Couple pay £20k to clone beloved cat they had in past two decades (original) (raw)
Couple pay £20k to clone beloved cat that's been with them since they're newlyweds
Bryan and Ashley Bullerdick, from North Caroline, US, said their rescue cat Cinnabun was special to them - and clone sleeps in exactly same place
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A husband and wife paid $25,000 to clone their beloved cat
A couple paid £20,000 to clone their beloved cat Cinnabun which had been with them for the past two decades.
Bryan, 43, and Ashley Bullerdick, 41, wed in 1999 and started married life with two cats, Cinnabun, a rescue cat from the Humane Society, and Ginger, a Himalayan purchased from a breeder.
Bryan said: "They were very special to us. They started their life with us."
The couple decided to duplicate Cinnabun but it sadly passed away in October before its clone arrived six months later.
Ashley's cat Cinnabun passed away in October (
Image:
Bryan Bullerdick /SWNS.COM)
Incredibly, the new Cinnabun sleeps in exactly the same spot that the original Cinnabun used to slumber, on top of Ashley’s pillow.
The couple, from Charlotte, North Caroline, US, said they didn't consider much of the staggering cost of cloning their 'special cat'.
Bryan, who owns an aerospace division business, said: "This was a special cat from when we were newlyweds, our kids grew up with the cat, she was important.
"It is a lot of money but I know people who spend that on vacations all the time. This is an animal that we hope will be with us for two decades.
"It was a decision that we could afford to make and we still donate money to cat rescue organisation, the Humane Society, every month."
Ashley and husband Bryan started their married life with Cinnabun (
Image:
Bryan Bullderdick /SWNS.COM)
The couple considered cloning Cinnabun after Bryan read an article about pop legend Barbara Streisand cloning her Maltipoo, Sammie.
"I didn't know it was possible until I read the article," said Bryan.
He shared the idea with Ashley who was at first unsure.
She said: “I was never against it but it was definitely something I had to think about.”
In August 2018 Bryan purchased a $1,600 DNA kit from Texas-based cloning company ViaGen Pets, the same company that had cloned Streisand’s pooch.
A duplicate of Cinnabun arrived the couple's home in April and it looked exactly like the original puss (
Image:
Bryan Bullerdick /SWNS.COM)
ViaGen Pets has been cloning horses and livestock for 17 years, three-and-a-half years ago they started cloning cats and dogs.
Bryan and Ashley’s DNA kit languished in the freezer as they deliberated.
“We kept it for months in our freezer while we thought about it,” Ashley said.
“Then we just thought we had to do it. Cinnabun was so dear to us. She had unique markings that no other cat would have.
“She clung to me, she slept with me at night, by my head on my pillow. She was right by my side throughout the day.”
To clone a pet, ViaGen Pets requires at least two skin samples to collect the DNA.
The new cloned Cinnabun sleeping with Ashley (
Image:
Bryan Bullerdick /SWNS.COM)
Most skin samples are taken from the belly or the inside of a pet’s leg.
These samples are then chilled with ice packs and sent to a laboratory where they are placed in an incubator and cells start to grow.
Within two to four weeks, there are millions of cells.
The cells are harvested and placed in vials which are frozen in liquid nitrogen tanks before it fuses together with an egg taken from a donor animal.
The embryo then is implanted to a surrogate animal who gives birth to kittens genetically identical to the original cat.
The original Cinnabun used to sleep on Ashley's pillow (
Image:
Bryan Bullerdick /SWNS.COM)
As Bryan and Ashley sent in their cat's samples in September, Cinnabun died on October 30.
The clone was on February 4 and delivered to the couple weeks later in April.
Ashley said: "It was a special day of course. I was so excited to welcome her home. She was just two months old but she looked just like her.
"Even though we got the original Cinnabun when she was nine months old, just seeing the two-month-old Cinnabun overwhelmed me with joy.
"As far as looks go, they are spot on. Even their personalities are so similar. They are both feisty.
"The new Cinnabun wants to sleep in the exact same spot as the original Cinnabun - a place that none of my other cats have gone to.
"She likes to sleep by my head on my pillow and on a particular bar stool in the kitchen."
Bryan added: "We wanted to call the new cat Bun Bun but when we saw the pictures of her, she looked identical to Cinnabun when she was a kitten so we just kept the same name."