From heartbreak and tragedy comes great joy, in the form of two kittens named Bear Bear and Honey Bear in honour of their genetic twin, Bear.
Two years ago, Kris Stewart lost her beloved cat, Bear, who was killed after being hit by a car in 2022.
Stewart immediately started the process of cloning him with the help of ViaGen Pets and Equine in Texas.
“The original Kitty Bear was nearly five years old when he died and he was a very smart cat,” said Stewart.
“Bear was the smartest cat, the smartest animal, I’ve ever had and I just wanted his genetic material to continue on ad infinitum. I just didn’t think Mother Earth was finished with Bear material so I wanted him to live on.”
The two ‘Bear kitties’ were born on Jan. 10 and Stewart flew out to pick them up on March 13.
Now, the three of them are home in Kelowna, B.C.
“I feel a sense of relief because the process is finally concluded. There’s no more waiting and I have my Bear-like kitties here with me now,” said Stewart. “If I can’t have the real Bear, I can have Bear-like kitties,”
The process is similar to in vitro fertilization (IVF) in that the genetic material is collected from the original pet and sent to ViaGen.
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“Once … the cells are ready to start cloning we take a portion of the cells with unfertilized eggs and extract the DNA from those eggs, and then we will insert the cell into an egg and then fuse the two together to create an embryo,” said Codi Lamb, ViaGen Pets and Equine client service representative.
“Then the embryos are then transferred to a surrogate mom and from there, it’s a normal gestation and birthing process once we have a successful transfer.”
Once the litter is born, a genetic marker report is conducted and a report is given to the new pet parents, ensuring that the kittens are, in fact, genetically identical to the original pet.
The process is not cheap.
Lamb says it costs $50,000 U.S. to clone your pet, and Stewart got a two-for-the-price-of-one deal when she took home Bear Bear and Honey Bear.
Stewart is sharing her story in hopes of helping others.
“My goal in bringing the story out in public is to let other pet parents know that cloning is very possible,” said Stewart.
“You have to save your pennies for it because it’s a little expensive, but things worked out OK for me and I was able to put aside some cash for it. But, the goal is just to let other pet parents know that this technology is out there.”
Stewart says her ‘Bear-like-kitties’ don’t just share Bear’s good looks, they also have his adventurous spirit.
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