Biotech Company Clones Beloved Deceased Cat

GarlicSource: © Shutterstock

It is no secret that people and cats have a special relationship. Whenever you have a pet, a special bond forms that you hope is never broken. At the same time, cats have a much shorter life expectancy than humans do, so you know that the day is coming when you will be separated from your cat. What if, however, there were a way to keep bringing your cat back to life? It might sound like something out of a science fiction book, but the reality is that science is continually making breakthroughs in the area of genetic cloning the just might make it possible to bring back an exact replica of your cat. While you will know that the cats are different, they will look and probably act just alike. It is a way of ensuring that you realistically have a pet for life if you so choose.

What do you think about the possibility? To be fair, genetic cloning does not come without its fair share of controversy. It is important to keep that in mind. Many people claim that this is playing with nature, and that simply should not be done. There is a law of natural selection at work. Animals, humans included, are meant to procreate themselves. When we start manufacturing life, the feat is that we will be upsetting the natural order of things in one way or the other. So the argument goes. However, what would you do if you were given the opportunity to bring your cat back to life in a manner of speaking? You have obviously loved and cared for the cat for many years. To be able to continue that relationship would be almost too much of an opportunity to pass up. You. Might not even think it is possible, but a Chinese biotech company has made tremendous breakthroughs in this area. Let us now go over the specifics and you can decide what you think for yourself.

Here’s the Deal

You might be thinking to yourself that there is no story here. Surely a cat cannot be cloned. Well, you will want to tell that to the cat owner whose deceased cat was recently cloned in a successful manner. This could very well be the future of pet ownership, so you will want to pay close attention here. The name of the firm is the Sinogene Biotechnology Company. It is located in Beijing, China. Just recently, Liu Caiyu and Xu Keyo were able to report that the company had successfully closed a baby kitten. They did this by using a number of cells from the body of a dead cat.

This was not just any ordinary cat. In fact, it was a cat named Garlic. She belonged to a loving and caring family, but unfortunately contracted a urinary tract infection and died far before anyone thought she would. The family wanted to get a new cat that was just like Garlic and saw this opportunity with Sinogene as a way to do just that. They actually paid over $35,000 for the privilege of being to get a new Garlic to take home. Would you pay that much? In this case, it appears that money is relative to how important something is in your life.

The Details of Cloning

You might be reading this and find yourself wondering what cloning even means. That is understandable. Many countries do not even the procedure out of fear that it is immoral or unethical. Still, others permit cloning, but only in certain circumstances. No matter what your opinion might be on the issue, the fact is that cloning is still a science that is being developed. It is not used mainstream, and this is just the first step in many to actually being able to close a cat or dog. Yes, by the way, a dog can be cloned as well for just over $53,500. Now, back to the explanation of what cloning actually is.

In order to clone either a cat or a dog, an embryo needed to first be cultivated. In order to this effectively, the embryo itself much come from the cell of the animal that is to be cloned. This will then be surgically implanted into the uterus of a surrogate mother. You might think that this entire process takes forever and a day to accomplish, but the reality is that it only takes roughly two months. This means that after cell extraction takes place, the cat can be born in approximately two months.

It is no secret that people and cats have a special relationship. Whenever you have a pet, a special bond forms that you hope is never broken. At the same time, cats have a much shorter life expectancy than humans do, so you know that the day is coming when you will be separated from your cat. What if, however, there were a way to keep bringing your cat back to life? It might sound like something out of a science fiction book, but the reality is that science is continually making breakthroughs in the area of genetic cloning the just might make it possible to bring back an exact replica of your cat. While you will know that the cats are different, they will look and probably act just alike. It is a way of ensuring that you realistically have a pet for life if you so choose.

Why Cloning?

You might be wondering why a person would want to clone their cat in the first place. As you can imagine, this is a deeply personal decision and not everyone would react in the same way. In this case, the owner of Garlic was particularly attached to the cat. The owner was China and Garlic unexpectedly contracted a urinary tract infection. There was nothing that could be done, and the cat passed away as a result. This would end up being an extremely traumatic event in the life of the cat owner, Huang Yu. He went for the idea of cloning a new cat to be just like Garlic because he felt that the cat was truly special and he did not want to forget her anytime soon. That lead him to his new cat who he has already fallen in love with all over again.

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  • Garlic: © Shutterstock

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