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The familiar answer is about 90%, but that does not mean 90% of every human and cat DNA base is identical. The figure comes from a 1997 study: it reported that 90% of the homologous genes mapped in humans and cats were confirmed in both species. That is a gene-mapping result, not a whole-genome DNA identity percentage.
What does the 90% figure mean?
In 1997, researchers used reciprocal chromosome painting, a technique that lets probes from one species bind to corresponding chromosome regions in another. They reported widespread conservation of genome organization between humans and cats and confirmed 90% of the homologous genes mapped to both species. The study also identified approximately 30 syntenic segments—blocks of genes that occur together on corresponding chromosomes. The paper’s abstract describes the result.
So the careful shorthand is: the study found that about 90% of the homologous genes it mapped were confirmed in both species. It did not find that 90% of all human and cat DNA letters match.
Why isn’t there one simple human–cat DNA percentage?
“Sharing DNA” can mean several different things: having genes that evolved from a common ancestral gene, sharing orthologous genes, matching DNA letters across aligned regions, or retaining similar chromosome organization. Each measure counts something different and uses a different denominator. Results also depend on which genome regions are compared and on the method and reference assemblies used. The National Human Genome Research Institute explains that comparative genomics examines similarities and differences across species to learn about genes and genomes (Comparative Genomics Fact Sheet).
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The studies cited here do not establish a universal percentage for how many base pairs across the complete human and cat genomes are identical. A number that does not specify what was counted can make a gene comparison sound like a measurement of every DNA base.
What other genome studies tell us
A 2014 domestic-cat genome study reported 19,493 predicted protein-coding genes in its cat annotation. It also compared 10,317 unambiguous mammalian gene orthologs across cat, tiger, dog, cow, and human. Those are counts of predicted genes and shared orthologs—not percentages of the complete human and cat genomes that match. The study describes the cat genome resource as useful for disease mapping and phylogenomic research (Montague and colleagues’ study).
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The 1997 paper estimated a new translocation on the order of one per 10 million years along the evolutionary lineages leading to humans and cats. This describes an estimated rate of chromosome rearrangement across those lineages; it is not a measure of DNA identity.
What genome comparisons can—and can’t—tell us
Related genes and genomic patterns help scientists investigate how mammalian biology evolved and study diseases. But a gene shared by humans and cats does not mean the species have the same trait, and a result in cats does not automatically translate into a human treatment. Similarities are useful clues for research, not proof that the two species are biologically interchangeable.
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- Identify physical features with 25+ trait tests. Wondering why your cat looks the way they do? Learn how their one of a kind appearance came to be—and how to keep them looking (and feeling) their best.
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Why human DNA similarity figures are different
Even comparisons between people can produce different percentages depending on what kinds of variation are counted. The National Human Genome Research Institute says the commonly cited 99.9% human identity figure counts single-nucleotide differences, while its broader average estimate is approximately 99.6% when additional variant types are included. These figures describe variation among human genomes; they are not estimates of human–cat similarity. They illustrate why any percentage needs a clear definition (NHGRI’s Human Genomic Variation fact sheet).
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