We Might Need a Few Edits

This Lab Will Clone Your Pet for $50K. Would You Do It? Illustrated with this lovely picture:

OK, that is almost a dead ringer for Skye:

. . . In the fall of 2016, Buhner’s veterinarian took a tissue sample from the dog’s abdomen while he was under anesthesia for a dental cleaning, then sent it to Texas-based animal cloning firm ViaGen in a biopsy kit provided by the company. A surrogate gave birth to three cloned puppies on Jan. 31, 2017; eight weeks later, the Vangemerts welcomed “BJ” (for “Buhner Junior”) and “Ditto” into their home. (A ViaGen employee adopted the third clone.)

Vangemert said she felt an instant bond with the puppies, who look remarkably similar to Buhner—they even have matching lazy eyes. She’s so pleased by the results, in fact, that she plans to clone Buhner “again and again.”

“It really is worth every penny. And especially if you get two,” she said, before adding, “Once this gets around, the waiting list [for ViaGen clones] is going to get long.”

To the dismay of opponents, who consider cloning unethical and frivolous, the demand for pet cloning does indeed appear to be on the rise. In June of 2017, ViaGen had successfully cloned several dozen cats and dogs. By January of 2018, that figure had spiked to “over a hundred,” according to Melain Rodriguez, client service manager at ViaGen Pets, who also said that ViaGen is storing “thousands” of cell lines from which clients could clone their pets in the future.

Here’s how it works. After clients pay $1,600 for genetic preservation, a veterinarian takes a skin punch biopsy from the pet’s abdomen and sends the tissue sample to ViaGen’s subculture lab in Cedar Park, Texas. Utilizing the same technology used to clone Dolly the sheep, and more recently, a pair of macaques in China (potentially paving the way for human cloning)—“somatic cell nuclear transfer”—ViaGen employees remove the nucleus from a harvested egg (oocyte) and replace it with one from the pet to be cloned. . . .

When the pet owner decides to proceed with the cloning process, they pay a 50 percent deposit (the total fee is $50,000 for dogs and $25,000 for cats). Numerous embryos are implanted into a surrogate animal housed at an undisclosed, secure facility in upstate New York. (A local breeder provides many of the surrogates; oocyctes for cat clonings are often harvested from free spay clinics ViaGen sponsors at animal hospitals.)

Cloned puppies and kittens stay at the facility until they are 8 to 12 weeks old. A veterinarian inspects the clones for health issues before they go to their new homes. The remainder of the fee is due on delivery.

When I sent this to Georgia, she responded "Only if we Could  splice out the whining gene." You've no doubt seen YouTube videos of Huskies doing interesting vocal tricks, whining, warbling, or howling? It's great on a video that lasts 3 minutes, and you can shut off, but sometimes, when she really wants something from you, it's gets a little much. We might also like to tone down the "pulling" genes, and the underfur production gene. Skye has already begun to blow her coat, even though it's still freezing out.