A dog in the house makes for a happy home. Dogs are, after all, man's best friend, so when a Louisiana couple feared losing their aging dog Melvin, they decided to spare no cost and have him cloned.
Melvin was a Catahoula and Doberman mix, who was supposed to be a pure Catahoula, the official dog of the state of Louisiana. While Melvin was trouble early on (what puppy isn't?), Philip and Paula Dupont learned to love the mutt.
"I paid $50 for him," said Phillip Dupont. "Turned out to be the best dog I ever owned."
As their beloved Melvin started to age and reached the mature age of 9, the Duponts decided to contact a lab in South Korea to look into what it would take to clone Melvin. The process would cost $100,000, according to Today, but Phillip Dupont decided to start the process of sending in some of Melvin's skin cells to Sooam Biotech.
The first cloning didn't go well; the puppy died of distemper, but the Duponts rallied on and got a two for the price of one deal, when two healthy clones were produced, their current dogs Ken and Henry.
Having the new pups helped with the loss of losing their beloved Melvin when the time came. "It was hard," said Phillip Dupont, choking back tears.
"They're so much like Melvin its unreal," Phillip Dupont said, according to NPR. "Both Henry and Ken so far are very healthy at the two year mark.
"We're looking at having the one special dog again," Paula Dupont said, according to Petcha. Or perhaps three, as they are hoping to soon have a third clone as a best friend for their grandson.
Only 600 dogs have been cloned to date since Sooam Biotech's scientists developed the technology to clone canines.
What do you think of cloning pets? Is it a way to keep your best pal around forever or not worth the risk? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
