[MrPurryMotors]

I was watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger - my god I can spell that correctly now without even looking it up, I'm so sad, lol - called 'The 6th Day' and it got my mind working. In the film, the main character's family Dog dies. His name is Oliver. Well, they have a process by which they can scan/copy the brain engrams and DNA and stuff, and clone your pet. "Re-pet" they call it. So of course it got me wondering about the eventual possibility of this existing. We can already clone animals, even if the process isn't anywhere near perfect yet and it's still too new. The question is though... would you clone your pet? Your cat?

If your cat was hit by a car, or had Luekemia, and died, would you clone him or her so they lived again? Would you not? If so, or not, why? It's likely decades before they "perfect" the cloning of animals to a point where they can use that technology to help people, by, say, cloning animals to feed the hungry. And so it's likely it's further down the road, maybe a century or so, before this might be a true question to ask, but I'm still curious.

Personally? I'm not 100% sure. I do like the idea of never really loosing Drizzle or Boo. The questions of health, and personality, and behavior, and soul, all come into play though, so I couldn't say "yes" for certain without more facts. At the same time, I couldn't say "no" without more facts. I'd have to place myself in the "I'd really consider it" categorey.

 

[Padunk]

There's already a company in Texas that's in the process of making this a reality.

Moral issues aside, I wouldn't do it. Humans and animals grow physically and emotionally depending on their environment. There's no way you could re-create it and have the same pet.

Besides, there are enough homeless cats as it is. :?

 

[MrPurryMotors]

Well see, that's where the duplication of memory engrames comes into play. Memories - our experiences - are all simply chemicals in our brains. If they can be duplicated, the sum of our experiences and thus, behaviors, could be. Thus the majority of a "personality" could be as well.

Likewise, while personalities grow and diverge as life, age, and experience do, some things "always" exist. Drizzle, from the day we got him, did not like restriction or confinement and cried over it. That would, feasibly, be the same.

Like I said, I can't say yes or no without many, many more detailed facts. I'd lean towards at least attempting it, once, to see if it was at all possible. If not a "duplicate" of the same cat, a similarly behaved one would be appreciated if death where a factor.

 

[Dragon_]

have 2 more just like my babies now? **** yeah!, fire up the cloning machine!

 

[kittygirl04]

I would love to clone Kittygirl! She is the sweetest, most loving, playful, and best cat that I've ever had. I would give anything to keep "her" around forever. I would also love to do it because I adopted her from the Humane Society and she was already 3 years old. I would love to see her as a kitten. :)

 

[Aonir]

The point is, that even if you clone your pet, you wont really get your pet back. For a few points, it may LOOK the same, but there is NO garunty that the personality will be the same. Different situations give different responses and create different people.
Example, adopted children almost never turn out like their parents.

 

[seashell]

If they could -would you...

I definitely would not do it. We all know how sad it is when a pet dies. But then, what a joy it is to get another one with a completely different personality. You can never replace your beloved lost pet - you love the new one #because# it's different.
When I look back on the cat's we've had, each one looked and behaved totally differently. That's a wonderful set of memories to have. I hope Jimmy will have a long and happy life. But after that I want to have a totally different little person.

Seashell

 

[shlanon]

Here's an article about the first cloned cat: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3076908/
I don't think I could do it knowing how many other cats are out there that need homes. Each one is special and different and I believe that when my guys pass on I will have to eventually open up my heart to new cats. And I believe I will love them just as much, because they will have their different quirks and behaviors that I fall in love with.
Plus I don't know if I could stand the disappointment if I got cloned cats that looked like Stormy and Justin but didn't act just like them...I'd be listening for that special little meow that might be totally different with a cloned kitty. I think the whole thing would mess with my head. :?

 

[MrPurryMotors]

Re: If they could -would you...

I definitely would not do it. We all know how sad it is when a pet dies. But then, what a joy it is to get another one with a completely different personality. You can never replace your beloved lost pet - you love the new one #because# it's different.
When I look back on the cat's we've had, each one looked and behaved totally differently. That's a wonderful set of memories to have. I hope Jimmy will have a long and happy life. But after that I want to have a totally different little person./quote]

I, personally, have experienced a great deal of loss of loved ones in my 19 years. It's really had an impact on my emotions and my ability to relate to others, to love. Drizzle and Boo where, really, the first ones to break that barrier. Indeed, the realization that - though they will someday be gone like so many people I've loved and lost - a new life, a new 'person', can come into my life again and take thier "job" of 'cute adorable kitten' has been a great comfort to me. The relationship between person and pet is so much more basic. It's about love, trust, and campanionship. None of the complexities of a human-human relationship, which, most times, that void can not be filled. The realization that, though we loose a loved pet, another different pet can fill the spot and we can begin a new relationship, has really been a gift too me and allowed me to love Boo and Drizzle as much as I do (which is quite a great deal, I don't even like going out of the house if I can avoid it, lol).

The idea, though, that I would not totally loose them - that some aspect of them, even if just a portion of thier personality - would carry on... that is tempting. Any 'clone' would likely not be an exact duplicate other than by genetics. The inherent personality traits and behaviors, though, that Drizzle or Boo was born with, would likely carry on. As such it would be like a child of that loved one, perhaps. And that would be quite comforting as well.

Like I said, I can't say yes or no, I just lean towards yes and consideration of it.

 

[Sol]

Absolutely not! A copy won't replace the original. Cats have no problem reproducing so they don't need any help by cloning.

 

[Annissa]

I wouldn't.

While I dread losing Sabastion, I look forward to getting to know a different soul. I feel life is about experiencing as much as possible while I've got the opportunity. Cloning would be rehashing what I've already experienced.

 

[Bean]

Good God no!

Half the fun of a new pet is it's different personality.

Genetic engineering is bad enough - cloning would be much worse to the degradation of evolution. Quite frankly it scares the **** out of me. Cloning will not aid in the natural fight against diseases either. It feels so apocalyptic to me.

 

[Annissa]

lol

you speak of the apocalypse on your 666th post.

 

[Padunk]

I think it would tarnish the memory of the original cat.

 

[Majicou]

I definitely wouldn't have a pet cloned. Owning a new animal that looked exactly the same as a beloved pet I had lost would probably upset me even more. Besides, animal shelters already have a hard enough time finding homes for the thousands of unwanted cats there are. Do we really need a 'scientific breakthrough' to make it even harder for them?

 

[Bean]

lol

you speak of the apocalypse on your 666th post.

:|

I'm freaked out... Maybe it's coming...

 

[Annissa]

I'm sorry, Bean! I didn't mean to freak you out!

I just thought it was kind of funny...

 

[ForJazz]

Here's an article about the first cloned cat: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3076908/
I don't think I could do it knowing how many other cats are out there that need homes. Each one is special and different and I believe that when my guys pass on I will have to eventually open up my heart to new cats. And I believe I will love them just as much, because they will have their different quirks and behaviors that I fall in love with.
Plus I don't know if I could stand the disappointment if I got cloned cats that looked like Stormy and Justin but didn't act just like them...I'd be listening for that special little meow that might be totally different with a cloned kitty. I think the whole thing would mess with my head. :?

You said absolutely everything I was thinking, to a tee. You read my mind. Padunk -- what you said about it tarnishing the memory of the old cat -- that is how I felt as well. I also feel like I would feel horribly guilty with a little cloned kitty running around at my feet, while my REAL baby was buried in the ground in the backyard. I don't think I could live with myself. Because I still felt the pain of that death. And I feel like pain of death has to be soothed in a natural way. I just can't fit the cloning process into the realm of "natural." It just won't work in my brain.

On the flipside, when I think about my baby Jazz who passed away, the one thing I wish is that she could do her life over, except this time, with ME as a mom for the entire duration. She had a bad beginning and she only lived with me for her last 2.5 years. She was an absolute blessing and made my life so much better by being in it -- I just wish I could give her the life she deserved. So that aspect of it is tempting -- the chance to give your cat a better life the second time around. But in all honesty, I don't trust the cloning process yet. I just can't make myself believe that you could clone a SOUL. Yes -- a body, yes -- chemicals in the brain...but a soul? I just don't believe it could really be done.

 

[ForJazz]

I thought there were a few really good parts in that article that shlanon posted. These really stuck out at me:

“Not only does cloning not produce a physical duplicate, but it can never reproduce the behavior or personality of a cat that you want to keep around. There are millions of cats in shelters and with rescue groups that need homes, and the last thing we need is a new production strategy for cats.”

"He said animal lovers bond with pets because of their personalities and behaviors, not the genetic material that defines the immune system or blood type."

So right now where they are at, the only reason to clone a cat is that you are supposedly using "superior" genes. I think that's a load of bullsh**. Would anybody here say that their cat does NOT have superior genes? We all love our cats, no matter where we got them or what their background. We love their quirks too. I don't see how a cloned cat at this stage is any better than a shelter kitty waiting patiently for a good home.

 

[Jeanie]

The collie is an extremely gentle breed and the Siamese cat is an unusually smart breed. These are genetic traits. It took generations to breed for those qualities. They would be present in the cloned dog or cat. Now we are up to the nurture, nature argument. Are we shaped by genetics or environment? Both. So our new animal might be slightly different because Grandmother has died, but very slightly, in my opinion.

If it was an ethical and moral thing to do, and God approved it, and a spay, neuter, release program was in place at a fee everyone could afford, perhaps free--and spaying was mandatory for everyone without a special license- I'd want all of my beloved animals back, and if I could afford it, I'd take in a matching number of strays to make up for it. But that's a fairy tale full of unlikely "ifs." (Gasps for breath!!)

But I don't think God would approve. With the advent of unraveling the DNA puzzle, science is facing many ethical problems. This will become a reality, whether it is right or not. Why? Because some scientists will do it "because they can."