How would you react if I told you that your dear pet could be cloned? You would probably think it’s some kind of bad joke and move on. It is, in fact, no more a joke. ViaGen Pets- America’s pet cloning company has indeed made it possible for everyone to clone their pets.
If you are also worried about your pet growing old and the thought of it passing away scares you, then you can contact them and get them to develop your pet’s clone. Their labs are based in Austin, Texas.
They clone your pets simply by obtaining a tissue sample from a skin biopsy of your pet. The costs involved in these procedures are also quite huge. The cloning process of a dog is priced around $50,000, which is quite expensive and unaffordable by the layman and common people like us. The company also provides the option to their customer to send their pet’s tissue sample to the company which is priced around $2000. This is much cheaper than the prior method.
Alas, it doesn’t just end here. Keeping the cost aside, there are certain other logistic challenges that one needs to overcome before the cloning process can actually begin. To start off with, performing the biopsy on the animal’s skin is in itself a huge challenge. Performing a biopsy on their skin requires the animal to be alive. Veterinarians pose strong objections to skin biopsy on animals, as it is against their code of ethics to harm a pet or cause it pain intentionally.
The alternative way is to collect the tissues soon after the animal passes away. This sample then has to be sent to the company lab for further processing. While sending, one needs to make sure that the cold chain is not ruptured during the transportation. This is important as the cold chain will allow the cells to stay alive. Therefore, it may sometimes take around three to four days to receive international samples.
On receiving the samples, they are placed in a cryoprotectant and frozen. Once the pet parent gives their consent to clone their pet, then they create embryos with those frozen cells. Then a process similar to in-vitro fertilisation in human beings is performed. One of the countless millions of grown cells from the sample is used to replace the nucleus of an egg that was retrieved from a donor animal. The embryo is then given time to develop in a dish before being given to the surrogate mother.
They also keep in mind certain important considerations- the surrogate mother is also of the same breed as the pet donor. After the pet clone is born, ViaGen communicates clearly to their clients that the pet born is not a reincarnation of their pet. It is not their same pet that died. This is because the genetic component of their pet may be the same but the environmental component may cause all the difference. Therefore, even though the pet clone may have uncanny resemblance to their old pet, it may behave differently when compared to them.
For more such updates keep reading on techinnews.com
