Your cat as slippers? Dog on a necklace? This Kentucky business makes stuffed ‘clones.’

For people who consider their pets “fur children,” Cuddle Clones of Louisville has a few hundred products for you.

With an additional $1.3 million investment announced Thursday in a news release from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, the company has been granted $500,000 in tax incentives to ease its way into making additional products for pet enthusiasts.

From cats and dogs to rabbits and chinchillas, Cuddle Clones will make a plush replica of your pet: standalone, or atop a holiday stocking, plush slippers or golf club head covers. It will make custom figurines and ornaments of your pet, custom necklaces and earrings. You can buy custom memorials in granite or wood, or customizable urns, too.

A plush Cuddle Clone replica of one pet runs $179-199; holiday stockings and golf club head covers are $139, and plush slippers $149. Figures are $99, custom earrings and necklaces $89 each. The most popular memorial is customizable granite slab at $79.

The company estimates that it could create up to 50 jobs by the third year of the expansion, with employees making an average of $24 an hour including benefits.

Founder Jennifer Williams says on the company’s website that she was inspired in 2005 to make a stuffed animal of her Great Dane, Rufus. In 2009, when Rufus died, Williams decided to start Cuddle Clones. The company donates money to pets in need and organizations that protect animals, such as Racing 4 Rescues.

Cuddle Clones now employs 11 people in Louisville.

Gov. Matt Bevins said in a news release that the company is “a prime example of the vision we have for startups and small businesses throughout the Commonwealth.”

In the same release, Williams said that she is “super excited for this next stage of our business. We love the entrepreneurial community in Louisville and the infrastructure and support that the state has provided to help our homegrown company succeed.”

This story was originally published February 22, 2018 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Your cat as slippers? Dog on a necklace? This Kentucky business makes stuffed ‘clones.’."