"Worth it": Insane amount woman spends to clone dead cat
<p>Kelly Anderson from Texas, US was devastated when she lost her "soulmate" cat Chai more than four years ago. </p>
<p>Not long after, in what she calls "fate", Anderson decided to clone her beloved pet, a process which cost her a whopping $USD25,000 ($AUD38,000).</p>
<p>"It was just one of those moments where I had been talking about cloning a few weeks before and fate kicked in," she told <em>Weekend Today</em>.</p>
<p>"I remembered the conversation and decided to clone."</p>
<p>The process took about four years, which is roughly twice the average time it takes to clone a pet. </p>
<p>"It was not money that I had come easily to me but it was a very important process for me to do," she said.</p>
<p>"It was 100 per cent worth it. The process saved my life."</p>
<p>Anderson added that Belle, the successfully cloned cat, has grown to be as "bold, bossy, sassy" as Chai, and their personalities have become more alike. </p>
<p>Despite the similarities, Anderson said that she doesn't set any expectations on Belle to be Chai's replacement. </p>
<p>"I would still say she's very much her own cat and I treat her that way. I always try to treat them as individuals.</p>
<p>"I never wanted to put expectations on Belle to be Chai. But I would say that they're very similar in a lot of ways."</p>
<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">According to</span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> </span><em><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60924936" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a>, </em>the process itself involves extracting DNA from the pet to be cloned, then injecting that into a donor egg that has had its genetic material removed. The egg then grows into an embryo before being implanted into a surrogate mother, who then gives birth to the kitten. </p>
<p>Pet cloning has become an increasingly popular practice, , despite how controversial and expensive it is, with celebrities like Barbra Streisand and Simon Cowell using the process to clone their own beloved pets. </p>
<p>Anderson, who decided to document her story on social media added that people have mixed reactions to the process. </p>
<p>"I think there's people who are fascinated and don't even realise that we're cloning animals ... so a lot of people are learning about cloning," she said. </p>
<p>"But a lot of people also have opinions. So it's a mixed bag."</p>
<p><em>Images: Weekend Today</em></p>
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