Woman Pays $50k To Clone Her Dog

If he had the money I am sure my dad would clone our cat in the event of its demise.

It's even worse if you consider that the clone may very well not even look like the original.

The only thing they'll have in common is genetic material... so yeah, if you love your pet's genes, why not.

I think it would be *interesting* to know if the dog would have anything in common with the original dog. I don't think it's an area where the science is very known.

But so far I haven't heard of any cloning where the clone doesn't have severe genetic defects and dies after a few years. That would also be interesting to see - if it's possible to make a *healthy* clone.

@Mirar, the clone would have the same DNA as the original, obviously, but that's about all we can say. There are many (so-called epigenetic) factors that determine how the organism develops.

If you want an example of a healthy clone, see Cc (aka Copycat) the first cloned cat, born in 2001 and as far as I'm aware still alive. By the way she doesn't look anything like her "mother".

Why pay that much to clone your pet, when you can give a home to a much less expensive shelter pet who needs a home?

Besides, all living things die eventually. We all must learn to deal with that. And cloning won't even bring your dead pet back. You'd just get an eerily similar one.

I'd pay that much to get rid of mine at times

One of the most remarkable stories about cloning is the "If By Chance We Meet Again" episode of This American Life -

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/291/reunited-and-it-feels-so-good?act=2

The story was also featured on a television broadcast of the program. Here's the teaser -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnaBY9PaS2A

I did see the episode of This American Life with that Brahma Bull that they cloned and turned out with a more violent disposition. But, even after seeing this, i know that if i was filthy rich,and $50k wasn't no thang, i would clone my little Manx cat, Bunny, that i just lost. it was a very recent loss, and i know it won't be her same awesome personality, but i would take that chance just to feel like she's still with us... it's probably just the grief talking though- $50k? ask me in a month if i would put $50k into a "replica" of my lost pet and i'd probably say no. i'm betting this decision to clone was more of an impulse decision immediately following her dog's death. i remember thinking the day it happened that i would do anything to have my kitty back. she was the sunshine of my life...

Most animal clones have defects and must be put down. To get to a healthy, viable clone, others along the way suffer.
If I had that kind of money to burn, I think of how many dogs I could save by giving it to shelters.

Dougert- Actually I think it took her like three years, and she had to save up the money, so it wasn't an impulse decision. (Saw her on an episode of "I Cloned My Pet" on TLC.)

Send me to there So I can have my baby back. I do not care what any one thinks. So stop and remember I am hurtting .

And when I say baby I mean My Son RUSSELL MEEK GRAVES>

Its appauling that idiot people will spend this kind of money for their pets but scoff at helping humanity. She should have donated the money to a homeless shelter, or other cause to help humans, if humans are well taken care of then more pets will be taken care of.

some people should just be removed from the genepool, and this lady fits the bill. hopefully she's doesn't have any real "kids".

Interesting how we have this conception that a clone would be the same thing as the real thing. You are an individual. To avoid the term "soul", let's use the word "essence". When you die, your essence would go somewhere else, or dissipate or whatever. You could not recreate that same essence in a cloned body, unless you could first capture the original essence and transfer it to the cloned body. The essence of the clone, whether it's a human or animal clone, would be completely different.
Lady's dog is dead and no amount of science is bringing it back. Just like Swedish06's son's clone wouldn't be the same thing. Just go have another baby or find another pet - your loved one is not returning.

Liam Lynch cloned his cat a few years ago. I thought that was pretty cool. He has some footage on his podcast.

ah sorry here is the vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzzCf6GUUB8

@ Ted

I think the "essence" you speak of is more the personality of the creature that is a sum of it's life experiences.

Since no two animals have the exact same experiences in life their individual "essence" would not be the same.

Also I don't think science has figured out how to fix the short telomeres issue that caused Dolly to die of old age at half her expected life expectance. Clones that come from donor cells have the same length telemeres as the original at their current age and so will physically age at a accelerated rate to catch up to the orginal so that both of them die around the same time.

Anderson needs to work on his mock shock. I was not convinced that he had not seen the photos of that woman's home several times, in multiple production meetings, before the taping.

If I had a spare 50k lying around, I would donate it to the Humane Society.