Compare the best pet DNA tests all in one place. Here you'll find comprehensive reviews of DNA testing services for dogs, cats, horses, birds and more from our DNA Testing Choice experts, as well as lots of real customer reviews and ratings.
Pet testing allows you to analyse your pet’s DNA. There are several reasons why you might want to do this:
- For breed testing, to determine if your dog is a pure-breed or mongrel – understanding this can help you train them more effectively and identify potential health issues.
- For sex testing, to determine their sex which can be difficult for pets like birds – a DNA test will provide an accurate result.
- For pet ‘relationship’ testing, to identify your pet’s siblings or parents.
On purchasing, the provider will send you a testing kit with everything you need to take a sample from your pet. A swab that’s been rubbed against the inside of their mouth is commonly requested, but for bird – aka ‘avian’ – sex testing, a selection of feathers is preferred. There are even providers that can use your pet’s hair, teeth, or other tissues for the sample, but it will cost you more to analyse these.
You can take the sample at home and after you send the kit back, the provider will be in touch with the results a few weeks later.
Unexpected benefits of breed testing
Discovering your dog’s breed can help you look after him or her better. Different breeds have different character traits, so your dog’s DNA results can help you train him or her more effectively. The results can also help you identify breed-specific health problems more easily.
Are the tests accurate?
For dog breed testing, yes. They cover hundreds of breeds and can provide your dog’s ‘breed’ family tree as far back as their great grandparents!
For pet ‘relationship’ testing it’s a slightly different story. If you’re checking the father of a puppy (the sire) then to prove that the dog is the father, you also have to test the puppy’s mother. If you don’t, the results can only say that a certain dog is not your dog’s father.
Watch out for VAT and hefty postage being added at the checkout. Some providers with offices in the UK will use labs overseas, so if having your pet tested by a lab in the UK is important to you (and the provider’s website isn’t clear) check out our listings for these details.
