SWFL family spends $50K to clone their dog after he died of cancer

FORT MYERS, Fla. - A Southwest Florida family spent around $50,000 to clone their beloved dog after he was diagnosed with a serious illness.

Ciuppi, a dog the family called their "soul dog," was battling lymphoma when his owners began searching for any way to save him.

That search led them to dog cloning.

Ariella Iorio said a doctor suggested the idea as a possible path to saving Ciuppi's life.

"They had mention to me there is something that's out there it would be cloning to get an exact match for his bone marrow and thats the only cure," Iorio said.

The family took a skin sample from Ciuppi while he was still alive and sent it to a company that specializes in cloning.

The process cost about $50,000 and the first attempt did not work.

Eventually, a surrogate dog named Hope became pregnant and a clone named Smoochie was born.

Smoochie is now eight months old.

But Iorio wants other pet owners to know that a clone is not the same as getting your original dog back.

"The reason why is because I was trying to save Ciuppis life you cant ever get back the soul and even though they look identical they are very different," Iorio said.

Still, the family says they are happy with the decision they made.

"Even though they're different, which now I like, because in retrospect, if they were so similar, it would be like maybe a little weird for me. But now that just looking and looking down at Simucy and seeing such a familiar face of a dog that I loved so much and still love, it's very reassuring and just makes me happy every single day," Iorio said.

The family says they do not plan on cloning again and sees Smoochie not as a replacement for Ciuppi but as a way to carry his memory forward.