The Results Are IN!

 A few months ago (and several times in the interim) I mentioned that we'd gotten DNA tests for the cats. We got four tests total -- three for our cats and one to give to Dad to test his cat.

Yes, I realize we have four cats (we started the year with five, of course) but we know Sadie is 50% purebred Russian Blue as her mother is a purebred Russian Blue, and honestly I didn't see the real value in testing her further for anything -- as the tests are $100 each.

In mid-January or so, Daisy and I -- but mostly Daisy -- painstakingly got the cheek/mouth swabs of our other three cats: Pete, Hank, and Empress, performed and sent away.

And we waited. And waited. And waited some more.

To be perfectly transparent, the company performing the DNA tests (Basepaws), was very communicative about the entire process. Every couple of weeks they'd send an email saying something like "we've received your tests" or "the tests are being processed now" or "your results are almost ready, you'll have them soon" -- etc.

Well, last week they arrived. We finally would know what our children were.

Let's start with Hank -- because with how fast he grew, I was very intrigued with what his DNA would say. Hank got so big, so quickly, plus with his giant feet and short little legs I knew he had to have some sort of strange lineage to him. Well...

This tells us that he's basically....a normal cat. The Ragdoll and Maine Coon in him, as well as the Siberian -- relatively small percentages separately but together 22.84% of his overall genetic makeup -- explain his size, his giant feet, his sociable nature and the love of attention, and being held and his general "floppiness." I call him the flopper because he likes to flop on the floor and roll around mewing at us when he's happy and wants love -- which is frequently.

The surprising part for me was the 2.08% Persian. That's a super-small percentage but I'm really left with more questions than answers there. This cat was found on the streets of Omaha in a bad neighhborhood next to I-80. Persian was not what I was expecting, honestly. 

Everything else? I can't say I'm surprised, but I was expecting a much higher percentage of Maine Coon given his size and features. I'm not disappointed, because I love Mr. Shortlegs, but I was expecting a giant amount of DNA I could point at and be like "there it is, that's why he is like he is."

Anyway, moving on. Let's check out Empress:

There's not a lot here about Empress that surprised me much either, at first glance -- we knew from her features that she'd have a large percentage of Maine Coon in her, but the others mixed in are interesting. Peterbald? Turkish Angora? Abyssinian? The Abyssinian and Turkish Angora at least explains her head shape and her giant ears (and the Angora helps with the long hair)...but the Peterbald is basically a hairless cat similar to the Sphynx, and the "exotic shorthair" and "broadly exotic" / "broadly Persian" Leaves me with more questions than answers too. She has outward features of all of these breeds -- especially the Maine Coon of course -- with the exception of the hairless cat. 

What surprised me the most is that she has zero Norwegian Forest Cat in her, which I thought would be the other dominant bloodline aside from Maine Coon, and a very low percentage of Ragdoll. She also has the lowest percentage of "Domestic Polycat" (or as I call it, "cat mutt") in her compared to the other two -- it's very clear she's only a couple of generations removed from a fairly linear genetic line, as evidenced by that Maine Coon percentage.

Empress was part of a semi-feral litter brought in off the street here in Omaha, where they were running out into traffic and in danger of getting attacked or killed by roaming dogs. We have no idea of any further origins for her than that. 

Anyway, moving on -- let's look at the old man.

I did not expect Pete to have the wildest results of them all, but he did. Daisy expected it, but I didn't:

Look at this weirdo.

Pete is our oldest cat -- he turns 17 next month. For those past 17 years, he's been my rock through everything. For the past twelve of those years, he's been Daisy's son, her baby, and I'm pretty sure she loves that cat more than she loves me. She has said before that she'd choose him over me to save from a house fire, and I really don't think she's making that up -- she adores that old man. 

It does not surprise me that Pete's highest results was domestic shorthair/cat mutt. He very much aligns with the normal shorthair cat qualities. ALL of the other things were surprises. 15% Maine Coon? Okay, that's not much of a surprise given his size and loveyness, but over 10% Persian? That is. All of the exotic and eastern breeds in him, including Savannah Cat and Bengal? Yes, definitely surprises.

Where the hell did this cat come from? I have zero idea where Pete was born or what his upbringing was before I found him. He was abandoned in the apartment below mine when I lived in St. Joseph, MO in 2007, when the lady who had him moved out unexpectedly and left a lot of shit behind, including the little black kitten who could not have been more than 2-3 months old (and likely closer to two). His tiny little body would fit in the palm of my hand; he was very young. Where did that lady get him? Who knows. But wherever he came from, he has a very genetically diverse background.

Moving on.

The cat genetic reports are 69 pages each, for each cat. They go through blood types, predispositions to certain diseases or medical conditions, all of which all three cats or more or less clear of. Twenty pages or so of each report is a breakdown of each breed they have genetics from, and the remainder devotes itself to genetic markers for coloring and the like, as well as tooth health/mouth bacteria and risks of bad breath, periodontal disease, etc.

Pete's coloring report said he was likely to have a black coat and be a carrier of the chocolate coat color gene, as well as possess multiple colors within the black coat. This is correct -- Pete is black with a lot (and I mean a lot) of chocolate undertones. It also said Hank carries the chocolate coat gene (if chocolate means "orange" I guess), and said he was likely to be a long haired cat -- neither of which he is. He has a thick coat, but it's not really long hair. Daisy maintains that he's likely partially medium-haired, but I'm not even sure of that. He just has a really dense, thick coat. Maybe when he's fully grown he'll get longer hair, but I somehow doubt it.

Empress, of course, was highly likely to have a long haired and multicolored coat. Because duh.

Per the reports, all of them appear to be healthy -- which of course we know because we take them to the vets for their normal checkup work. 

I am, of course, leaving one cat off this list -- Sadie, because we didn't test her. Sadie has gone back to the vet for her follow-up appointment (she did not like this):

Where we found that yes, she needed to remain on the thyroid meds she's on now, but -- as we expected -- she does have diabetes. They upped the dosage of the thyroid medicine and put her on a new liquid medication that we have to give her 0.2ml of every day and costs $300 a bottle for a 90-day supply. 

She hates all of this, by the way.

I don't want to stress my old lady out any more than I have to, but she does not have any kidney problems per her bloodwork, just the diabetes and the thyroid issues -- so I want to do everything I can to keep her happy, healthy, and alive for as long as we can. Maggie took a turn for the worse very fast because of her kidneys, though she'd been deteriorating for months -- I don't want the same thing to happen with Sadie. I am not ready to let her go yet. 

To those ends, Sadie has been more active and loving as of late -- she frequently sleeps with me and wants to be with me in my office upstairs, or under my chair when I'm working (this is normal), but also has been getting a lot of love and quality time from Daisy, sitting on her lap or crawling up onto her chest like she used to as a much younger cat. This is Sadie's second wind of life, and I love it; she shows her love and gratitude to us in so many little ways.