life
Cuddle Clones Realistic Pet Stuffed Animals — My Experience & Step-by-Step Order Guide (Updated: 2023/07/22)
If you’re looking for a custom stuffed animal of your own pet, the US-based company Cuddle Clones offers something beyond wool felting or regular plush toys — a fully customized, realistic replica of your dog, cat, or other pet! This post covers my experience and a step-by-step guide to placing an order.
Updates:
- 2023/07/22: There seems to be a “卡豆克隆” (Kǎdòu Kèlóng) listing on Taobao and other sites — I’m not sure if that’s the official store. But ordering directly from the real Cuddle Clones isn’t difficult at all. Just follow this guide and they’ll ship internationally! Feel free to ask me any questions about ordering 🙂
Okay, before anything else, let the real-vs-replica showdown begin XD
Cuddle Clones Comparison Photos
I’d been wanting to make a stuffed animal of our handsome, gloriously chaotic dog Lottery for a while, but searching Pinkoi and Shopee only ever turned up wool-felt options — and the plush versions I’d seen didn’t look close enough.
One day while browsing around, I stumbled across this US company called Cuddle Clones that makes hyper-realistic pet replicas to order. So naturally… I clicked “buy” XD
I placed my order on 2019/07/06, it shipped on 2019/08/06, and I received it on 2019/08/13 (it probably could’ve arrived earlier, but I wasn’t home). Way faster than I expected.
Back View
You can see in the comparison photo that the body is easily the best part — the coat colors came out exactly as I described: a white cross down the center of the back, white thighs, brown upper body, brown on top of the tail, white underneath.
And honestly… the clone has a better figure than the real Lottery does XDDD
Side View
The front view wasn’t quite as accurate, though it does capture some of the likeness. The head coloring came out a bit darker, which made it look less similar in that regard. The eyes are a little wide-set, and the mouth and nose are slightly off (even more visible in the next photo) — but they nailed the nose color, which is exactly like Lottery’s XD
Straight-On Front View
At first I thought the likeness wasn’t great from the front, but then I noticed that unhinged, chaotic energy actually kind of does match Lottery XD So I made peace with it hahaha.
Here are a few more detail shots XD
The paw pads are adorable!
I chose the standing pose, but the legs are actually poseable — which I thought was a nice touch. There’s wire inside the ears, tail, and all four limbs, so you can adjust the pose :D The fluffy butt came out wonderfully, which was worth specifically requesting in my notes XD
Here it is next to a chair for scale — it’s actually quite large. Not exactly 1:1, but around 70–80% of the real size.
Top-down view. The second image below is the color reference sketch I submitted with my order — I even drew a diagram to explain the coat pattern. They actually followed it!
Okay I’ve decided: he’s a side-profile pretty boy. He’s living with us now, though I keep getting startled by him XD
My Honest Thoughts on Cuddle Clones
For the record, I read a lot of customer reviews before ordering, and opinions were pretty split.
People who were happy said it was incredibly accurate and gave them great comfort; people who were unhappy weren’t a small group either — many asked for refunds.
Based on everything I read, here’s what I think makes for a successful order:
- Purebred dogs tend to turn out better: This makes practical sense — a purebred has a recognized standard, so it’s easier for the makers to work from. I think mine came out looking a lot like a Husky. But since Lottery is a mixed breed (and I’ve long suspected there’s some Husky in him, explaining the chaotic energy), I noted in my description: “Mixed dog, but looks similar to a white Husky + Shiba Inu”
- The more detail you provide, the more accurate it’ll be: I literally drew a diagram with color annotations and included hex codes for the fur color XDD The clearer you are, the better
- Dogs tend to come out better than cats: From what I’ve seen, the failure rate for cats seems higher than for dogs — not sure why
Since a clone is a significant investment, think carefully before ordering. Here’s what I paid:
249 – 49.80 (there was a sale at the time) + 80 (basic DHL shipping) = 279.20 USD
Plus 387 TWD in customs duty.
Do the math and decide if it works for you.
Personally, I found it comparable in price to what a realistic wool-felt commission would cost, and since I really wanted something huggable, I went with this. That said, if pure realism is your goal, I’d say wool felting has an edge — probably because Lottery isn’t a purebred XD
Step-by-Step Ordering Guide
Anyway, I’m personally quite happy with mine — and if you’re interested, you can order directly from their site. Here’s the step-by-step, and feel free to leave a comment below if you have questions!
First, create an account on their website, then go to https://cuddleclones.com/products/ and choose your product. I went with the Plush Clone.
Once you click in, you’ll see an overview page:
It says delivery takes about 8 weeks including shipping. If you want it sooner, you can pay extra to upgrade to 6 or 4 weeks.
Click GET YOUR CUDDLE CLONE in the lower right.
Select “Add Pet,” choose your pet type (dog / cat / horse / other), then select the breed, and proceed to Pet Details.
This is where you upload photos of your pet.
Only the face photo is technically required, but if you want an accurate result, I’d recommend uploading all of them.
The next step asks for eye color, ear style, and weight (I think weight is a newer option — it wasn’t there when I ordered).
The final notes section lets you describe special features with photos and text. There’s a character limit, so I got creative and combined multiple photos with annotations — which is why the coat color came out so accurate XD
After confirming everything, you’ll reach the customization page where you choose your clone’s pose and features. The ones with a check (Ｖ) are what I selected:
Mouth Position:
Closed With Tongue: closed + tongue out
Closed No Tongue: closed
Open With Tongue: open + tongue out Ｖ
Body Position:
Lying Down
Sitting
Standing Ｖ
Tail Position:
Down
Half
Up
None
Add Zipper Pouch ($20): For an extra $20, you can add a zipper pouch. Some people request it to store their pet’s ashes or mementos — many orders are made in memory of a pet that’s passed away ;___;
The site will show you a summary of all your selections. If everything looks good, click Add to Cart. If you don’t need anything else, click Finish Checkout to proceed to payment.
On the confirmation page you can adjust the quantity, and if you have a coupon code you can enter it on the right (I think new customers usually get a code, though sometimes the sale price is actually lower). When you’re ready, click PROCEED TO CHECKOUT and you’ll be taken to the payment page — I’ll leave that part to you.
That’s pretty much the whole process! Since it’s a big investment, think it over carefully before committing (I was genuinely nervous the whole time that it would come out looking nothing like Lottery XD — thankfully it turned out fine, and it’s gotten cuter the more I look at it). I’m just sharing my experience here — if yours doesn’t turn out the way you hoped, please reach out to the company directly!
Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave any questions below. You can also message us through Lottery’s Facebook page or find Iju Hsu on Facebook — we’ll respond faster there :) Thank you all!
Thanks for reading :D
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to click the coffee button in the lower right to support us and give Lottery a can 🐾
Comments