Kitty cloning

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According to this article, we may have the technology to clone cats within the year.

Is this a good idea? Would you want to clone your pet? Is cat cloning morally any less sketchy than human cloning?

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Answers

I'd say it's significantly sketchier, since the last I heard, we weren't euthanizing thousands of unwanted humans every year.**

I just had a discussion with a friend about cat breeding the other day, and everything we agreed on applies double for cloning: it's just a cat. Sure, cats have different personalities, but I've owned probably two dozen cats in my life, and they were all cats. Your particular cat that you love may not be replaceable to you because of the emotions you associate with it, but there is very little that distinguishes one freshly weaned kitten from another. There are thousands of perfectly good cats that are just as fabulous and annoying and cat-like as the one you lost.

I can think of few animals that are LESS suitable for cloning than cats. (Mosquitos, maybe.)

**If anyone turns this into an abortion debate, I will kick them very hard. I know that threat won't deter Rudeboy, but that's okay, because he's Rudeboy.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001


OK, how about dogs then? That technology is also in the works. Would you want "Doc" and "Mochi" as pets for the rest of your life?

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Nope. They're bad examples because they each have pretty serious genetic defects (Doc's hips, Mochi's psychosis), and the same factors that would it a bad idea to breed them would make it a bad idea to clone them. Even so, although I love my dogs, I recognize that I would love ANY two dogs that I chose using the same criteria I use to choose Doc and Mochi. I might not be able to love a shih tzu, but if I had chosen one of Doc's litter mates, or adopted a dog from the lab rescue group (as I intended to do), or waited two years and then adopted the stray who recently showed up at my house, I would have loved any of those dogs.

The thing is, we don't become attached to humans or cats or dogs because they are perfect representatives of what we think we want. Flaws and imperfections and personality and uniqueness are all part of what makes us bond to other creatures, but it's not one particular set of unique characteristics that makes a match. Getting to know a new animal is part of the bonding experience; having an exact replica of the animal you had before would take all the mystery out of that.

Besides, the same thing applies: too many damn dogs and cats in the world. I can see more reason for responsible dog breeding than I can for any kind of cat breeding, and I suppose there might be uses for cloning dogs within the context of a breeding program -- I don't know enough about dog genetics to comment on that. But just for pets, no way.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001


Well, I think the issue of dog and cat overpopulation really is pretty analogous to the situation with humans. In each case there is a general oversupply, but also a shortage of dogs/cats/children with specific "desireable" characteristics. Many people want kids who are genetically their own, so they go through arduous fertility treatments instead of adopting. My parents spent nearly a year and thousands of dollars to acquire their purebred dog rather than adopting a stray who needed a home (I chastised them repeatedly for doing this, but they didn't care).

Cloning technology could make those desireable animals/people more accessible to those who want them. Would this cut down on the number of people who would otherwise adopt stray animals or harder-to-place kids? Maybe--but in a free society, is that justification for banning or restricting a technology that people want?

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001


I would never want my cat cloned. I'll be devastated when she dies, but a clone wouldn't be 'her' -- it would be a cat that looked eerily like her, but behaved differently. It would be unsettling, not comforting. When it's time to have another cat, I'll get a different one that I'll love in a different way.

And I agree with Beth about there being far too many cats to begin with. Making more by any means goes against me.

The only people I can think of who'd want a cat cloned are people so attached to their pet that they can't even let go when it dies, and that makes me very sad because the clone would never be the same animal they lost. The 'soul,' for lack of better words, would not be the same, and that's what you care about, isn't it? Having a stranger looking back out of my cat's eyes would freak the hell out of me.

I guess some breeders might want a perfect show specimen cloned, but that seems to take all the fun/challenge/development out of it, doesn't it? Not that I think breeding show cats is a particularly good idea either.

But I think the technology will come, insanely expensive, for those extremists who want it. I cannot imagine it catching on as a common thing. The Michael Jacksons of the world will have favorite pets cloned, and the rest of us will get new kittens.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001



I don't think cloning will be terribly expensive. The technology is actually fairly straightforward.

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

I don't think cloning mammals is a great idea. Nevermind the inherent physical problems with clones. And I'm sure I could find some nice intellectual way to justify it, but ultimately, cloning animals and people feels wrong.

I know that sounds silly here where we all are so intellectual, but it really comes down to that gut reaction thing of "ew, yuck!"

Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should to me. I don't have a problem with cloning plants that are disease resistant, but the whole idea of mammal cloning totally creeps me out. Maybe it's the complexity of the mammalian system, or that I've gone through having kids the natural way, but cloning mammals gives me the heebyjeebies.

What's worse is that I have no sensible argument for why.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2001


I just reread this article of Evany's on cats and sperm banks which seemed strangely appropriate for this discussion. This is essentially how I feel about dog and cat breeding, and by extension, cloning. (This is just my emotional reaction, leaving aside issues of ethics and overpopulation.)

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001

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