They’re multiplying.
Twenty-four years after Dolly the sheep — the first mammal to ever be successfully cloned from an adult cell — was born in Scotland, business is booming for pet cloning in the United States.
“Cloning is growing as fast as we can effectively manage the growth,’’ said Blake Russell, the president of ViaGen.
It’s the only company in the US offering pet cloning, and it currently has a five-month waitlist. (A tissue sample must be harvested within five days of a pet’s death, but the sample can be frozen for decades.)
The company launched in 2002 focusing on the genetic preservation of horses and livestock. In 2015, it launched the ViaGen Pets division offering its cloning services to cat and dog lovers. From 2017 to 2022, the business doubled, the company previously told The Post, and Russell said it now clones roughly 200 pets a year.
Formerly, those looking to have pets cloned had to go to South Korea, where the first dog — an Afghan hound named Snuppy — was cloned in 2005.
While cloning is getting increasingly popular, it remains quite expensive.
Austin, a New York City businessman, recently spent $50,400 to have his Yorkshire terrier Caesar, who passed away in January, cloned.
Getting a new puppy from a breeder wouldn’t do.
“I could not get a strange dog; I was so heartbroken and emotionally attached and going through this was a way to get a bit of Caesar back,’’ the sexagenarian, who asked to go by his middle name for professional reasons, told The Post. “I wanted to continue his bloodline, and he was neutered as a baby. The simple answer is, I didn’t want another dog; I wanted Caesar’s offspring. For me, this was the only way to move forward.’’
To clone a pet, tissue cells are harvested, cultured and frozen before or just after the animal dies. ViaGen charges $150 annually, on top of an initial $1,600 collection fee, for those looking to store frozen tissue samples.
To proceed with cloning, DNA from the sample is inserted into a donor egg that has had the genetic material removed. The egg is then stimulated with electricity to encourage cell division. The resulting embryos are then transferred to a surrogate animal with the hope that at least one will take. If the procedure is a success, the surrogate gestates the clone — or potentially clones — for about two months, as is typical for dogs and cats, and gives birth to healthy puppies or kittens.
“The new animal has all the cells of your old dog,” said Austin.
The complicated process involves operating on two animals — both the egg donor and the surrogate — which has raised some ethical concerns.
Lauren Aston, ViaGen spokesperson, is emphatic that all animals involved are treated humanely. “We make sure they’re well taken care of,” she told The Post.
As for the health of the clones themselves, a 2016 study on the long-term health of cloned sheep published in the journal Nature Communications found the animals aged normally.
Austin has been thrilled with the results. He had two embryos successfully implant, and his cloned puppies, Julius and Henry, are now 4-months-old.
Even at their tender age, he said they already demonstrate an uncanny resemblance to his late pup.
“These guys have incredibly similar traits, mannerisms and reactions to Caesar’s, and they are just puppies,’’ he reported. “I still completely miss and cry about Caesar, but I now have a piece of him. These dogs have 100% his cells and DNA — it’s almost a reincarnation.”
While costly, Russell has said that it’s not just wealthy pet lovers opting for cloning. At one point, the company offered financing but it no longer does.
“We have a lot of middle-class people who tell us the pleasure they get from their animals is worth more than the pleasure they get from a car,” he previously told The Post.
Kelly Anderson, an influencer and marketer who lives in Austin, Texas, struggled to afford cloning when her cat Chai died seven years ago.
“I took out a loan,’’ she said of paying for the procedure, which cost $25,000 at the time. “It wasn’t money that came easily to me. I’m not rich by any means, but it was worth every penny, absolutely … Chai was my soulmate; she understood me and she was my everything. I never had a relationship with another pet or human like I did with her.’’
The resulting cat, Belle, looks identical to Chai.
“I felt an immediate bond and so much love,” she said. “Belle’s temperament is the same as Chai’s — they are bold, bossy and sassy — total ice queens.”
But the carbon copy is different from the original in some ways.
“Belle is not in tune with my emotions like Chai was,” she said, but “I was depressed then and I’m in a much better place 1731636016.”
