This is the whole genome sequence of my spouse and I’s first cat, Aida, a tiny (~8 lbs) grey bundle of purrs we adopted as I neared the end of college. She had been surrendered and was estimated to be about 2yrs old when we adopted her. In 2022 we had her DNA sequenced by Basepaws from a cheek swab, out of curiosity both that “hey people are offering DNA sequencing for cats now?” but also to check if she had genetic dispositions towards any particular diseases.
She’s always had a little bit of a sensitive stomach and itchy ears which need periodic cleaning, but never read as partciularly ‘sickly,’ so this was purely investigative. The results were positively unremarkable (as in, unremarkable for positive reasons) - Aida had no known sequences indicating a genetic predisposition for the diseases in her panel.
On May 14th of that year I released the results as a torrent: 30.3GB of FASTQ and VCF files, Creative Commons licensed, dressed up as a warez release with a proper RELEASE.nfo and a screens/ directory of cat photos :)
The torrent was originally published on my Mastodon. I’m copying it here now (in 2026) to put it in my torrent RSS feed and add a couple little updates.
The original thread
It started as a joke on April 30th, 2022:
Releasing a torrent of my cat’s DNA in the style of warez as the “source” for all future #caturday pictures
Then on May 14th, the release itself:
This #caturday I have a little something special. Source material.
Everyone reading: “What?”
Source material - that is to say, 30.3 GB of whole genome sequencing results for my cat, Aida.
I am not joking. Magnet below. Creative Commons licensed. Done up in the style of a warez release.
And people really downloaded 30GB of mostly-DNA and cat pictures! Because why not! With laughs and comments like:
I somehow feel compelled to download that data for some reason - Archivist
I have a patch, where do I send it? Couldn’t test it though, I don’t know this build system. - calchan
- where’s the NFO file - ariadne
Some of which I had anticipated …
What’s in the torrent?
The original CP437-encoded file ships in the torrent exactly as an NFO should, and tells you what’s in the torrent. Below is the same content transcoded to UTF-8 so your browser renders it as art (instead of soup). The art is a modified 1999 piece by snacky of Synthesis Media, then lightly re-themed:
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█ ·S·H·E· ·i·S· ·A· ·C·A·T· █
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▄▌ ┼═══───═─══─═══───══──═─══┼ ▐▄░
▀▓▓▓█▀▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ÷ · RELEASE iNFO · ÷ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀▀█▓▓▓▀
▓▓ ░ ┼═──═══─══───═══─══──══─══┼ ░ ▓▓
▓▌ │ │ ▐▓
▓▌─═══┼──═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════──┼═══─▐▓
▓▌ ┴ ┴ ▐▓
▓▌ ▒──═══── Aida - Whole Genome Sequence ──═══──▒ ▐▓
▓▌ ┬ ┬ ▐▓
▓▌─═══┼────────────────────────────┐┌─────────────────────────────┼═══─▐▓
▓▌ │ CAT.DAD..: tweedge ┼╡ NAME.: Aida │ ▐▓
▓▌ │ LiCENSE..: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ││ BREED: domestic shorthair │ ▐▓
▓▌ │ ╞┼ COAT.: dilute tortoiseshell │ ▐▓
▓▌─═══┼────────────────────────────┤├─────────────────────────────┼═══─▐▓
▓▌ │ RELEASE.DATE..: 2022-05-08 ┼╡ DNA.SOURCE...: cheek swab │ ▐▓
▓▌ │ RELEASE.SiZE..: 30.3 GB ││ SEQUENCED.BY.: Basepaws │ ▐▓
▓▌ │ RELEASE.FiLES.: VCF, FASTQ ╞┼ SEQUENCE.TYPE: whole genome │ ▐▓
▓▌─═══┼──══╤═══════════════════════╛╘═══════════════════════╤═══──┼═══─▐▓
▓▌ │ │ ▐▓
▓▌ ┼═══───═─══─═══───══──═─═══─┼ ▐▓
▀▓▓▓█▀▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ÷ · RELEASE NOTES · ÷ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀▀█▓▓▓▀
▓▓ ┼═──═══─══───═══─══──══─═══─┼ ▓▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ This is a full genome sequence of my cat, Aida, in the release ▐▓
▓▌ style of Warez Scene groups. Yes, really. ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ While I have an interest in biology and genomics, I am by no means ▐▓
▓▌ an expert. I had Aida's genome sequenced to learn a bit more ▐▓
▓▌ about genomics & practical applications of genomics in our lives. ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ It was somewhat useful - Aida has no known sequences that incidate ▐▓
▓▌ a genetic predisposition for certain diseases, which is good - but ▐▓
▓▌ outside of that I didn't really learn anything new about her health ▐▓
▓▌ or wellbeing. The experience was kinda cool if you're into that ▐▓
▓▌ sort of thing, but expensive as hell if you aren't already ▐▓
▓▌ suspicious that your cat may have a genetic disease or needs that ▐▓
▓▌ level of preemptive medical investigation. ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ I am now releasing Aida's genome on a lark, so I can reference it ▐▓
▓▌ as source material for future #caturday posts. Due to the genome's ▐▓
▓▌ size, it's being released via torrent. Due to the release being ▐▓
▓▌ via torrent, the release is now paying homage to the art and ▐▓
▓▌ aesthetics of scene groups. ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ Photos of Aida are included in the "screens" directory. :3 ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ Finally, the terms of this release are: everything here is licensed ▐▓
▓▌ under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 ▐▓
▓▌ International license. You can read Aida's genome using any FASTQ ▐▓
▓▌ and VCF parsers you like, and you can reuse, modify, and distribute ▐▓
▓▌ her genome so long as it is complying with the above license. ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ I genuinely don't know if one cat's worth of WGS data under CC ▐▓
▓▌ licensing is useful to anyone, but if you do come up with a use ▐▓
▓▌ or use this to learn more about genomics, please let me know! ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ Much love, ▐▓
▓▌ tweedge ▐▓
▓▌ ┼═══───═─══─═══───══──═─═══─┼ ▐▓
▀▓▓▓█▀▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ÷ · GREETZ · ÷ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀▀█▓▓▓▀
▓▓ ┼═──═══─══───═══─══──══─═══─┼ ▓▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ This mighty fine NFO art was originally created by snacky of or for ▐▓
▓▌ Synthesis Media in 1999: https://www.mp3scene.info/groups/20/syn/ ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ It has been modified to be lightly Aida-themed. ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ ┼═══───═─══─═══───══──═─═══─┼ ▐▓
▀▓▓▓█▀▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ÷ · REFERENCES · ÷ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀▀█▓▓▓▀
▓▓ ┼═──═══─══───═══─══──══─═══─┼ ▓▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ If this NFO looks like hot garbage, try using an NFO viewer, or ▐▓
▓▌ anything that can open CP437-encoded files (IBM / DOS Latin US): ▐▓
▓▌ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page_437 ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ If you're interested in the art or mechanisms of the warez scene, ▐▓
▓▌ I recommend reading "Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of ▐▓
▓▌ Piracy" by Martin Paul Eve. Fascinating stuff! ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ ┼═══───═─══─═══───══──═─════┼ ▐▓
▀▓▓▓█▀▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ÷ · HOW TO REACH ME · ÷ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀▀█▓▓▓▀
▓▓ ┼═──═══─══───═══─══──══─════┼ ▓▓
▓▌ ▐▓
▓▌ CHRiS.PARTRiDGE.TECH ▐▓
▓▌ CYBERSECURiTY.THEATER/@TWEEDGE ▐▓
▓▌ ▐▓
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▐ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▐ -nfo by snacky ▐ ▌
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░ ░
As for the rest of the 16 files (and 30.3GB total), here’s the layout:
% tree "Whole Genome Sequence - Aida (cat)"
Whole Genome Sequence - Aida (cat)
├── AA.VB.28.31210453002400.LP.646.C4.L1.R148.WGS.fastq.gz
├── AA.VB.28.31210453002400.SP.288.E2.L2.R150.WGS.fastq.gz
├── aida.hard-filtered.gvcf.gz
├── aida.hard-filtered.gvcf.gz.tbi
├── CC.BY-NC-SA.4.0.International.txt
├── RELEASE.nfo
└── screens
├── 2020-04-07.jpg
├── 2021-01-18.jpg
├── 2021-06-06.jpg
├── 2021-08-21.jpg
├── 2021-09-04.jpg
├── 2022-02-05.jpg
├── 2022-03-04.jpg
├── 2022-03-08.jpg
├── 2022-05-03.jpg
└── 2022-05-04.jpg
- The two
.fastq.gzfiles (1.08GB and 24.06GB) are the raw sequencing reads in FASTQ format. The rest of each filename is Basepaws’ internal sample naming, not something I know how to interpret. -
aida.hard-filtered.gvcf.gz(5.16GB) holds the variant calls in VCF format, andaida.hard-filtered.gvcf.gz.tbiis its tabix index, so you can query genomic regions without decompressing the whole file. -
CC.BY-NC-SA.4.0.International.txtis the license text, andRELEASE.nfois the release card (below). -
screens/contains ten photos of Aida from 2020 through 2022, standing in for the screenshots a scene release would normally carry :)
Since then …
It’s been a good four years since, and our dear girl Aida is celebrating her ~10th birthday, happy and healthy. She still isn’t sure what the fuss is about when I tell her she’s “popular on a niche decentralized microblogging network,” but she loves you all the same.
However, Aida has had a medical event which was not discovered early: she had an extreme case of feline tooth resorption (content warning: a little gross) and has had to have her teeth removed, because her mouth became increasingly swollen and painful as her body essentially began breaking down all of her teeth in place.
Yes, all of them removed; yes, that is the gold standard of care; yes, it really sucked for her. But we were able to afford the care she needed, her gums healed wonderfully, she is much happier and not in pain now, and she can still have her favorite food of all: crunchy dry food. She’s a much messier eater and we love our gummy old lady.
It might be interesting to begin comparing her genes against databases of other cats to look and see if there could be a genetic root to this. I’m not in genomics and won’t pretend to know if this is actually how things work, but hey: if data is helpful, then here’s a little bit of data. If not, then please enjoy the cat pics. :)