Austin Woman Cloned Her Beloved Cat. What Came Back Four Years Later Surprised Her
When Kelly Anderson’s ragdoll cat, Chai, died unexpectedly at age 5 in 2017, she made an unusual decision. She would clone her.
Four years and $25,000 later, Anderson — an Austin-based social media manager — welcomed a new cat named Belle, created from Chai’s DNA through commercial pet cloning.
She’s been open about the experience, sharing it on social media (@CloneKitty on Instagram) and on her website. Her central message might catch you off guard: the clone is not the same cat.
That tension between genetic identity and individual uniqueness is what makes Anderson’s story so worth examining.
A Close Bond That Started In College
Anderson first met Chai during college, a period when she was struggling with mental health and depression. The connection was immediate.
“She just immediately synced up with me and understood my emotions in ways that no other animal really ever had. And I’ve had animals my entire life,” Anderson said in a December interview with People.
“She was my soulmate pet,” Anderson added in an interview with National Geographic, published March 2. “I’ve never had an animal in my life, or even really a human either, that just innately understood me like she did. I just felt robbed of time with her.”
Chai’s death was sudden. While under the care of a pet sitter, Chai ingested a piece of plastic from a food wrapper. The obstruction was discovered about a week later.
Chai underwent surgery to remove the plastic, and although the surgery was successful, Chai had an adverse reaction to anesthesia. When Anderson went to the vet to pick up Chai, doctors found the cat was unresponsive.
Before Chai died, Anderson had already discussed cloning with a roommate. They had recently learned about ViaGen, a pet cloning company located nearby.
After Chai’s death, Anderson stayed up all night researching cloning and contacted ViaGen shortly after. She eventually took out a loan to cover the $25,000 cost.
“I was like, you know what? That’s basically like buying a car,” she told National Geographic.
How Pet Cloning Works, Step by Step
The pet cloning process involves several distinct stages.
First, scientists extract viable eggs from the fallopian tubes of female animals. These donor eggs come from animals that are not related to the pet being cloned — they serve as biological starting material.
Next comes embryo creation. The egg is modified to include DNA from the pet being cloned.
In standard cloning procedures, this involves removing the egg’s original nucleus — the compartment that houses DNA — and replacing it with a nucleus taken from a preserved cell of the original pet.
The result is an embryo that carries the genetic blueprint of the animal being cloned.
Then a surrogate animal is injected with hormones, and the embryo is implanted. If the procedure succeeds, the surrogate carries the pregnancy to term and delivers the cloned animal.
Cloning remains an imperfect science. Not every embryo implantation results in a successful pregnancy, which is one reason the process can take considerable time.
Same DNA, But Different Cat
ViaGen warned Anderson from the start that she wouldn’t be getting an exact copy of Chai. She was fine with that.
“For me, this was never about bringing my cat back from the grave. It was just about carrying on a piece of her,” she told People.
On her website, Anderson says that while the temperaments of both cats are “the exact same” and they “share some similar traits,” Belle is “very much her own cat.”
Anderson documents both the similarities and differences with striking detail. Belle has “far less color on her face and coat than Chai,” they have different meows, and Anderson has a “different bond” with Belle compared to what she had with Chai.
The similarities are still real: both cats share a sassy, bold personality, show affection in comparable ways, love dogs, are fascinated with water, dislike other cats, and take a long time to warm up to people.
But the differences are just as real. Belle is more outgoing and adventurous. Chai was more clingy. Belle doesn’t like to be touched as much, is heavier, is more open to learning tricks, and is more food motivated.
Biologists generally explain that DNA is not the sole determinant of an animal’s traits.
Environmental factors, developmental conditions in the womb, and epigenetics — the way genes are activated or silenced based on conditions — all shape an individual organism.
Two animals can share identical DNA sequences and still differ in coat pattern, size, behavior, and personality.
Anderson’s experience is a real-world demonstration of the nature-versus-nurture dynamic playing out at the molecular level.
Why the Cloning Process Took Four Years
Anderson initially thought cloning would take a few months. It took four years.
Among the reasons for the delay: a degraded tissue sample.
“I think part of the reason it took four years for me was that they had frozen Chai’s remains overnight, and that started to damage her cell quality,” she told People.
The quality of preserved cells matters enormously. When cells degrade, the DNA inside can become damaged, making it harder to successfully create viable embryos. Genetic material is fragile, and preservation conditions can make or break the outcome.
Anderson finally received Belle in October 2021 — four years after Chai’s death.
“It was a really hard four years, but I think I was in a much better place to receive my new cat, Belle,” Anderson told National Geographic. “I had time to fully grieve Chai and I could better appreciate Belle for being her own cat—not just a copy of my original cat.”
Pet Cloning Is Growing in Popularity
Pet cloning has become more common in recent years. The current price, per ViaGen, is around $50,000 today for dogs and cats. Horses cost $85,000.
That’s double what Anderson paid, suggesting that prices have shifted since her experience.
Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Barbra Streisand and Tom Brady have all cloned pets, but Anderson’s story proves that it’s not just a wealthy trend.
ViaGen operates not as a research lab or university project, but as a consumer-facing business based near Austin.
Anderson’s Advice for Anyone Considering Pet Cloning
Despite calling pet cloning “one of the best decisions I’ve ever made” in her interview with People, Anderson wants others to go in with realistic expectations.
First: don’t expect to get the same pet back.
“This is not resurrection, this is not reincarnation. You’re not going to get your pet back from the dead,” she told People. “If you’re doing this because you miss your pet, then think about the intent and the reason behind that before you decide to clone.”
Second: preserve DNA while your pet is still alive.
Anderson says the best way to prepare for cloning is to collect a tissue sample before a pet dies. This can be done during a routine veterinary procedure, such as a dental cleaning.
Preserving tissue improves cloning success rates — a lesson Anderson learned the hard way after degraded samples contributed to her four-year wait.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
