Many of us remember Dolly, the first cloned sheep. She was born in Scotland in 1996 and had six lambs in her life.
Some of the animals that have been cloned are cows, dogs, frogs (tadpoles), ferrets, rats, fruit flies, camels, mules, horses, deer, coyotes, mice, goats, fish (carp), monkeys, cats, wolves, pigeons, water buffalo and sheep.
In 2001, the first cloned cat, CC, was born at Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.
She was a perfect genetic match to her donor, Rainbow. CC died at age 18 in 2020 and had three kittens naturally in her lifetime.
CC was the first successfully cloned pet, and Texas A&M has gone on to clone more species of animals than any other institution in the world.
Dr. Duane Kraemer, a cloning expert and CC’s owner, was part of the Texas A&M cloning team. He said that when people ask him what to expect from a clone, he emphasizes not to expect anything other than “the genes and genetically determined factors to be the same.”
“It is reproduction, not resurrection,” Kraemer said. “You don’t get your animal back. You get closer to the animal genetically than any other way, but there are environmental and developmental factors that influence an individual.”
Pet owners should realize that their clone animal is not born knowing them and will not automatically have the same bond to them as their deceased pet donor did.
The donor pet and the owner had their own memories with all their shared times together and personal history. Memories are not genetic carryovers.
Kraemer advises “that people owning a clone should consider the donor an identical twin.” Identical twins have very few physical differences but have their own individual personalities.
The Humane Society of the United States and the American Humane Association have in the past, voiced their opposition to cloning, citing that the process itself may create a suffering because of the number of embryos and fetuses that die in an effort to get just one clone.
There are millions of homeless cats and dogs that are euthanatized in shelters each year.
“People should grieve for their deceased pet, and then learn to form a new bond with a new animal, preferably a homeless one they adopt,” according to a statement.
The research that led to CC’s birth launched a global pet cloning industry led by ViaGen Pets, which today clones cats and dogs for $50,000.
According to ViaGen, “the first step in having the option to clone your dog or cat is to preserve their genes through genetic preservation.
“Your veterinarian will collect a small tissue sample, which will then be mailed to the ViaGen lab, where doctors will culture new cells that share the same genetic makeup.
“Then they freeze these cells until you’re ready to clone your dog or cat.”
Saving pets’ genes in a bank may give pet owners the option in the future to clone their pets.
Several tissue banks have been estabished, including the Frozen Zoo at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, which stores frozen tissue from the world’s rarest and most endangered species. This is referred to as “conservation cloning.”
The current consensus appears to be that, at present, cloning is not a realistic or successful conservation strategy.
Perhaps freezing animals’ DNA will give us the option to advance cloning techniques in the future, but conservation efforts to save current endangered animals should not be overlooked.
According to the San Diego Zoo, “the best approach to conservation is to keep species plentiful and their habitats and ecosystems intact. But cloning could be a valuable tool in worst-case scenarios.”
Maybe we should honor our “donor” pals by keeping them in our hearts and sharing our love with another dog or cat that needs a loving home.
At my old hospital, Your Pals Pet Hospital, we would have trees planted by the Arbor Day Foundation in memory of our clients’ pals that passed away.
Guardian Animal Aftercare is a wonderful Southern California company that will cremate your pal and give you their cherished ashes back in a beautiful urn, small wooden box, or even in jewelry.
You can also have a group cremation in which your pal’s ashes along with other loved pets will be scattered in the ocean.
Our pals will always be in our memory and in our hearts. No matter how we say goodbye and honor their memory, we should just realize they as individuals have been a very special gift.