Just a few decades ago, DNA testing was used sparingly and only for serious matters, even in human medicine. Now, you can purchase an over-the-counter dog DNA test through many pet supply stores. They can be fascinating for pet parents who are curious about their dog’s origins, but can they also play a legitimate role in veterinary medicine and other more consequential endeavors? Read on to find out.
What Can Dog DNA Test Kits Be Used For?
Here are a few reasons a dog DNA analysis might be employed:
Curiosity: For the pet parent who wants to know more about their dog’ genetic ancestry, these tests do a pretty good job. The results can give you an idea of which breeds a mutt is made of. While no test is perfect (more on this later), in the vast majority of cases, dog breed analysis using a DNA test kit is superior to simply guessing based on a dog’s outward appearance.
Breed-specific legislation: For shelters and pet owners located in areas with breed-specific legislation, it could prove extremely useful to have verification of a mutt’s breed makeup. Any dog that looks like a banned breed may come draw the attention of law enforcement and shelters have a difficult time adopting out dogs who may appear to be a banned breed. A DNA test can head off a lot of potential trouble. Some municipalities, housing complexes, and home owners’ associations actually require DNA tests to be performed on the dogs that reside there to ensure they’re an allowed breed, or sometimes even to make sure any feces left behind can be matched to the pup so that pet parents can be held accountable if they fail to clean up after their dogs.
Assessing health risks: Pet parents, breeders and veterinarians can sometimes pick up valuable health information from dog DNA tests. Breeders can learn which dogs have the least potential for passing on genetic defects so that chances of healthier offspring increase. For veterinarians, DNA analysis may help them determine the proper course of treatment for an animal. Pet parents can learn which health conditions they should be on the lookout for based on their dog’s DNA test results, and it may also help them to care for their pet preventatively based on common health problems found in their dog’s breed. Some DNA test kits even look for specific gene mutations that are associated with common conditions. This could provide potentially important clues into the future health of any dog, whether they’re a mutt or a pure-bred pooch.
Are Dog DNA Tests 100% Accurate?
Simply put, no. For example, the breed analysis test kits on the market today don’t include every single dog breed in their databases, meaning that there’s no way that they can get the breed or breed mix right for every single dog. On the other hand, the tests that look for genes related to health problems are quite accurate—the biggest problem with these is that you end up paying for a whole bunch of tests for diseases that your dog has very little chance of ever developing.
While pet parents and veterinarians shouldn’t base medical decisions solely off the results of these tests, they could potentially help guide monitoring or treatment in some cases. When breed is uncertain and a pet parent wants to be proactive about their animal’s health or physical characteristics point to a breed notorious for certain health concerns, DNA testing may be wise. Whether you’re concerned for your pet’s health or you’d like to know more about their origins, a DNA test certainly won’t hurt anything. They’re very simple to do, and the results might just be worth the wait.