First CLONED cat nears 10 years old

The first cloned cat (CC) is almost 10 years old and is being very healthy. CC and her boyfriend Smokey and her three little kitten is now living with two owner, Kraemer couple together. 

Ten years ago, after scientists cloned the first cat, experts predicted a surge of clients wishing to resurrect their beloved pets. But that has not been the case.

Texas A&M University scientists Mark Westhusin and Duane Kraemer cloned the first cat in 2001. CC was born three days before Christmas, after a little more than a year of experimentation.

Mr Kraemer, one of the scientist said that the cloning is not resurrection but breeding. They will not have the same features.

CC, for "CopyCat" or "Carbon Copy" is a brown tabby and white domestic short-hair Its surrogate mother was a tabby, but her genetic donor, Rainbow, was a calico domestic short-hair. The difference in hair coloration between CC and Rainbow is due to epigenetic re-programming, which normally occurs in a fertilized embryo before implantation.

In September 2006, CC gave birth to three kitten who were fathered naturally. This is the first time a cloned pet has given birth. CC appears to be free of the cloning-related health problems that have arisen in some other animal clones.

"CC has always been a perfectly normal cat and her kittens are just that way, too," says Kraemer. "We’ve been monitoring their health and all of them are fine, just like CC has been for the past five years."