My dog has a mast cell tumor but Embark didn’t indicate risk for it.

Embark’s current Mast Cell Tumor test uses an ancestry-based predictive risk model but, as with all genetic health testing, is not a diagnostic tool. This risk model looks at large numbers of single and mixed-breed dogs with specific ancestry and evaluates the relationship between ancestry and disease risk.

While many breeds have been reported to have a high prevalence of MCT, we do not, at this time, have risk models to address all known breeds. In this model, the most common breeds associated with MCT are American Pit Bull Terriers, Bulldogs, Boxers, and other closely related breeds. If your dog’s ancestry predominantly consists of other breeds, they likely would not have an increased risk result for this particular assessment. 

This does not mean Embark will never include your dog’s breed(s) in our MCT testing, but that we do not at this time. We hope to continue to grow this dataset and to study this disease in other breed groups in the future. You can help with Embark’s research by completing both the Annual Health Survey and our Cancer survey found on the ‘Research’ tab of your dog’s MyEmbark profile.