Pet Cryopreservation Services
A Comprehensive Overview
Lauren Fosco is Chief Operating Officer at Biostasis Technologies and Director (2024-2027) at the Cryonics Institute
In today's world, pets are viewed as more than just animals who exist alongside people. They are cherished companions and integral members of our families. Whether it’s a typical pet of the canine or feline persuasion or something more exotic, many people form deep emotional bonds with these critters, treating them with the same love and care as any other family member. For those who view the future through the lens of cryonics, the imperative to preserve the entire family unit – including pets – is a natural extension of the desire to preserve oneself.
The first pet – a dog named Mitzi – was cryopreserved in November 1978. Since then, hundreds of pets have followed in her footsteps and are kept in cryopreservation alongside human patients at cryonics storage organizations across the world. Although revival scenarios are far from guaranteed, being able to transcend permanent death into the future with loved ones of all species is far more appealing than the prospect facing that uncertainty alone. As such, cryopreservation of pets is an important topic to be addressed within the cryonics industry.
For pet owners hoping to avail their pets of cryopreservation services upon their passing, there are several options to consider. These services cater to the needs of pet owners who wish to give their pets the same chance at a future revival that they hope to achieve for themselves. Pet cryopreservation comes with unique advantages over human cryopreservation, making it a more feasible and easier to control option in many cases.
One significant benefit is cost. The diminutive size of the typical domestic pet means that cryopreservation is generally far more affordable than human cryonics, making it accessible to a wider range of people. The financial burden is considerably less, allowing pet owners to opt for preservation without the high expenses associated with human cryopreservation. Additionally, the process of euthanasia is legally and socially accepted for pets, offering an opportunity to carefully coordinate the timing of preservation. This allows the cryonics procedure to be planned in a way that minimizes ischemic damage, since the cryopreservation process can take place immediately after euthanasia, ensuring the best possible conditions for long-term preservation.
In this article, we’ll explore the services offered by the major three cryonics organizations – Cryonics Institute (CI), Alcor, Tomorrow Biostasis (TB), and the upcoming Cryopets – covering their offerings, locations, costs, protocols, and more.
Cryonics Institute (CI)
The Cryonics Institute offers whole-body pet cryopreservation services, using cryoprotectant perfusion for a range of pets, including cats, dogs, and smaller animals like birds. Their services broadly reflect broader cryonics industry practices, including offering cryoprotectant perfusion and willingness to straight freeze when perfusion is not feasible.
Located in Clinton Township, Michigan, CI provides pet cryopreservation services for lifetime or yearly members, with prices starting at $1,000 for birds, $5,800 for cats, and $5,800 for dogs up to 15 lbs., costing an additional $150 per pound for larger canines. CI is also willing to accommodate other types of animals using the $150/pound pricing model as a guideline. Long-term storage costs are included in the initial preservation fee, so other than membership dues for yearly members, there are no ongoing costs once the pet is preserved.
While CI does not publish detailed protocols online, they are open to providing additional information to members or upon request. They also have published one case report of a dog. The website, while informative, is somewhat dated and not as user-friendly as more modern platforms, which can make finding specific information a little cumbersome.
The Cryonics Institute has cryopreserved over 200 pets, making them one of the most experienced organizations in pet cryopreservation. Although their pet patients primarily consist of cats and dogs, they are willing to accept animals of all species when possible. They currently store a diverse range of other animals, including chickens, sugar gliders, chinchillas, hamsters, mice, ferrets, a rabbit, and an iguana.
Alcor
Alcor’s pet cryopreservation services mirror the services they apply to human patients, offering perfusion and willingness to straight freeze on either whole-body or neuro patients. Alcor customizes its pet preservation services based on the size of the animal, soliciting measurements and information about the pet from its owner before providing a quote based on the volume the pet will occupy in the dewar.
Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, their website breaks prices down by neuro and whole-body, and lists a range of sample prices for straight freeze and perfusion as follows:
Neuro straight freeze: $5,100 - $29,600
Neuro perfusion: $7,100 - $32,300
Whole body straight freeze: $29,600 - $129,300
Whole body perfusion: $32,300 - $132,400
Long-term storage for pets is covered through a contribution to the patient care trust and must be tied to a basic membership (which does not require full arrangements). Until Alcor switched to its newer membership model, the organization did not accept pet cryopreservations from non-signed up members, which is a notable change from prior policy. Alcor is relatively transparent with its protocols and publishes detailed information on its website about what it extends to its human patients, but doesn’t offer many specifics about protocols and procedures for pets. The website itself is slightly dated, but is decently easy to navigate.
Alcor has preserved over 100 pets in both whole-body and neuro configurations.
Tomorrow Biostasis (TB)
Tomorrow Biostasis, based in Berlin, Germany with a primary storage facility in Rafz, Switzerland, is mainly focused on human cryopreservation, but they also offer pet preservation services. While initially researching this article, detailed information beyond a "coming soon" page and a pet preservation contract was not available online, but they recently debuted a new website that features a more informative page on their pet cryopreservation services.
As with their services for humans, TB accept a variety of preservation options, including whole body and neuro (either head-only or brain-only). The new pet cryopreservation page on TB’s website offers a straight freeze option but also immersion vitrifixation, which is a first in the field. Strangely, immersion vitrifixation was not mentioned at all in a recently email inquiry with the organization, which took place just a few days before the page went live. This discrepancy raises questions about the consistency of their communication. Moreover, immersion vitrifixation is an experimental procedure that has not been studied or validated as rigorously as traditional cryobiological perfusion. This needs to be disclosed to pet owners so that they can have a strong basis for giving informed consent on behalf of their pets.
The page itself, while informative, has stability and UX/UI issues; several assets failed to load properly, there was noticeable latency when scrolling, and unfortunately crashed more than once when being viewed on a mobile device. However, it’s commendable that they provide a clear, step-by-step outline of how pet cryopreservation is initiated, what the requirements are, and what the pet owner can expect when undertaking this process.
To enlist TB’s neuro-only storage, pet owners must independently involve and work with a local veterinarian to have the neuro procedures performed before the cephalon (or brain) is transported to the TB facility in Switzerland, where the preservation takes place.
Pricing for pet preservation varies depending on the size of the pet, with costs being calculated volumetrically. The new webpage contains an email form which pet owners can use to request a quote. Although they declined to provide quotes for anything other than straight freeze while conducting research for this article, TB was initially very responsive over email and provided quotes based on sample dimensions of an average adult male German Shepherd dog and an average adult female domestic cat, as shown below. These sample prices include door-to-door transportation, customs, cooldown to cryogenic temperatures, and long-term storage. Membership costs are included in the initial registration of the first pet, costing an additional €20 (~$21 USD) per month for each additional pet.
German Shepherd Dog
Head-only straight freeze: €16,000–€20,000 ($16,900–$21,100 USD)
Whole body straight freeze: €130,000 ($137,400 USD)
Domestic Shorthair Cat
Head-only straight freeze: €15,000 ($15,854 USD)
Whole body straight freeze: €26,190.09 ($27,682.97 USD)
TB currently has 6 cats and 1 dog in cryopreservation at their Swiss facility.
Cryopets
Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Cryopets is an upcoming company that presents a membership service based “full stack approach”, combining veterinary care with pet cryonics capabilities. Their goal of establishing a veterinary clinic that offers cryopreservation services for pets is an interesting proposition for the field. While their website is well-designed and informative, it appears the company is still in the early stages of development. As of now, there is no clear timeline for when these services will become available, but their plans signal a potential new era for pet owners interested in cryonics. It will be worth watching closely as they continue to evolve.
Conclusion
Looking ahead, there are several important changes that the cryonics industry could adopt to enhance transparency, ethics, and service quality in pet cryopreservation. One key improvement would be for organizations to provide more detailed information about their procedures, cryoprotectants, including publishing their protocols and case reports online and explaining how they differ from those used in human cases. This would give pet owners a clearer understanding of what the process entails, who performs the surgeries and perfusions, and what type of training these professionals have undergone to ensure the highest standard of care.
Additionally, the practice of accepting pets from non-members who do not have fully funded contracts raises questions about the future implications of pet welfare with respect to revival scenarios. By preserving pets whose owners may not be preserved themselves, we risk sending these animals into the future alone, potentially creating a form of pet abandonment. Properly addressing this issue through robust membership and funding policies and setting guidelines for cases where owners and pets are separated could help mitigate these concerns. Simply assuming there will be plenty of willing pet stewards for revived, ownerless pets in the future is not realistic, as evidenced by the millions of healthy, adoptable pets that are surrendered to shelters and subsequently euthanized every year.
The ethics of offering a straight freeze option for pets also warrants closer examination. If it is considered an acceptable method for animals, then why isn’t the same option available for humans? Or more concerning, if this procedure is not deemed acceptable for humans as an option, why is it suitable for pets? Opening up this discussion could lead to more consistent standards across the industry, ensuring that the procedures offered to pets and humans are aligned ethically and technically.
By addressing these questions and implementing these changes, the cryonics industry can create a more transparent, ethical, and unified approach to both human and pet cryopreservation, fostering trust and ensuring that all preserved beings – human or animal – are treated with the respect and care they deserve.