Will littermates and siblings have the same DNA results?Updated 2 months ago

Will littermates and siblings have the same DNA results?

Nope! Even though kittens and puppies of the same litter may demonstrate similar (or extremely different!) traits with each other, siblings will always have a unique DNA sequence, and therefore, different reports. 

When genes are passed on to kittens, each parent donates a random assortment of genes. This can result in extremely similar or extremely different genes passed on to each sibling. In addition, cats from the same litter can have more than one father! This is more common in outdoor cats and can produce an even wider array of physical and genetic traits. Basepaws can help you learn what exactly is found underneath all that fur, in each kitten!

A great example of this is our CEO’s kitties, Stormy and Sunny. Although they are siblings from the same litter, Stormy is a dilute calico (female), while Sunny is an orange tabby (male). Each has a completely different personality and health history.

We also want to stress the importance of the Genetic Health Marker report for each kitten. The multitude of gene variations from each parent can also result in potentially different Health Marker reports for every kitten in a litter.

Do you test for sibling relationships or cat relationships?

We do not test for cat relationships at this time, whether cats are siblings or if related cats are a part of a broader family tree. We are still growing our database to make this feature possible, and we know many cat parents are eager to find out if their little ones are truly related.

If you have already tested your cats with us, and you know that they are in the same family tree, please let us know at [email protected],com. With your help, we can reach this goal!

I'm not sure if I registered my cats' samples correctly, can you retest them?

If your cats are a male and a female, please contact our team at [email protected] to request information on the cats' genders if the data is available. We do not currently include gender in our results, but we can pick up on this data for some samples through DNA sequencing. The gender results from each sample will confirm if the tests were registered correctly.

Unfortunately, no, as it is the cat parent's responsibility to ensure that each cat is swabbed using the appropriate testing kit and to register each barcode correctly online to the right cat profile. Lab processing fees cost A LOT, so we cannot offer free retests for mistaken samples.

If you are confident that you swabbed your cats appropriately and registered them online correctly, it's most likely that the DNA results came by quite surprisingly due to the sheer complexity of feline genetics! Here is an article from our team regarding seemingly confounding traits that should help. Please feel free to reach out to our team with more questions or concerns.