A Canadian lady has efficiently cloned her beloved ragdoll cat twice — however the course of got here at a excessive cost.
Kris Stewart first tried to clone her feline in February 2022, one month after her beloved cat Bear died at 5 years old in a visitors accident, per CTV News. Now, two failed cloning makes an attempt and $50,000 later; the Vancouver-area lady has two new kittens which can be genetic clones of Bear — Bear Bear and Honey Bear.
“I simply felt like there was extra residing that wanted to be accomplished by Bear,” Stewart informed CBC.
“Bear was the neatest animal I feel I’ve ever had, and I’ve had animals since I used to be two years old,” she stated earlier than including that she was “thrilled” along with her model new kittens, who’re already displaying similarities to her Bear.
“They each appear to be Bear,” Stewart shared with CBC. “These guys are daring and sassy.”
Stewart started the cloning course of by sending Bear’s DNA to the Texas-based firm ViaGen Pets, which makes a speciality of pet cloning.
On ViaGen’s web site, the corporate explains that their course of for cloning felines includes utilizing a cat’s DNA to create a genetic twin of it by putting an embryo containing the DNA inside a surrogate cat, who offers beginning to the cloned kitten.
“Cat cloning doesn’t change the genetic make-up of your cat and doesn’t contain any genetic modification,” per ViaGen’s website. “Your cloned cat will share a lot of an important attributes of your present cat, together with look, intelligence, and temperament.”
Stewart stated she did 4 embryo transfers utilizing Bear’s DNA, which led to 2 failed cloning makes an attempt earlier than Bear Bear and Honey Bear had been born.
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“… Cloning cats apparently does take a while. It’s not unusual to have a number of tries to be sure that the embryos can efficiently develop into fetuses and turn into kittens,” Stewart informed CTV in 2023, after two makes an attempt to place Bear’s cell in a surrogate cat. “… Cats, apparently, are tougher to clone than dogs and horses. So I simply preserve my endurance.”
ViaGen informed the Canadian outlet that the biotech firm has over 1,000 prospects worldwide, together with Canada. This is not the corporate’s first cat-cloning success, both — in 2019, North Carolina couple Bryan and Ashley Bullerdick paid $25,000 to clone their cat Cinnabun.
Some pet homeowners who spend their earnings on cloning had been impressed by Barbra Streisand, who selected to work with ViaGen to clone her late canine, Samantha.
“I did not comprehend it was potential till I learn the article,” Bryan informed SWNS again in 2019.
“We by no means actually thought a lot concerning the cost,” he added. “It is a variety of money, however I do know individuals who spend that on holidays on a regular basis. This is an animal that we hope shall be with us for 20 years.”
Last 12 months, Stewart informed CTV that cost wasn’t a fear when it got here to her pets.
“So I simply suppose an animal that sensible that gave me a lot pleasure must be replicated. And that is what cloning is,” she stated. “Call me a poor money supervisor, however with regards to the care and well-being of my pets, I simply do not even put greenback indicators in entrance of it.”
Other creatures have additionally been the topic of cloning — in 2021, ViaGen helped to clone a black-footed ferret, marking the primary time an endangered species within the U.S. has been cloned.
Domestic pet homeowners — together with horse lovers — will pay ViaGen anyplace from $1,000 to begin the “genetic preservation” course of, based on the corporate.
