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Instagrammers Are Genetically Replicating Their Pets (inputmag.com) 90

Posted by msmash from the what-in-the-world dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: [...] Together, these furry duplicates are normalizing the world of animal cloning -- and they could be ushering in an era of petfluencer immortality. "Someone could clone their pet and replace the original. The world doesn't have to know. They may never know," says Melain Rodriguez, client service manager at ViaGen, which is behind the cloning of all the animals mentioned in this article. "Especially if it's one that looks exactly the same and they can just continue with that pet." (Rodriguez notes that the cloned pets aren't "reincarnations" and will have different personalities than their predecessors.)

The process, however, is complicated and expensive. The price tag for cloning a pet ranges anywhere from $35,000 to $50,000, depending on the animal. "It's very similar to IVF," explains Rodriguez. "The eggs and the embryos are created in a dish, and then they're transferred into the surrogate." She adds that customers often stomach the cost due to the emotions involved: "If you've ever had a wonderful pet that you love so much, it's so hard to lose them. A lot of our clients are in that situation."
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Instagrammers Are Genetically Replicating Their Pets More

Instagrammers Are Genetically Replicating Their Pets

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  • Asking for a friend.

    • Re:How about cloning a 'wife'? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by blahbooboo ( 839709 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @01:01PM (#62188095)
      One wife is usually enough work... you want a second?

      • Re:How about cloning a 'wife'? (Score:4, Funny)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @01:07PM (#62188111) Journal

        After living with you for a few years they realize you are a jerk and leave you. Thus, you clone a new one which doesn't have recent memories so you have another few years until they learn reality and hate you "again", rinse, repeat...

        #GroundJerkDay
           

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by galabar ( 518411 )
          Doesn't she take half your stuff with her each time she leaves? How soon before you can't afford a new clone?

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Tablizer ( 95088 )

            Buy ugly outdated stuff. Most women don't want that. Since you are cloning instead of dating, it won't matter much. Got it aallll covered, I'm ready for the future...

            • As a collector of vintage computers, i can attest that. My Mrs would be glad to be rid of it all.

              • Re: (Score:1)

                by Tablizer ( 95088 )

                Judge: "In this divorce settlement, I award you 1/2 of your husband's collectables."

                Wife: "Your Honor, why am I being punished here? I committed no crime."

        • You seem to think that you get an adult immediately after the cloning process

        • "After living with you for a few years they realize you are a jerk and leave you. Thus, you clone a new one which doesn't have recent memories so you have another few years until they learn reality and hate you "again", rinse, repeat..."

          Isn't that how billionaires do it?
          They all look the same, even without cloning.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Tablizer ( 95088 )

            Melania and Don actually look quite similar if you ignore the hair and age. Don is such a narcissist that he married himself.

            • "Melania and Don actually look quite similar if you ignore the hair and age. "

              They had a different mailman as dad as Eric's.

        • 'a few years'..? Bit optimistic there!

      • I'll never understand polygamists. Multiple wives sounds absolutely horrible!

        On the other hand, I always encouraged my wife to find an extra husband. Just make sure he's rich and likes to clean and change diapers.

        • What Mark Twain had to say about to his visit to Mormon country from his book Roughing It:

          ...I was feverish to plunge in headlong and achieve a great reform here--until I saw the Mormon women. Then I was touched. My heart was wiser than my head. It warmed toward these poor, ungainly and pathetically "homely" creatures, and as I turned to hide the generous moisture in my eyes, I said, "No--the man that marries one of them has done an act of Christian charity which entitles him to the kindly applause of mankind, not their harsh censure--and the man that marries sixty of them has done a deed of open-handed generosity so sublime that the nations should stand uncovered in his presence and worship in silence.

          Until reading his account I didn't understand why they recruited so successfully (even from Europe), until I considered that the old-maids and spinsters had pretty dismal economic and social prospects at home in those days, so being part of a sister-wife family could be relatively appealing. And, even if they didn't care for the husband, they didn't have to spend much time with him.

          • so being part of a sister-wife family could be relatively appealing. And, even if they didn't care for the husband, they didn't have to spend much time with him.

            Well, then may my future brother-husbands enjoy fine craft beer and fishing.

            • That's the spirit! :)

            • so being part of a sister-wife family could be relatively appealing. And, even if they didn't care for the husband, they didn't have to spend much time with him.

              Well, then may my future brother-husbands enjoy fine craft beer and fishing.

              Good luck to the ladies with that one. There is a bit of agitation for polyamory, where the woman has one beta guy to support her, and she can still chase Chad. But The betas are starting to learn that just being a paycheck as little sex as she can get away with giving you, then getting divorced and paying for the children she had with Chad isn't that good a deal.

        • "I'll never understand polygamists. Multiple wives sounds absolutely horrible!"

          Multiple mother-in-laws is even horribler.

        • I'll never understand polygamists. Multiple wives sounds absolutely horrible!

          On the other hand, I always encouraged my wife to find an extra husband. Just make sure he's rich and likes to clean and change diapers.

          Women's rights aren't usually very respected in polygamist cultures.

          • Women's rights aren't usually very respected in polygamist cultures.

            Neither are men's rights. Most men, anyways.

            For a man to have 5 wives, 4 other men had to go.

      • "One wife is usually enough work... you want a second?"

        I'll send her to a farm upstate? :-)

    • A fleshlight would be cheaper in the long run. /s

    • You are going to have to wait for about 19 years before she's old enough to get married, and she would likely prefer to date someone in her own age range.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tizan ( 925212 )

      You realize you get a baby...not an adult clone !

      Getting a kid in replacement for a wife is weird at best

    • That's a good idea for guys who like young women. Dump the wife, date the clone, repeat...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      If you cloned your wife you would have a baby that looks exactly like her, but wouldn't have her personality and would take 20 years to reach the point where she might possibly be interested in you.

      Reminds me of when people were worried that Saddam might clone himself.

  • More cats (Score:4, Insightful)

    by byromaniac ( 8103402 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @01:05PM (#62188103)
    Many years ago I read an article about researchers at Texas A&M cloning a cat. The interviewed researchers talked about the possibilities for people to clone favorite pets. The article ended with a quote by the head of the SPCA saying "Oh great, the last thing we need is a way to make more cats!"

    I think he had a point, there are a lot of great kitties down at the shelter that need homes. Just go get one.
    • It's the risk of getting stuck with a rotten one though.

      • The summary says that the personalities may not be the same anyway. So it's a crap shoot. The shelter cat is a smaller risk because of the cost.

      • It's the risk of getting stuck with a rotten one though.

        Who's to say a clone won't be a rotten one? All that's being cloned is the physical body. The personality and thoughts of the animal don't come along.

        On the whole it is far easier to get an idea an animal's personality at a shelter than one which is cloned. Besides, as the OP mentioned, do we really need more cats (and dogs)? There are millions across the U.S. looking for someone. Why not take care of them first? After all, aside from mo
      • That's not going to change even with cloning. In theory you might be able to ensure (relative) health. However that's it, because it's not going to be Fluffy McFlufferson no matter what, even if it looks identical. There are innumerable factors, just like humans, that go into shaping the personality of a pet. Even your own actions toward Cloney McFlufferson will not be identical (or even close in many ways) generating large variances in personality.

      • You can meet and greet animals before you adopt them. Also, I've never met a "rotten" cat as they all behave much more similarly than dogs do. You feed them and give them a litter box to go in, they're happy. End of story.

        Finally, temperament is almost certainly more learned than it is genetic.

      • Honestly, I'd suggest that if one feels "stuck with a rotten pet", that they take it to a shelter. It will have better prospects there than living its life in a home where it is resented.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • It's the risk of getting stuck with a rotten one though.

        You're talking about the clones, right? The beloved pet might just clone a monster.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        If you want a cat you have to accept that there will probably be some behavioural issues, and some medical costs.

        That said, even the ones who are less than ideal pets are still very rewarding to host. My current one is not very cuddly, but I still enjoy his company. I had to do a bit of training to stop him biting me. Sometimes you can see his little jaws opening a bit before he catches himself.

        That's just what cat ownership is. If you can't accept it, don't get a cat.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by vix86 ( 592763 )

      You aren't wrong on this point, but when I read "IGers cloning pets" I immediately jumped to IG Pet accounts.

      I don't know how many of them there are, but some pets are probably a source of income for their owners.

      The best example I can think of is Grumpy Cat. Grumpy Cat passed away some years ago, but what if their owners had cloned the cat and simply swapped the original out when the old one passed away. They could continue running the IG account.

      I think this is where you will see pet cloning playing a "pi

  • Do fur patches, markings persist? (Score:3)

    by Invisible Now ( 525401 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @01:11PM (#62188121)

    How similar are clones? Do the patches of fur coloring that make a dog or cat uniquely identifiable carry over into its clone?

    • yeah, see this is the problem with this industry- they clone the source dna into a litter and select the offspring that best match the original, and then destroy the rest as rejects. Your cloned pet costs significantly more lives than its own.

    • For cats and dogs with coat patterns - nope.

      One of the first things they discovered when they cloned cats was that the patterns in their coats (e.g. where the white and black patches are etc...) where entirely determined developmentally.

      You can clone Mr. Boots all you like, but the clones won't have the same pattern.

      • One of the first things they discovered when they cloned cats was that the patterns in their coats (e.g. where the white and black patches are etc...) where entirely determined developmentally.

        You can clone Mr. Boots all you like, but the clones won't have the same pattern.

        So what you’re saying is all I need to do is get the clone vat equivalent of a toaster printer and it’s possible to churn out any pattern to match? Woo! Sounds like another 30-50k add on, more if you want your last pets face to appear in the markings on your new pet. Of course the standard fees for add ons like gills will still be extra.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Or the same personality. A cat's personality depends heavily on how they are domesticated early in life.

        Cat's are incapable of reasoning, they only learn by trial and error. The clone probably won't display the same behaviours, like figuring out how to open doors or even the way they interact with humans. My cat knows the sounds he needs to make to get attention, but he only discovered it by accident - it's not a genetic trait.

        He also discovered that food comes in shopping bags so when we get back from the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      Can't clone mentally and other characters inside those pets though. :(

  • With the level of inbreeding in most purebred pets, isn't the DNA extremely similar already? (I recognize for non-purebreeds it is a totally different story.) It seems like that $35,000 would be much better spent supporting your local shelter.

    • It seems like that $35,000 would be much better spent supporting your local shelter.

      Anyone who would spend $35K on a pet is so far gone in Looney-Toon Land that rational suggestions would have no effect on them.

      • Anyone who would spend $35K on a pet is so far gone in Looney-Toon Land that rational suggestions would have no effect on them.

        Pets become like family and people will make irrational decisions to save them.

        Which is why there's Care Credit!! Now you can finance that cancer treatment for your beloved 15 year old cat. When the right thing to do is to euthanize it, or take it home and let it die in peace.

        My Mother said that God gave us pets so we could learn about death.

      • Not sure but I think it is french bulldogs that run crazy expensive. I think it is the breed that has to use IVF to mate and cesarean for birth. I think crazy, and I've spent thousands on procedures for my pets. I also think crazy to clone even if they could guarantee identical behavior. I am on my 3rd dog, one was from a shelter and 2 were fosters that I adopted. All have been or are like family. I enjoy that they have all been different. How boring if they all were the same. And my current dog had a short
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • we run it at an loss to soften people up to cloning

  • and live with the fact that death occurs, and that you, naturally speaking, probably outlive a couple of your pets.

    Good reminder before you get a pet.

    It won't be the same pet.
  • Sometimes, dead is bettah...

  • "Someone could clone their pet and replace the original. The world doesn't have to know. They may never know."

    Oh my, a world with unknown unknowns. How terribly terrifying.

  • Just goes to show some people just too much money. (Score:3)

    by Rhipf ( 525263 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @01:54PM (#62188257)

    If you have $35-50k to spend on cloning a pet you have way more money than you need (or deserve?).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rozzin ( 9910 )

      Well, on the up side..., they won't have that $35-50k anymore after they spend it--and someone else will.

  • Genetics is not the be all and end all. Often animals cloned have different coloration patterns. Yes, a single color fur will likely be the same, but your black with white spots cat could come out white with black spots.

    As for behavior, it more to do with nurture than nature. Your submissive, eager to please dog may clone into an aggressive pet because he was not the runt of a litter of more aggressive brothers.

  • it seems a shame to waste an opportunity to get to know another pet, maybe even a different breed. The new pet is more than just a replacement for the old one.

  • Creepy. (Score:3)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @02:54PM (#62188519)
    Just buy a new pet you weirdo.
  • Wow, that's only 1/5th the price of buying a high end pet from a high-end breeder.

  • Reminds me of The 6th Day RePet..but where's Arnold?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • It is not a pet, it is a source of income, often lucrative income that ends when the pet dies. Why risk a winning formula on an untested different pet. Someone should do a followup on Grumpy cat's owner.
  • In movies (Gemini Man) and books (Dune), there is the false notion that a clone will be identical to the original in every way. That is simply not the case. In the case of a pet, things like personality and fur patterns can be different in a clone.

  • That slight limp from broken leg as a puppy? That cut above the eye? The torn ear on the tomcat?
    A clone is not the same animal. Pretending it is opens the doors to a lot of abuses, trying to force a new animal into the old animal's space. I'd be very concerned for the well-being of new animals that just aren't behaving like the old animal.

    • Famous instagram pets might not usually have a limp, or obvious scars...

      And anyway, both of those features can be replicated with cosmetic surgery for a lot less than they're paying for the cloning.

  • Instagrammers? It's Instagrammers, you say?!

    OMG what will Instagrammers do next?

    MUST stop the Instagrammers!

  • Are Instagrammers an emerging species/race? I count myself as an Instagram-user rather than Instagrammer, clearly there is a distinction! We are well on the way to a situation like the film 'The Island's it seems, perhaps the Kardashians already have an army of cloned organ-donors in storage?
  • MOST dogs I have ever known (and a few cats) DESERVED IMMORTALITY. They were loving sweet creatures who gave WAY more love back than we mere humans deserved. (I'd post a few pictures, if I could...of Molly, Gigi, and Peanut, just to start...they had SUCH good hearts) But...NO. There are plenty of LOVING SWEET animals at the local shelter who are just BEGGING for a chance to show you and me that they DESERVE to be immortal...at least in memory. :'( They crossed the Rainbow Bridge years back and into Ble

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