DNA Testing allows you to identify the breed of your furry friend. Your furry little friend could care less. But it is nice, and sometimes needed, to know what makes them up. Testing is helpful for training, breed restrictions for housing rental agreements, local pet ordinances and approvals for insurance policies.
Benifits of DNA Testing
DNA Testing tells you their Genetic Disposition to diseases. Identifing specific genetic mutations to guide lifestyle, medical care and diagnostic testing. Knowing genetic mutations will help you and your veterinarian come up with a preventative care plan, so you better your pet’s chances of a longer and happier life.
Disadvantages of DNA Testing
Advancing in science and technology have increased the accuracy of DNA Testing. But, there is nothing that is 100% prefect and accurate. Even if you can’t say that they are 100% accurate, there is still a lot of information that can be obtained and should not be passed up.
With cats there are some limitation with the breed information that can be gained through DNA testing, but there is a wealth of information that can be gained regarding specific genetically-linked diseases.
How Does Dog Testing Differ from Cat Testing
The main difference between Dog and Cat DNA Testing is the results concerning Breed. the selective breeding fo Dogs has been going on for over 30,000 years, while cats have been breed for only 200 to 300 years. Therefore, Cats DNA is more diverse than Dog DNA.
How Accurate is Testing
Like everything else, you get what you pay for. The more expensive the DNA Test, to more accurate the test due to hunting for specific genetic markers. When purchasing a DNA Test you need to be concerned about the number of genetic markers they test for. The results for a less expensive test is like a borchure of information, compared to a more expensive test which is like a book of information.
Which DNA Test should I use
You have to determine the reason for wanting to know their genetic makeup. If you just want to know the breed, then a moderate cost DNA Test will let you know the Breed. If you want to know for medical reasons, then a more expensive DNA Test should be what you go for.
EMBARK and WISDOM are two DNA Test that I would recommend. Both test for approximatelt 150 Genetic Marker which will give accruate results concerning Breed and Medical concerns.
For more information, see the page on Cat DNA Testing and Dog DNA Testing.