Our humans recently had a chance to speak with a company representative, and they said that they only currently offer their services for cats and dogs. This is because it takes a lot of research and development work to discover a reliable cloning process for each animal species, and it's probably no surprise that there are a lot more cat and dog owners out there to sell their services to. Also, their services are currently pretty expensive; they currently charge $50,000 for dog cloning, and $25,000 for cat cloning, although they hope to bring the cost down to $5,000 in the future. (They also offer genetic preservation services for $1,600 to save your pet's DNA for possible future cloning.) However, given how far animal cloning has come in the 21 years since Dolly, who knows how this will change in the next decade or two? Guinea pig cloning could become both available and affordable for the average human.
Here's the process works, according to one of their brochures:
 |
| No guinea pigs yet.. |
Of course, we may want to step back and ask an obvious question here: Why would you want to do this? Why wouldn't someone just accept a guinea pig (or other pet) created the way nature has been making them up to this point? According to veterinarian Alice Villalobos, “As a veterinary oncologist also focused on palliative care and hospice for dogs and cats, I see how this could become a more accessible opportunity for those who want to have an option for a continuum with a genetically similar pet who they are on the verge of losing.” These sentiments seem to match the user reviews on the ViaGen Pets Facebook page:
- "Thanks to Viagen and their great staff I have peace of mind knowing there is a piece of my angel out there waiting for me! I can hardly wait to hold her in my arms again."
- "It's never easy losing a "pet", especially when you think of them as family and their health declines almost overnight. Preserving our cat's cells helped with the grieving process because even though she is no longer with us, her cells are preserved! No matter what we decide down the road as far as cloning, it's nice knowing there are options."
- "You gave Casanova a second chance at being able to continue his lineage (as Casanova is almost 17 now and his sperm are inactive). Casanova 2.0 one day will be able to continue Casanova's family tree"
We think this is all understandable. I remember how painful it was to lose our cage mates Buffy and Lola 1, and perhaps having a clone of them would have made the loss easier to accept. On the other hand, if you have room in your home for another guinea pig, creating a new cloned guinea pig in a surrogate mother seems like a missed opportunity to adopt one of the many guinea pigs who are out there and needs a good home.
What are your thoughts on guinea pig cloning? Let us know in the comments below!
If this had been available at the time that I lost my dearly beloved dog, Sophie, I would have given it a go. She was the daughter I never had, my workmate, my best friend and I miss her every day. As to whether I would consider cloning a piggy, I rather agree with you. However painful it is to lose one of my many Piggyfriends, it is a missed opportunity if I do not adopt a new friend from a piggy rescue for a bereaved piggy and for myself. There are so many piggies needing homes and I take in as many as I can. Letting go is always very hard but another little piggy in need will move in and the circle goes on.
ReplyDeleteOur human doesn't like this idea at all, both for ethical reasons and because there are already so many animals needing homes. She knows how painful it is to lose a pet, though, and hopes that we're going to be around for a long time yet!
ReplyDelete