Cat Genetic Diversity Project
Leslie Lyons, PhD     lyonsla@missouri.edu

1. Please include a business card or notes of your contact and institution!
2. Cats should represent the region of the collection site!Please note where the cat is from, implying what part of town / city.
   1. Random bred and or feral cats that have lived in the region are ideal
   2. All ages are OK
   3. NO cats from specific breeds
   4. NO cats from recent imports (cats that have moved to the area with their owners as pets)
   5. Cats should be unrelated to your best estimate
        i. For example, do not collect a queen and her kittens                 ii. For cats of a suspected sibship – 2 siblings would be OK.
3. Please note where the cat is from, implying what part of town/city
4. Please provide a general description of the cat.  If you can provide a picture of the cat, you need to put a label on the picture or on the cat in the picture so we know which cat it is.
   1. If the cat has a name, provide the name
   2. Cats can be labeled with numbers:  1,2,3,4….or with clinic numbers.
   3. Describe the cats hair length (short, medium, long)
   4. Describe the coat color.
   5. Tell us anything you think may be unique about a given cat  
5. Before surgery, have any type of screw cap tube (or red top blood tubes) with the 70% alcohol (or surgical spirits) prepared.Be sure that the caps on the samples are secure.
   1. Place both ovaries or testicles in one tube per cat – label the tube to match the cat!
   2. Or, the gonads from multiple cats can be placed in one tube, but put only one testicle or ovary per cat so that we do not later sample the same cat twice.
6. Be sure that the caps on the samples are secure
7. Store the samples in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
8. Contact us when you have ~ 30 samples or if you have any questions.