How about a cloned cat?
For me, no. A cat is a cat. Just like a dog is a dog. When it dies, go down to the no-kill shelter and get another one. Jeez…it’s not like losing a child.
Yes, I know there are some who are devoted to their pets, as we are to our Buck. But we’re not going to clone him after he crosses Rainbow Bridge. That’s just creepy.
Even if to some people it is like losing a child, I think cloning your pet is way out there. Not to get into some debate over the
<big booming voice>
EVILS OF CLONING
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how can you love someone/thing that much, and yet think that they’re replaceable? I lose a kid, I’m not about to accept some carbon copy clone and call it good. To me, it cheapens the entire emotional experience of loving someone or something.
If I had the money to burn. Yes.
Why not? The article in The Star had a nice quote "For $50,000, she could have provided homes for a lot of strays.’’ This sort of thinking pisses me off. It’s her fucking money. She doesn’t want to waste it on other cats. She wanted HER cat back (as much as is possible anyways).
When I lost my cat I didn’t replace him. If I could, I’d only take him back, not another cat off the street.
I hope the technology becomes more mainstream. I probably would pay ~$2000 for my cat back (who lived 18 years 6 months to the day).
I wouldn’t even pay $25,000 for Schroedinger’s cat
Not to try and turn this into a GD or anything, but that’s a good point.
But that’s just it. It’s not her cat. At best, it’s a twin. I think the woman is in denial. Pets die. That’s life. It’s sad, but that’s the way it is.
Think about what you could do with all your disposable income if you didn’t use it up on your hobbies, pastimes, and such. I agree with badmana: it’s her money and no one has any right to tell her how to spend it unless it’s used to buy slaves or something else equally reprehensible.
Cloning Fluffy might seem a bit oogy but it’s her money to burn and it doesn’t hurt anyone.
Bingo. One of my cats is dying (not right under my feet at this moment; I mean she may have a few months) and yes, I’m sad and “I wub my kitty” and I’ll miss her, but it’s a cat. With all the other horrors going on in my life, it gives one perspective.
These “my cat is like my child” people . . . how can I put this politely? . . . have “issues.”
I completely agree with the point that it’s her money, and who knows, the cloning technology may be advanced with her request, so we can soon clone body parts such as hearts or lungs.
I question why anyone would want to clone a pet in the first place. It seems very odd.
No. What an incredibly stupid waste of money.
You can’t call everyone who wants to blow lots of money on their pets as strange(and things being relative pets in this country get more money “wasted” on them than many entire families get in poorer countries). Don’t you spend a few hundred dollars a year on vet care? Well that money could go towards African children! Or you could be donating that to charity! But you don’t because, hey, it’s your money and I shouldn’t care how you spend it (on legal things of course).
Sheesh. She bought a twin of her cat. She didn’t spend the money supporting child rapists or something (you’d have issues if you did that). Even if it’s not an “exact” copy, it’s probably close enough and it’s a nice feeling to have your pet back (I’m sure lots of parents with dead kids will want this even though it’s not “the same kid”).
I agree that the woman is in denial. Don’t get me wrong; we had cats when I was growing up, and I loved them. But when ol’ Georgie finally goes, cloning him isn’t going to bring him back. That’s clearly what this woman wants; she wants her beloved pet back.
Years ago, I predicted that, if cloning humans ever becomes acceptable, the vast majority of people who clone someone will be parents whose child died, and are naively hoping that cloning works like it did in The Sixth Day, and that their child will, in effect, be resurrected from the dead. This story only goes to show that my prediction is probably true. If a cloning industry develops, it will prey on people’s grief and ignorance of what cloning really is (ie, a form of reporduction) and try to make it out to be Jesus-in-a-test-tube.
Or Pet Semetary without the nasty side effects.
I love my pets. Love them. I don’t have kids, so I’m the sort that would say “They’re my kids”. However, I wouldn’t try to clone my deceased pet any more than I’d try to clone my child. Because an individual is more than just it’s genes, it’s the sum of it’s experiences. It would be unfair to the new pet (or child) if you expected it to be the same as teh previous one. So, when I’m ready, or when the fates seem to decree that another animal is coming into my life, I’ll get another pet. They seem to find me when the time is right.
StG
I interact with people who are willing to spend $5,000 for a total hip replacement for their geriatric dog. I walk into the next room and diagnose end stage bone cancer causing excrutiating pain, and the client declines euthanasia in order to save $20.
Different strokes.
Shit I would pay $5000 to keep my favourite pooch around (though not so much for a moggy) and while I would love to still have that best-ever pooch around, I wouldn’t give you 5 cents to clone her.
She wouldn’t be as special then.
I mentioned this in a previous thread about pet cloning, but a clone of an animal has different markings because the markings are not genetically set in stone. They develop in the womb.
Our cat is white with large black spots, like a Holstein. It’s the exact shape and arrangment of spots that makes Lou look like Lou. So if we had Lou cloned, the clone would be a white cat with black spots, but the spots would be different, it’s extremely unlikely that it would actually look like Lou.
Not to mention that the animal’s personality would probably be different, too, because it wouldn’t be raised exactly the same way.
Given that, I cannot imagine how paying that much money could be justifiable. Just get a new cat of the same breed! Jeepers! Same diff!
OTOH, it might be good for our society to get some “experience” with this process with pets before we are able to clone humans. If people have cloned their cats and found that, surprise, it’s not the same cat, then maybe we’ll be less inclined to create human lives laden with unrealistic expectations. I can’t imagine wanting to do so itself, but if someone really understands the implications of cloning a dead kid and decides they really want to do it, well, best wishes, I guess. And cloning pets could give people a way to really understand cloning.
My cat has lung cancer (I told her to quit smoking, but did she listen?) and the vet said, “well, you could do surgery and radiation and chemo,” and I said that Dorothy is 15 years old, has a serious heart condition, thyroid trouble and an abdominal hernia, and I am not going to put her through torture to maybe give her another year. I’ll wait till she seems to be in any discomfort (she seems fine so far), and the vet will come over here and euthanize her at home.
I just wish we had that choice with people!
There could actually be some very valuable behavioural research here.
What makes individuals behave they way they do ? This an enormous question, is it learned or inherited, and to what extent do each contribute ?
Cloning and animal is one way to discover this, there are familial behavoural traits, and this sort of stuff might open up a huge range of possibilities.
Brief hijack: While not quite as easy as that scenario, euthanasia or physician assisted suicide is legal in Oregon.