Hello there, my name is Emeow, and I am a cloned cat embryo. I just returned from an embryo family reunion that included Emery, the dog embryo and Embilly, the goat embryo. We were re-reminiscing about our childhood and the similarities we each shared growing up. By now you have probably read their stories and you are sensing a pattern here:
- Our Childhood: As young oocytes or unfertile eggs, we all spent a lot of time just hanging around at the local petri dish.
- Our High School: Interestingly, we all grew up and went to the same SCNT (Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer) school. This is where we really started to thrive as reconstructed oocytes.
- Our Graduation: As full-fledged embryos, we all went on a graduation trip into the surrogate (recipient) mother’s womb. The length of this gestation trip varied between us, but for me, it was about 65 days.
- Our College: And this is where our paths deviate. After the gestation trip, Emery was born as an exuberant, happy, healthy, bouncing puppy and Embilly was an exuberant, happy, healthy, bouncing kid. As I told my cousins, I was born far more special…I was born as a KITTEN. Unlike my cousins, who fall over themselves to please their humans….I prefer not to fawn over my humans. I am a cat after all, which means I am at the “peak of the hierarchical pyramid”, “queen of my castle”, “ruler of my domain” and in general, “supreme empress of the world”. I think the role of humans is to serve me. And basically, my life thus far has reflected the affection I should be showered with. I have a delightful surrogate mother, who licks me, and loves and has the most delightful warm beverage available to me anytime I want it. I have delightful humans, who pet me and play with me daily. In general, they cannot shower me with enough affection and toys…lots of toys. I am grateful for these things, so today, maybe I will show them a little affection with a purr, or a lick, but I think I will keep them guessing as to when they will receive these tokens of my appreciation.
- By the way…I am going on a big trip soon, to move to my new castle and meet my new subjects. It’s all very exciting. Perhaps I will tell you more about my new kingdom in a future blog…but only if and when I feel like it, because after all, I AM a cat.
-Diane