“CC, World’s First Cloned Cat, Turns 18 Years Old”, 2020-01-02 (; backlinks; similar):
The first of her kind, CC the cloned cat is breaking more boundaries as she turns 18 years old. There are no big plans locally to mark the day, but CC—Carbon Copy or Copy Cat—will be the focus of a Dutch cartoon set for release today to celebrate her birthday, researcher and owner Duane Kraemer said.
…CC is not only enjoying life as the Kraemers’ pet, but she has her own condo called the “kitty house” behind the Kraemers’ house where she lives with her three offspring, sired by a cat named Smokey. Those offspring, just by existing, helped CC make headlines in the scientific community. There had not been much research done in the reproduction success of clones—and none had been done with a cat. Tim, Zip and Tess were born Sept. 1, 2006, along with a fourth kitten that was stillborn. Not knowing CC’s reaction would be to her kittens, Kraemer said, they found CC was “the perfect mother” and had the innate maternal instincts they were hoping she would exhibit. Besides proving clones can successfully reproduce, CC also proved not all clones die young. “Dolly the sheep, that was the first of the mammals to be cloned by nuclear transfer, had died at, I think, at 6 years of age”, Kraemer said. “So the fact that CC didn’t die young was news.” About 20% of cloned animals have developmental abnormalities of some kind, he said, with some being serious enough to result in the animal’s death at a young age or at birth. However, the other 80% born without those conditions “would probably live to a normal variation of ages.”