Pet cloning: expensive, risky and with no guarantees of getting "the right" pet

Against this background, the advent of cloning technology seems almost a seductive promise: a favourite cat or dog can be "brought back" as it were.

Since the birth of Dolly the sheep in 1997, mammal cloning has become big business. It has been reported that former NFL player Tom Brady and actress Barbra Streisand, among others, have used the services of such companies to clone their dogs. Not surprisingly, many people are wondering whether it is possible to "digitise" and immortalise their own pet

Zoologist Jacqueline Boyd explores this topic in a piece for The Conversation.

How animal cloning works

Cloning is the creation of a genetic copy of an organism, much like identical twins.

The process is called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT):

• a nucleus with DNA is taken from the cell of the original animal;

• transfer it to an egg cell from which its own nucleus has been removed;

• the "restarted" egg starts to develop as a clone embryo;

• the embryo is transferred to a surrogate mother who carries and gives birth to the clone.

Frogs, mice, sheep, horses, dogs, cats, cattle, etc. have already been cloned in this way. But even today, success is achieved only in about 16 per cent of cases - most attempts fail.

Why a clone is not the "same" pet

It's important to understand:

• TheDNA of the clone and the donor match,

• but the personality is not.

Behaviour, character, habits of the animal are formed not only by genes, but also:

• experience,

• education,

• environment,

• the stresses and joys of a particular life.

Making a clone doesn't mean recreating:

• the same parents,

• the same conditions in the litter,

• the same house, the same routines,

• the same encounters and traumas.

Therefore, even with matching DNA, the clone will almost certainly be different - in character, reaction to people, behaviour.

Moreover, the appearance may also be different. Differences in gene expression can change the colour, coat pattern and other parameters. For example, the donor of the first cloned cat Sisi was tricoloured (tortoiseshell), while the clone itself had a uniform brown colour.

Ethical issues and animal suffering

Pet cloning raises serious ethical issues:

• A pet cannot consent to the use of its tissues before or after death.

• Taking samples from a living animal can be painful and stressful, plus the owner will have to pay for long-term cryopreservation.

• SCNT requires eggs and surrogates - meaning:

  • hormonal stimulation and invasive procedures from donors,

  • risks of complications, miscarriages, abnormalities and death in surrogate mothers.

Studies on agricultural species show that clones can have serious health problems. For example:

• in one study, 48% of cloned piglets died in the first month of life;

• musculoskeletal disorders (lameness, tendon problems) have been described in cattle clones.

There is evidence of a possible increased risk of early osteoarthritis, although more recent work casts doubt on this. In any case, the full picture of the risks is not yet clear - the data is still accumulating.

If your pet has an inherited disease or an increased genetic predisposition to it, the clone will inherit it too. So you are almost guaranteed to transfer the same risks into the next "copy" of the pet.

Money that could have saved other animals

A separate aspect is cost. Cloning a pet is usually priced from $50,000 and up.

This is a huge amount of money that could be used to:

• support dozens or hundreds of animals in shelters,

• fund sterilisation and vaccination programmes,

• to help animal welfare organisations.

In a number of countries, commercial cloning of pets is now not allowed and is considered a form of animal experimentation. But owners can still "start the process" if they take tissue samples and then apply to foreign laboratories - the only question is the thickness of the purse.

Instead of "eternal life" - a dignified life here and now

Our pets do become family members, and the desire to "keep them forever" is understandable. But cloning:

• doesn't bring back your cat or dog specifically,

• carries serious risks for donors, surrogates and the clones themselves,

• is extremely expensive,

• and may support a demand for practices where animals become a means of satisfying human emotions.

It is far more fair to them to invest effort, time and money in making their lives as happy and comfortable as possible now, and afterwards to give love to the next pet, perhaps from a shelter.

Sometimes the best "eternal memory" of a favourite animal is not its clone, but how much and responsibly we took care of it when it was alive.