The thought of replacing a pet that’s passed away can feel utterly impossible for most. It can take families months or even years of grieving before they feel ready to welcome another animal, for fear that it’ll feel too much like rushing to replace the one that passed.
One woman found a bit of a loophole regarding this matter, both replacing and not replacing her deceased cat by having her cloned.
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Losing a pet is never easy.
Experiencing the passing of a pet can take a huge toll on the pet’s owner, as they’re often extremely beloved and considered full-fledged members of the family.
In one cat owner’s grief, she decided to make the rather unique decision to have her recently-deceased cat cloned.
Chai was a cat who belonged to Kelly Anderson of Austin, Texas.
Chai passed away when she was just five years old due to some post-op complications. Anderson was devastated.
Her roommate at the time was a vet tech and told her about a company called ViaGen that has a cloning service for pets. Anderson immediately asked the vet to freeze Chai’s body in order to preserve her DNA and got to researching.
How exactly does this cloning service work?
ViaGen takes DNA samples of the deceased pet and places it into an empty egg, which is then implanted into a surrogate cat.
It took four years of failed attempts to clone Chai, but Anderson kept on trying. With the fifth year came success, and a new cloned kitty was born, this one named Belle.
ViaGen had been in contact with Anderson throughout most of the process.
“They initially updated me after every attempt but after a while they stopped. […] It was so disheartening after every failed attempt, so I kind of ‘shut off’ to it.”
Then the miracle happened. “When I got the call, I was in shock. I had completely turned off my emotions. I had actually called them about something completely different – they rang me back so quickly that I knew something was up! Everyone else was really excited so I think my reaction was a bit anticlimactic.”
Anderson had been sharing this journey online, to quite a bit of backlash.
People accused her of unfairly replacing Chai, or even told her that she’d been scammed and this sort of cloning doesn’t exist. She doesn’t seem too phased though, saying, “I never wanted to have a replacement. I loved Chai and thought that just replacing her would take away from her memories,” and, “I did my research and know that they are a really humane company.”
She’s received other criticisms regarding the cost and her place in the ‘adopt don’t stop’ debate.
She’s a firm believer in “I’m allowed to spend my money how I want,” and was happy to tell people that her other two cats were adopted from shelters. She’s also hosted a foster home for over 100 cats. She has no insecurities regarding her cloning decision.
Which, in the end, is all that really matters.
“Everything I did was out of a place of love and appreciation for Chai. I was so heartbroken when she passed so it was amazing to think that I could have a part of her again.”
“In the end, I think my decision saved my life and I would not change it for the world.”
h/t: LADBible
