Ragdoll Cats Can Inherit Mucopolysaccharidosis MPS1 (Lysosomal Storage Disease)

Ragdoll Cats can inherit Mucopolysaccharidosis MPS1 (Lysosomal Storage Disease) and the other variety of this disease: Mucopolysaccharidosis MPSM (Lysosomal Storage Disease). It may also affect Maine Coon Cats to a lesser degree. I simply passing on what I see on the internet. Each individual person, breeder or owner, will obviously check themselves and do what they think is right to investigate further.

OK, what happened and what is the disease? At the moment there is nothing that I can find out about how this happened or which breeding lines are involved. There seems to be an Australian connection (a breeder or breeders there may have cats that are passing this defective gene on). The gene is autosomal recessive as far as I am aware.

It would seem (but to be confirmed) that the older Ragdoll lines from the UK and Australia are OK. USA imported Ragdolls into Australia may be at risk as are Ragdoll cats that have been bred from outcrosses other than domestics. I presume this to mean outcrosses to other approved purebred cats.

Testing can be done under the auspices of the CFA associated DNA testing service, VeriSNP™ Universal Genetic Evaluation. As I understand it people send in a sample such as a hair or a cheek swab and the test is carried out on it.

It would seem that the people who run the testing program are DNA Diagnostics, Inc and Texas A&M University Animal Genetics Laboratory(TAES) - but please confirm. It would also seem that they have a website: CatGenes which spells things out some more. See this page for example: http://www.catgenes.org/mps.html. However, they describe the two diseases (MPSM and MPS1)in exactly the same way. That seems strange to me.

Ok that's about all I know on the subject of Ragdoll Cats can Inherit Mucopolysaccharidosis MPS1 (Lysosomal Storage Disease) for the time being...more to come or perhaps someone can add a useful comment and if so thanks in advance.

Click: Genetic Diseases in Purebred Cats for more on the subject of genetic diseases generally.