Pet Cloning:

Your pet is one of a kind, but cloning may allow it to live again after it passes on.

We have all heard of the thrilling advances that science has made in the cloning of "Dolly" the sheep in England. She has even given birth to healthy offspring. Though the technology is not in place to clone companion animals at this time, companies have sprung up offering to save the genetic material from cats, dogs, rabbits, birds and horses. The procedure is as simple as your veterinarian obtaining a sample of the pets skin before it has passed on. The sample is then processed by the biotechnology company and stored until such time as the cloning technique is perfected. When exactly this will occur is not known but is speculated to be within the next 10 years.

Will "Fluffy" be the same pet once it is cloned? No. The clone will look just like the original but the personality will not be the same. It would be more like a sibling than an exact replica. The procedure is not for everyone. The cost to obtain the sample of the genetic material and processing it can easily cost several hundreds of dollars and there is a yearly storage fee for the cryopreservation. But just in case you can't bear the thought of losing your precious pet, science now offers hope.