Little Nicky (born October 17, 2004) is the first commercially produced clone of a cat. He was produced from the DNA of a 17-year-old

Maine Coon The Maine Coon is a large domesticated cat breed. It is one of the oldest natural breeds in North America. The breed originated in the U.S. state of Maine, where it is the official state cat. The breed was popular in cat shows in the late 19th ...

cat named Nicky who died in 2003. Little Nicky's owner, a north

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

woman named Julie (whose last name was not released) paid $50,000 to have Nicky cloned. Little Nicky's owner reported that the cat shared many characteristics with his predecessor, including a similar personality and appearance.

Origin and Cloning

The cloning of Little Nicky was performed by the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

-based company

Genetic Savings & Clone Genetic Savings & Clone, Inc. was a company headquartered in Sausalito, California that offered commercial pet gene banking and cloning services, between 2004 and 2006. History The company was founded as a result of the efforts to clone Lou Hawtho ...

, which later closed in 2006. This followed the first successful cloning of a cat by the company in conjunction with

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. The cloning was performed by the chromatin transfer technique, a variant of

nuclear transfer Nuclear transfer is a form of cloning. The step involves removing the DNA from an oocyte (unfertilised egg), and injecting the nucleus which contains the DNA to be cloned. In rare instances, the newly constructed cell will divide normally, rep ...

. The cloning of Little Nicky was a result of an offer by the company called the "Nine Lives Extravaganza" launched in 2004.

Ethical controversy

Groups such as the

Humane Society of the United States The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is an American nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scope. It uses strategies that are beyond the abilities of local organizations. ...

, the

Best Friends Animal Society Best Friends Animal Society, (BFAS) founded in its present form in 1993, is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) animal welfare organization. BFAS does outreach nationwide with shelters, rescue groups and members to promote pet adoption, no-kill anima ...

, and other groups for

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...

spoke out against the creation of pet clones such as Little Nicky. They emphasized that the $50,000 invested in the cloning of animals could be utilized for the care of existing animals in shelters, or invested in programs for spaying and neutering homeless shelter pet populations. Little Nicky reportedly had health problems during his life. These health problems were not proven to be related to the cloning process. His owner claims that the original Nicky never had the health problems that the clone had. The company that cloned Little Nicky believes that his health issues were acquired and not genetic.

References

{{Reflist 2004 animal births 2004 in biotechnology Cloned cats Individual cats in the United States

Origin and Cloning

Ethical controversy

See also

References