Clone Chai the Cat of @adogandacat
Donation protected
Many of you have followed Chai over the years on Instagram, my personal Facebook account, Reddit, Snapchat, or have met her in real life. I’ve had cats almost consistently since I was five, but the bond I had with Chai was something inherently unique. She understood when I needed her, when I was upset, when I was hurting. She wasn’t a cuddly cat by nature, but when I needed it, she would find her way against my back or into my arms.
On March 16, 2017, I was sitting in a private room at my vet clinic waiting to pick her up after a successful exploratory surgery to transfer her for monitoring overnight at another facility. After a few minutes, the vet came in and told me she had bad news. Around the time I had come in to pick her up, they’d found her unresponsive and not breathing. They performed CPR for a number of minutes, but it was clear she wasn’t coming out of it.
At 5 years and 7 months old, Chai passed away from what was likely a blood clot, post-op.
Nothing could have been done to prevent this, but it tore me in half. The cat I had fallen in love with was no longer against my side at night. No longer perched up in the tallest reaches of her cat tree like the queen she was. No longer there to comfort me as I sobbed for nights on end.
Unfortunately, pets don’t live long lives. People lose them to old age, obesity, and a number of other issues. I often dreamt of what Chai’s ridiculously soft, gorgeous coat would look like when she was 16 or 20, how I’d mourn her when she left, but that opportunity was taken from me that day.
So, on March 17, I called ViaGen Pets, the only pet cloning facility in the United States to begin an effort to genetically preserve her cells. Strangely enough, it's in Cedar Park, a short drive north of where I live in Austin, Texas. She’d been frozen at the vet overnight, so the odds of success were slashed. I waited two weeks, though, and the news came in. They’d successfully noted cell growth and had cryogenically frozen her cells.
Please understand. I’m not trying to replace Chai. I’m not trying to bring her back from the grave. Chai is gone, and she’ll always have a special place in my heart. However, for me, this process of cloning has given me some solace and distraction in refocusing my grief toward something positive.
Essentially, a cloned cat is the closest you can get to what is in essence an identical twin of your pet, only born at a later date. Some say that personality traits can show up without direction. It’s unique to every situation. It’s not Chai. But it is another chance for me to carry on her image and memory. For me to continue sharing a part of her on Instagram and Facebook and all the other social media platforms out there.
With her cells successfully frozen, she is now on a waiting list to be cloned. I’ve been given an estimated time frame of 6-8 months before they’ll be able to start the cloning process, however depending on the clients ahead of me, this could be sooner.
That said, I wholeheartedly believe in adoption. It simply wasn’t the choice I made in my moments of grief, and I thank you for respecting that. I am currently reaching out to several foundations and companies so that whatever funds I raise toward cloning Chai will be matched and sent to Austin Pets Alive, a local no-kill pet shelter. If I fail in finding someone to do this, whatever I raise will be cut in half and donated.
Any excess funds will go toward photography equipment for Instagram and if I exceed even that, the excess will, again, go to Austin Pets Alive.
I understand the complexities and arguments that might be brought up with the idea of this all. I had them and still have them, myself. Pet loss is something we all deal with differently. Not many people know that there is an option in the United States for cloning. This has never been tapped into on social media, and I invite you to join me in the process of sharing this journey.
Please check out ViaGen Pets for more details on this process, as well as Austin Pets Alive if you’re interested in adopting in the Austin area.
If you would like to donate items as incentives for reward levels, please email me at [email redacted].
On March 16, 2017, I was sitting in a private room at my vet clinic waiting to pick her up after a successful exploratory surgery to transfer her for monitoring overnight at another facility. After a few minutes, the vet came in and told me she had bad news. Around the time I had come in to pick her up, they’d found her unresponsive and not breathing. They performed CPR for a number of minutes, but it was clear she wasn’t coming out of it.
At 5 years and 7 months old, Chai passed away from what was likely a blood clot, post-op.
Nothing could have been done to prevent this, but it tore me in half. The cat I had fallen in love with was no longer against my side at night. No longer perched up in the tallest reaches of her cat tree like the queen she was. No longer there to comfort me as I sobbed for nights on end.
Unfortunately, pets don’t live long lives. People lose them to old age, obesity, and a number of other issues. I often dreamt of what Chai’s ridiculously soft, gorgeous coat would look like when she was 16 or 20, how I’d mourn her when she left, but that opportunity was taken from me that day.
So, on March 17, I called ViaGen Pets, the only pet cloning facility in the United States to begin an effort to genetically preserve her cells. Strangely enough, it's in Cedar Park, a short drive north of where I live in Austin, Texas. She’d been frozen at the vet overnight, so the odds of success were slashed. I waited two weeks, though, and the news came in. They’d successfully noted cell growth and had cryogenically frozen her cells.
Please understand. I’m not trying to replace Chai. I’m not trying to bring her back from the grave. Chai is gone, and she’ll always have a special place in my heart. However, for me, this process of cloning has given me some solace and distraction in refocusing my grief toward something positive.
Essentially, a cloned cat is the closest you can get to what is in essence an identical twin of your pet, only born at a later date. Some say that personality traits can show up without direction. It’s unique to every situation. It’s not Chai. But it is another chance for me to carry on her image and memory. For me to continue sharing a part of her on Instagram and Facebook and all the other social media platforms out there.
With her cells successfully frozen, she is now on a waiting list to be cloned. I’ve been given an estimated time frame of 6-8 months before they’ll be able to start the cloning process, however depending on the clients ahead of me, this could be sooner.
That said, I wholeheartedly believe in adoption. It simply wasn’t the choice I made in my moments of grief, and I thank you for respecting that. I am currently reaching out to several foundations and companies so that whatever funds I raise toward cloning Chai will be matched and sent to Austin Pets Alive, a local no-kill pet shelter. If I fail in finding someone to do this, whatever I raise will be cut in half and donated.
Any excess funds will go toward photography equipment for Instagram and if I exceed even that, the excess will, again, go to Austin Pets Alive.
I understand the complexities and arguments that might be brought up with the idea of this all. I had them and still have them, myself. Pet loss is something we all deal with differently. Not many people know that there is an option in the United States for cloning. This has never been tapped into on social media, and I invite you to join me in the process of sharing this journey.
Please check out ViaGen Pets for more details on this process, as well as Austin Pets Alive if you’re interested in adopting in the Austin area.
If you would like to donate items as incentives for reward levels, please email me at [email redacted].
Organizer
Kelly Anderson
Organizer
Austin, TX