only offer the cheek swap test to receive quicker results. I feel that I have been mislead and will be filling a complaint with Mastercard to receive a refund.
That really sucks. I know my sister got a swab (I’m not sure if she also received strips) but she got her kit long before I got mine. Let me know how things go with the complaint.
I purchased Basepaws early this year and was sent the strip to collect the fur. I was a very new cat mom and was really nervous about fur strip, but my cat didn’t mind it much. However, I did recently learned that they have changed the DNA collecting method to just be cotton swab and heard that it was so difficult to collect the DNA through that way. Although, I know that a quicker result was something that the folks wanted, I think it might benefit the company to offer the fur strip option and indicate that that might be a easier way to collect DNA compare to the cotton swab but that it might take a little longer to get the result.
What I’m about to say is just a guess. I haven’t been able to see the shark tank episode yet because of location blocks, but I’m wondering if they are doing the cotton swabs because people are unhappy about their results (since there isn’t enough data yet.) I know this March was the first time the results made sense to a lot of users, and even then there were still some discrepancies since there wasn’t enough DNA from pure breeds. This might be their way of ensuring that previous purchasers don’t have to wait even longer.
It does really suck that the cotton swab is the only method though. I don’t know how either of my cats would do with it. We’ve gotten them both to take medications in the past, but never have we had to put anything long in their mouths.
They send tape you put on the cat and pull the hair out and that is what is used as the DNA sample… cat hair.
I heard about genetic DNA testing on Pit Bulls and Paroles TV show but I did not catch the name and supposedly this Basepaws is the top site for DNA on cats. I went to the site and added my email to get updates from the company. I was not sure if I wanted to spend the $95 price tag. Then a few weeks later they sent me an email with a nice discount to order a kit and also the information that they would be on Shark Tank 28 April 2019. I was excited because I felt the Sharks would ask the questions that I want answered. They also sent me an email yesterday letting me know I win Cash, a nice discount off DNA, or other free stuff if I come to their site buy a kit and spin the wheel at checkout. I did put the DNA kit in the shopping cart went to check out and saw the wheel and when I tried to spin it a sign popped up and said I was not allowed to spin the wheel since I was an existing customer. I closed out the tab and just left 🙁
That really sucks to hear. I haven’t seen the episode on Shark Tank yet. I have to see if it’s available here!
I also got my results back today, i felt i didn’t get enough for what i paid, i waited 4-5 months, for basepaws to tell me my scottish fold is a persian lol! I have a pure breed scottish fold (with the folded ear genes). I wanted to do a test because she had a few rosette patterns on her legs, thought she might be mixed with something else. My Results was 1) 97.45% persian, 2) 97.10% british shorthair and 3) 77.26% Siberian. – result #2 makes most sense, as a scottish fold is half british shorthair.
as well, while i am on basepaw site, trying to type up a message for them, i keep getting pop-ups that someone from somewhere has purchased a kit, at least 4-5 times. If there was so many people getting these kits, why is there database still so weak? If they do not have a scottish fold in their database, my cat will never be a scottish fold?
Hi. I just got the results back yesterday. Our 11 month old kitten Madison, (born in Florida, adopted outside of Boston MA) looks SO much like a Maine Coon cat. But in the Basepaws results, that didn’t even show up. She supposedly is mostly Rag Doll, then Abyssinian and then Siberian. Her markings are very Coon cat ish. Having said that, the FB page they invite you to be on, once you complete the survey is interesting. Someone just posted that they have a short haired ginger tabby cat, who came back 95% Norwegian Forest cat, which has a totally different look. It’s a fun experiment and I hope someone researches their accuracy at some point. Maybe the results are actually true, but we’ll probably never know.
Thank you for sharing your results. Yeah, I find some of the results to be odd and confusing, but I’m hoping as they get more DNA they can work at getting more specific results. I’m wondering if that’s the main issue right now (ie. not enough cats in the database to get specific enough results.)
There are 197 Facebook members on their site, which, you’re right is not many. Every cat lover/owner I know wants to have this done but I don’t want to recommend it to them yet, until I know it’s real. I notice too that my posts on BasePaws FB page take hours to show up. I think they’re very careful about what people say. Probably a smart move. You’re in Toronto, right? It’s my home town, I used to work at City TV. Miss it but New England is nice too 🙂 Thanks for this blog.
I completely understand that. Yeah, I was actually very hopeful about the product (and again, still hope for the best) when I was first contacted by Basepaws. Thing is, it’s my responsibility to be as honest as possible and while I’m happier with the more recent results, I still think there is so much work that needs to be done and still strongly believe they should have made it clearer what stage they were at upon “launch.”
Ooh! I used to frequent around City TV, but I’m glad to hear you like New England. Photos of New England look so pretty, especially by the water.
No problem for the blog!
my initial results looked EXACTLY the same as your results. I just got updated results back now it says dante is 99.4 percent Abyssinian followed by 95.7 Ragdoll followed by 87 british shorthair (I’d believe british longhair) he’s a very solidly built hugggeeee, smoke and white longhaired cat.
the Abyssinian result is still puzzling just like it was in the original report. all of his original results were dainty shorthaired cats. my husband thought maybe they were just keeping the abby results in his new report to save face. (I emailed them more than once asking if they’d made a mistake. they told me it was safe to say he was a orange short haired cat, right haha) at first when they redid all this I thought they’d figured out they’d given us the wrong results and were redoing it.. but it was more far reaching than that I guess. still seems really weird to me. one of the things a dna test should be able to do is tell basic features like hair color. Especially red or not.
We just got our newest results too and they’re kinda odd. I’ll be updating this post shortly with the results when I get a chance to dive in deeper.
I can say that the newer reviews are somewhat closer to what I think Beau is… though the main result is way off.
I just got an updated report as well. Originally got an Abby result too – now it’s primarily Russian Blue & Maine Coon (he looks like an MC). When the original report was taking way too long they offered a refund, which I accepted – yet this is the 2nd report I’ve received.
I don’t think they cancel your file if you get a refund. I’m pretty sure it’s more of a courtesy for the long waits. I’m going to have this post updated by the end of the week with our new results.
I actually bought four reports but only used one for dante. we are going to send in our two purebreds and re send in dantes instead of our lynxpoint siamese.. . we are really curious if there is some kind of mix up there. lol. and we are also really curious if they will actually get our two purebreds right. (maine coon and siberian) if follow up reports look reliable we will buy another for the lynxpoint. especially if they actually make health info useful while it’s still useful in his lifetime. (we think he’s an old bear)
Hey Alisa, please feel free to give me updates about this! I’d be curious to know your results, especially on the pure breeds.
The “health report” is unfortunately not specific to your cat — it’s just general health info for cats that we all already know.
Hey, just FYI, after they do the DNA sequencing, that information is all stored digitally. It doesn’t matter if the DNA “goes bad.” They’ll always have the information to cross-reference as new discoveries on new genes come out!
Good information to have! Thanks for the comment!
Interesting. I’ve been curious but reluctant about this sort of thing. We have 3 somewhat newly adopted kittens; 2 are brothers. All are interesting looking cats and I’ve been curious about their breed makeup. However, possibly the biggest reason I would actually do this would be because of my vet experience with our beloved cat who passed from an incurable cancer. When the vet broke the news and broke down treatment options (which really turned out to be no kind of good option at all – and this was before the ct scan that showed the full horrible extent of it all), a lot of what was being said to me was “well, no real research is done on cats.” Most of the treatment was sort of filtered down from dog studies/drug trials and adapted to cats with a kind of “well, let’s just hope this works for cats” attitude. It was a little shocking, really, as they have similar life spans and must certainly be the two most popular pets in the world. I guess I would be open to doing a test like this in order to expand the database of information for cats on some meaningful level, but if it is just fluff info then perhaps it’s not worth it? It was disappointing to me to, and certainly downright heartbreaking at the time, to see the way cats were treated as sort of second class pet citizens in terms of research and information. I understand that dogs are seemingly more cooperative and obvious than cats when it comes to many things, but it also seems to imply researchers think people care more for their dogs than their cats.
In regards to the Abyssinian thing, the first cat to ever have their genes sequenced was an Abyssinian, so I wonder if that is not the “benchmark” for these results and the reason it appears so frequently in everyone’s results?
This was a useful review, particularly in regards to the currently released features, so thanks for writing it!
No problem cat! I know that they’re releasing new information soon, will definitely do a write up on that when they do.
My cat also had 27 possible matches and was very strong in Abyssinian (or very weak?). I read another review that had a strong Abyssinian result. Make me think there is something not right. Unless all stray cats are a make up of 27 breeds, predominantly Abyssinian.
I got an e-mail this week saying they were updating everything, so I’m hoping for the best <3
Here’s my take on Basepaws vs other genetic testing kits. Note: I haven’t used Basepaws (yet), this is just an opinion from reading through websites.
Basepaws actually looks at your cat’s DNA and sequences it. They are, supposedly, trying to find actual genetic markers for various diseases. Since cats are such a hodgepodge of genetics, I imagine this would take time especially if no/little prior research exists. Other wide reaching genetic tests I’ve looked at that claim to tell you things about health are based on *statistics* based on breed. No where do they mention that your pet actually has gene X or mutation Y. I know some genetic testing is available for cats – like the Ragdoll HCM mutation, so hopefully Basepaws has some initial info to work with.
However, like others have stated, it’s difficult for us to know exactly what they’re doing with our money and they’re making tall promises with no guaranteed return of investment. I mean, anyone familiar with cats knows that odds are their cat is just a plain old domestic short/medium/longhair. Breed testing for cats just isn’t the same as dogs. Basepaws would be better served, I think, with increased transparency at this stage. It’s kind of still got the Kickstarter feel to it. Give us numbers – numbers of cats in their database, known genetic markers that they’re working with, anything.
Also, the Alpha Report reads like a gimmick. They should add breeds that are known to be present in domestic populations (i.e. Servals) but leave alone tigers and lions. Nobody’s cat is part tiger and any resemblance in the genetics to tigers is purely coincidental and does not mean your cat is any more related to tigers than a mouse. Other than them both being feline, that is.
So, I dunno. I’ll probably send in a kit for one of my cats. But, I’ll probably write off the $95.
I agree with the transparency, I think that’s what’s caused the biggest problem. I also agree with the breeds present in domestic populations and ignoring the “wild cat” part of it. While I found it interesting to see what they said, it didn’t really benefit me in any way.
that is not the graph that was in the pic on base paws The pic i saw of the graph was like 34% Abyssinian and so on i never would have got this if i new the graph was going to look that heard to read
Yeah, to be honest, I was fairly surprised that this was the way they chose to format the graphs. Sorry about the late response, somehow this got stuck in our spam filter.
we waited for 6 months…i think it’s a scam, just email them saying so. it is a joke, the info they sent me i already knew by going through google. it didn’t say what my cat was…. and i know exactly what he is, was just checking what they were going to send me but also i needed to know percentages of wild… they sent me back that in the future they will improve blah blah blah… total waste of money
Definitely sorry that you spent money on the product. I’m still waiting to see what the health section is going to bring up. I’m hoping something useful comes of it since the breed section was such a huge dissapointment.
I’m still waiting for results.
It’s been 7 months.
When I contact them there
is always a reason for the delay.
His sample is listed as sequencing.
How long has it been sequencing for now?
That really sucks you waited so long. I sent my kitties’ DNA in 6 weeks ago and have just received the emails that they are in for processing. Thanks so much for this post! I’ve been looking everywhere for reviews.
No problem at all Elisa, let me know how it goes for you! Hopefully you get some great results!
I still have not gotten a kit, (that I won in your giveaway), from them…let alone results.
At least I know what breed Pipo is, MOL! (Knowing the breed is also a good way to perhaps predict what issues he may be prone to, esp as he gets older. (He will be 14 at ear’s end.)
Wait you still haven’t gotten the kit at all?
Nope…I haven’t even heard anything from them.
That’s so odd. I was actually the one who mailed out your kit I should still have the receipt. I know Ellen’s was delivered and I’m pretty sure I remember Vicky confirming too (just waiting on results), but I had no clue it never made it to you yet. I sent it out in March so there’s no reason it shouldn’t have made it to you yet. I’m so, so, so sorry if it got lost in the mail 🙁
That’s OK, Johnny, wen I read about your experience with the ambiguity and non-specific results you got, I guess I wouldn’t learn anything new either.
Actually I am way more interested in Dalton’s DNA, and I asked my sons to gift me with a kit to test him, for my birthday, later this year. There are lots of good doggy DNA sites…and I don’t have nor can I truly justify spending about 300$ to see what breeds are in my little rescue pup. Hence the gift request, LOL!
Way back in 2006, when I was sick with stage three cancer, I had some genetic testing done, to the tune of about $3,ooo. OMC!!
Thankfully it was negative so I didn’t have to worry my family members and even more thankfully, I have not had a recurrence:)
Oh my, that’s an expensive doggy test, but it can definitely be worth it! I don’t know if I would be able to justify $300 either though.
I’m so sorry to about the cancer, but I’m so glad you haven’t had a reoccurrence. That gave me huge chills up my body. I’m so, so, so grateful you’re alright.
It kind of blows me away how expensive tests can be, and I get the fact that machinery and the staff to operate them take a lot of funds, but I’m always curious to see how much work actually goes into the analysis and how much money companies profit from the high test prices. (That was the longest run-on sentence I’ve ever written, I hope it makes sense.)
I got almost the same results as you. including that same abyssinian result with the huge marker. all of my cats top results were short hairs and very very different than him. he’s a medium hair with a developing coat towards being an even longer haired cat. we got him about 6 months ago and he was very undernourished. since then his coat keeps evolving as he gets healthier. he’s a tuxedo cat. I contacted them to see if I got the right results for him. they told me they predicted he was a short haired orange cat. LOL. yeah.
I think in time (if they don’t go under) they will be a great resource.. but they need many many many thousands more in their data base to have any relevance at all imo and they seem to be having a hard time processing what they have already. :/
That’s insane lol and insanely off! I agree, they have major potential it’s just… This first beta is very, very disappointing. Let me know what the newer results look like for you!
I’m not sure where my comments are going … but I’m sorry that you waited so long only to be disappointed!
Hey! It’s probably because I haven’t had internet these past few days and haven’t been able to go through and approve comments 🙁 Sorry about that! My internet will be back mid next week!
That is kind of disappointing after waiting for so long!
We’re sorry you’ve been disappointed ! DNA stuff may be complicated, and Basepaws should maybe re-think the way in which the results are given to the customers. Purrs
For sure. 🙂 I think they have great potential. Just wish there was more info sooner 😉
Sorry the results were so disappointing.
Thanks Island Cats, hoping the second round is better!
I would have been really upset if I had paid $95.00 and received that! They won’t make it much further with that info and that pricing IMO.
Honestly, again I hope them the very best, but yes I’m very shocked that these were the first results.
Thanks for saving me $95 or more, Johnny! I owe you!
No problem Greg 🙂
Golly, this doesn’t seem like you’ve gotten any good information at all!
Sadly, no not yet. I’m hoping for better in later releases.
We won a kit from you and I am still patiently waiting for Millie’s results. How disappointing that Beau’s didn’t give you more information.
Let me know when you do, we can compare some of our results! I hope they’re more specific with yours!
Your experience does remind me of the Theranos scandal.
I’ll have to check to see what that’s about!
sorry this didn’t pan out as expected and yes, thankfully you didn’t shell out $95…that is steep
had to laugh at the “vet joke” about all cats being labeled as “domestic” ….
Absolutely agree. I’m really glad I didn’t have to pay for the product. I’m still hoping they come out with more specific results.
I’ve read all your posts on Basepaws and while it sounds just great in the end didn’t produce results and for that high of price the whole thing is either a complete scam which is most likely. Another suggestion to Basepaws since they’re in their infancy lower the price to a reasonable price. Shared on G+.
Agreed, I think the price should be lowered!