Would You Clone Your Cat?

[Katie M]

I just read that CC, the first cloned cat, died on March 3rd. She was born when I was in eighth grade, and I had to do a report on her for science class.

Would you have your cat cloned? Healthwise, CC was fine, but I know other clones have had health problems.

I don't think I would. Losing Charlie and Selene will be heartbreaking, of course, but having them cloned would just be putting an expensive bandaid on my grief. I wouldn't be able to move forward in a healthy way. Besides, there are so many cats and kittens who need homes. It's unlikely I'd find another Charlie or Selene, but I could experience a new personality.

Luckily, all this is far in the future (I hope.)

 

[jen]

In reality no, but I often think how interesting that would be. I have had many cats, but never one as unique and healthy and amazing as the one I have now. She loves everyone, loves going on road trips, loves walking on a harness outside, she is my little sidekick. I would love to have another of her, because I know I will never have an animal as special. But I wouldn't actually clone her, no. That would be so weird.

 

[IndyJones]

I really don't know what to think about this. Cloning doesn't necessarily mean the clone would behave like the original.

Contrary to what is shown on tv clones rarely behave like the original. Much of what makes up their personality comes from life experiences and it would be impossible to replicate every life experience.

 

[Willowy]

A clone is just an identical twin, and clones will have their own personalities and quirks.

No, I wouldn't have a pet cloned. There are plenty others who need homes and there's no reason to spend that kind of money, that amount could be used to care for the ones already here.

If it were free (as a thought experiment; of course it would never be free even if the price comes down considerably). . .no, probably not. Maybe if I had a purebred and wanted another from the same bloodlines, but that breeder was no longer producing, I guess that would be an option. I still don't think I'd do it though.

There are also some ethical considerations----each cloning session produces an entire litter of identical siblings. If you don't adopt them all, what happens to the others?

 

[Tik cat's mum]

Nope they would only look like them not be them, I think it's the personality that makes the cat not the looks. And there's only one Patches.

 

[IndyJones]

Nope they would only look like them not be them, I think it's the personality that makes the cat not the looks. And there's only one Patches.

Yup the only reason I would have for cloning any living thing is if it would be exactly like the original.

 

[susanm9006]

No, I think it would break my heart because it would be a replica and not my dear cat.

 

[kittyluv387]

I can definitely understand wanting to clone a cat. I think a part of me would want to clone my Benny so very badly. But it won't be him of course. I might do it if cats weren't in need of homes anymore.

 

[Jcatbird]

Cloning is not as far away as you might think. I had decades of experience in the orchid profession and theses plants were very early clone choices. Because of how orchids replicate, a way to make them available to more people was something being pursued. Cloning was the choice. Orchid seeds do not have the hard outer coats that most seeds have that sort of feeds the baby as it germinates. In order to germinate they feed on particular fungus. At first copying this was done in labs but difficult.( orchids are grown in labs with an agar mixture now as well as allowing nature but seed to bloom can take tens years on some species) Cloning came about in the hope it would mass produce as well as reproduce award winning plants more quickly. There is much more to the story but from my personal experience in this, my answer to cloning my cat is a rapid and firm, no. I have seen far too many complete failures, deformations, sterility, unhealthy clones and very sad endings. Don’t get me wrong, hundreds of thousands of orchid clones produced were clones that came out well, even beautifully but to risk that with my beloved cat? It would not be my cat, too many others needs homes too! I would decline. Very good question!

 

[kittyluv387]

Cloning is not as far away as you might think. I had decades of experience in the orchid profession and theses plants were very early clone choices. Because of how orchids replicate, a way to make them available to more people was something being pursued. Cloning was the choice. Orchid seeds do not have the hard outer coats that most seeds have that sort of feeds the baby as it germinates. In order to germinate they feed on particular fungus. At first copying this was done in labs but difficult.( orchids are grown in labs with an agar mixture now as well as allowing nature but seed to bloom can take tens years on some species) Cloning came about in the hope it would mass produce as well as reproduce award winning plants more quickly. There is much more to the story but from my personal experience in this, my answer to cloning my cat is a rapid and firm, no. I have seen far too many complete failures, deformations, sterility, unhealthy clones and very sad endings. Don’t get me wrong, hundreds of thousands of orchid clones produced were clones that came out well, even beautifully but to risk that with my beloved cat? It would not be my cat, too many others needs homes too! I would decline. Very good question!

I haven't actually looked into it. But if that's the case I wouldn't. I'm even against people procreating if they know they have a disease that really affects quality of life that can be passed down.

 

[Elphaba09]

No. As others have said, a clone is just an identical twin. Sure, they may have some personality traits that are genetically influenced, but they are not the same animal. There are too many other cats in the world that need love and care. Why add to it just to have a cat that looks like one you already had?

 

[molly92]

So cloning actually refers to a few different things. Plants are very weird genetically and cellularly, and often can be cloned just by chopping off part and replanting it (potatoes). Orchids are more involved, and require modifications to the cell in a lab, but it is not the same process as animal cloning.

Animal cloning is taking the nucleus from the original animal and placing it in the egg cell from another animal. All of the nuclear DNA from the original animal will be identical, but as we know now, nuclear DNA is not the whole story. You may have heard of mitochondrial DNA being passed down only through the mother. That comes from the egg cell, which contains everything except the nucleus, including the mitochondria. Sometimes mitochondrial DNA contains a few important genes, and these will not be the same as the cloned organism.

Also, the cytoplasm of the egg contains information about how the embryo will grow. This, random chance, and other factors we don't fully understand, decide which genes are turned on where. This is called epigenetics, which is a hugely important field of study today. For example, take cats with orange and black colors. Some cells turned off the orange color gene, and some turned off the black color gene (in calicos, some cells turned off all colors to make white). Where and when that happens doesn't have much to do with nuclear DNA.

So clones are not the same as identical twins, because identical twins come from essentially identical egg cells as well as having identical nuclei. Cloning experiments in science were (and are) done actually not with the intent of creating an identical animal, but to show how much the nucleus matters in development.

There are a lot of complicated details that I brushed over and even more no one actually knows, but that's the general idea.

 

[Kat0121]

No, I think it would break my heart because it would be a replica and not my dear cat.

No for exactly the same reason.

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

As much as I loved Figaro and all my other cats, no. I'm just not sure how ethical it is to clone a living, breathing, feeling being.

 

[CatLover49]

No..cause the cloned one wouldn't be my boy...it would be a replica...And even though the cloned one would look like my boy...I would know in my heart it really wasn't...That my my boy was in cat heaven..It would be weird...My Snowball is thankfully still with me though..Im blessed...

 

[Krienze]

No. I've thought about it, like if i could, would I? And I realize that while the clone would look like my cats or dogs, it wouldn't actually be them. It'd be it's own animal, own personality, etc. I think I'd end up resenting them, honestly, for not being my animal, which wouldn't be fair to them at all. In the end, I think, what I have with all my animals is special and wonderful and I wouldn't want to duplicate it with a replica, I'd want to find an animal that needed a home, and give him or her one instead, make new wonderful memories with a new friend while cherishing the memories of my friends now gone.

 

[Willowy]

even though the cloned one would look like my boy

Not necessarily. Most cloned cats don't look like the original animal. As pointed out, conditions in the womb can change some coloring/patterning.

 

[Jem]

Nope...just nope.
Too many kitties in need of homes, too many wonderful little personalities to choose (or be chosen) from.
I have always said that you can't replace a beloved pet, but you can save another in need. I have never wanted a replacement, nor have I ever wanted a cat "just like" any other I've had, no matter how awesome they were.
Besides, there's just something creepy about cloning a pet. It's right up there like with Steven King's pet cemetery story in the "creep factor meter" for me. Not saying that we can bring our pets back to life, just that it creeps me out in the same way as that would.