Woman pays £26,000 to clone her dead cat

A Texas woman is thought to be the first person to have a pet cloned to order.

A Texas woman is thought to be the first person to have a pet cloned to order.

Julie, who has released her first name only for fear of harassment, paid $50,000 (£26,000) for a clone of her cat, which had lived with her for 17 years before it died last year. She has called it Little Nicky after her pet, who was simply Nicky. "He is identical. His personality is the same," Julie said.

She is the first person to receive a copycat kitten from a programme called "Nine Lives Extravaganza" offered by Genetics Savings and Clone, based in California, which claims to have five other clients. Customers supply DNA tissue from their pet which geneticists use with the ovaries from spayed cats to create the clone.

The anti-cloning lobby is highly critical, saying Little Nicky may open the doors to a new market in cloned pets of all kinds. The California company says it plans to unveil its first cloned dog in the spring.