$50,000 cat
 

[URL=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/12/22/state1724EST0109.DTL&type=printable]$50,000 cat[/URL]

[img]http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/wuerg/vomit-smiley-007.gif[/img]

pretty scary stuff

Let's see. The kitten is 8wks, delivered 2wks ago. Sounds like the company couldn't wait to collect their money. And of course the owner is gushing that it is "just like" her deceased cat, while the article is stating they advise clients that the kittens won't be the same as the genetic parent.

It's a beautiful kitten, but think how many homeless cats could be helped with $50,000 ! I'm sure that owner would find similarities in every 6-8wk Maine Coon kitten. I've had 4 Den-Den's - all different, but because of the breed, some things are always the same! The personalities stand out because of it! I hope this woman isn't expecting this poor kitten to be [U]exactly[/U] like her previous kitty.

I guess the lady has the money to spend,I just wish she would have been a good samaritan and spent it where it would do some good....on the cats and dogs noone would want to clone,alone and miserable in shelters.
The kitten is beautiful,I love Maine Coons,but there are thousands and thousands in North America,needing homes :sad:
I feel for the kitten,more than likely he will have several health-problems and not live very long,then what???
I am kind of glad I'll not be around 20yrs from now,I do not like where this world is going :sad:

$50,000.00 could have opened another rescue, funded some fundraisers for rescues, fed homeless animals for a year, gotten her at least 50 maine coons to spoil. I can't justify this, or understand why a company would do this. She paid $50,000.00 for a new Kitten that may not live very long...... I read she works for an airline... How can I get her job and my hands on $50,000.00????

That is the biggest waste of money she could have saved hundreds of animals. Spayed and neutered a ton of cats and dogs. But honestly do you think that even crossed her mind NOT

Personally, I think it's stupid, but if that's what she wants to spend her money on...what she doesn't realize (and I'll guarantee this, because if she did, she wouldn't have gotten it cloned) is that it isn't a carbon copy. It is an off-spring using the identical genetic make-up of one parent. The other parent, the donor egg, is going to "muddy up" the results, so to speak. People think cloning is like in the movies, where you have to identical creatures, but you don't, for many reasons. One is nature vs. nuture. While it can be argued to what degrees these have an effect, they both have an effect. Nature, at this point, can not be cloned. You can not, at this point in time, clone the life experience of another creature. Those memories and experiences which help form the cats personality can not be passed from one to another.

In summary...

Congratulations, lady. You've now got a $50 000 cat that looks like you're old one. Give me a call, I've got some swamp land I'd like to sell.

Well put Schwinn!! :thumbs up

Probably could sell the swamp, using just that line. I fear for what this poor kitty will indure health wise, and how they conned this woman into paying $50,000.00 for a cat.......

This will become quite a problem, when and if this pretty little girl gets ill. Which we all hope she doesn't, but, very well could. I love my Whin & Boo more then anything in the world, but nothing you could say to me, would make me believe they could be replaced. There could never be another just like them, no matter where they came from. Especially when they come basically label "NOT-HEALTH GUARANTEED". :sad:

She's basing her amazment and belief of this "cloning" process on the fact that her old cat loved water... and this kitten jumped in the bath with her.
Someone direct her to the water babies thread...not that uncommon, or at least it doesn't seem to be here?????? :confused:

I feel sorry for what she's been taken for, but, not as sorry as I feel for all the amazing Maine coons she looked past. Every animal is special and unique in its own way. Enjoy the individual things about every animal. Enjoy your animals as best you can when they are here, remember them when they are gone, and give that love to another animal when your heart has healed enough to make room. UNTIL THERE ARE NONE :(

I wonder how she will feel when this cat dies earlier than its uncloned contemporaries or has to be PTS due to terrible pain due to severe arthritis. Thay may have made advances in cloning but the animals all still die early deaths or get really ill.

And I agree re the money. That $50,000 would surely have helped some rescue group in her area - she could have found a cat that looked like her beloved deceased one AND helped more cats! (sigghh!!)

BUT.... what is it P. T. Barnum said, "There is a sucker born every minute!" os something like that.

Well put CK!! There IS a sucker born every minute. And to think the money that could have been used for greater good in rescue!!

I believe they also say "Fools and their money are soon parted...."

UGH!!!

I was just going to post a thread about this. I couldn't believe it. What is with everyone and cloning things. It's unnatural! And just a total waste of money!!!!