The type of people who are spending that much on cloning are not people who want to donate to shelters which is so unfortunate because that kind of money could save SO many animals' lives.
Yeah right? Why? Just get another pet and donate the money somewhere, anywhere, especially shelters. Barbara Streisand is an idiot. It’s not going to be your same baby as before just because it’s genetically identical. Just get another one. What the heck?
When I became a "crazy cat dad", I loved my two girls immensely. They changed my life forever. As they got older and each had their own medical conditions, I learned a lot about feline health by watch you, Jackson, and doing my own research. Armed with that knowledge, I made a promise to my girls that I would adopt, in their memory, after they passed on. As much as I miss them, I would never have attempted to clone them even if I did have the financial means to do so. I feel for every animal stuck in a shelter that has no home. After my girls passed, I kept my promise and adopted an older, bonded pair and they now have a home to call their own and I love them as much as I loved those two girls that started it all.
That’s a great way to be, giving a home to an animal that just needs a little help, is one of the best things that you could do for them, then they quickly become our fur babies, they aren’t our pet anymore, we’re their human. 🤙🏽
I loved my Chloe Cat beyond my ability to say. She was that "once in a lifetime " pet for me and when I lost her, I grieved for the longest time. I didn't think I would ever love another pet the way I loved her. However, in her memory, I adopted another, older cat, my beautiful boy Fitz who was 10 when he rescued me. And I was right - I don't love Fitz the way I loved Chloe, but that's because he's a different cat with a different personality so I love him in a different way - just as much, but different . I also adopted another little girl, Lily, who's disabled, and I love her differently to Chloe and Fitz, because she's different. I'll never forget my beloved Chloe but that doesn't stop me from loving my current furbabies, just as I'll love all my future cats, all of whom will be adopted "hard to home" older or disabled cats because they need me. I'll spend my time and money helping cats who are already here and in need - that's my way of honouring the love I still have for my Chloe.
There is no reason you should love Fitz the same as you loved Chloe. They were different kitties... with their own unique preferences. Its the same with me and my two. Ares keeps the rodent population in check and Hermes handles my mental issues. I don't love them the same... Hermes is demanding in terms of affection and Ares isn't.
Thank you for taking in disabled and older cats! They deserve even more love then kittens because they have been there done that and have been abandoned. I have so much love and respect for you!
Btw, I adopted a Birman kitty, who’s owner just “don’t want him no more” and he has epilepsy. I too have epilepsy. So, we take care of each other, and I completely understand what he’s going through. Obviously the previous owner didn’t want an imperfect “perfect” cat. Mickey is beautiful. Actually, I have a video with him in it on my channel. 👍🏽🌹
Just all tears over here. Lost my kitty almost a year ago, and still miss him so very much. At the beginning of this video, my thinking was that the only thing that would stop me from cloning my dear feline would be its affordability, but then you got into the details of what is actually done to get to the final result, and that convinced me that it's a terrible path to take. Much better to donate what I can, and adopt from a shelter, when I am finally ready to love a new little being. Thank you!
I am so sorry for your loss and hope you find healing and peace. Fostering kittens is also a wonderful way to help out. You get to experience the love of baby cats trusting you after you raised them, but you can also give them away if you're not quite ready to permanently commit to anyone yet.
You are right. The clone may look the same but it is NOT the "same". It's better to save a cat or dog from a shelter. Donating to a shelter in the name of you beloved departed furbaby would be a lasting tribute. We had a recent pet death in our family. I will never forget him. I have video and photos as alasting memory. Whatever the next furbaby to join the family will be loved and wanted. I wonder about these surrogates who will only be a vessel to produce something she doesn't understand. What is her life going to be? This is the horror equivalent to the human "handmaids tale". Makes my heart break.
I'm in a similar place as you. My heart goes out to you! My cat died in 2020 (NOT of natural causes 💔) while I was away at college in another state. It was a devastating shock. Lots of tears. But while watching this video all I could think about was even if they perfected their system and didn't harm surrogate animals and didn't discard/donate dozens of "failed clones" to shelters... Wouldn't it be the worst heartbreak to pay all that money, wait all that time, only to experience your cloned pet having a totally different behavior and personality than the original? Every day you'd look at it and be reminded of the heartbreak, but have none of the lost love (you went through all of that for) fulfilled. My cat had very unique behaviors that no other cat in my life has ever done. I loved all the cats in my life, but her personality and her unique behaviors were what made her special, not her fur pattern and color, etc. It's similar to my reason of why I would never support human cloning or "upload" of a consciousness. I believe in souls. I believe it's our soul that makes us who we are. And I don't believe that can be captured or copied or digitized. And while I still have days I cry because I miss my sweet kitty girl who was taken away too soon under horrible circumstances outside my control, I'll always treasure and find comfort in the memories of her sweet purr-filled headbutts and cuddles when she comforted me in some of my darkest days. She was such a blessing through some of the toughest years of my life, and her life absolutely had meaning and huge purpose beyond what she even knew. She was so playful and loving and happy, and that's how I choose to remember her. We don't have to focus on the grief or loss or painful death. We can focus on their life and celebrate that and all the good they brought to our lives. 💜 Just my two cents for what it's worth.
I am so sorry! I believe that's your baby in your pic, OMG! What a DARLING little one! 😻 I'm glad you are taking the time to grieve and reassess what you have to offer to a new kitty in your home. Just remember, we may have limited resources but love is not one of them!
Good for you! There's already so many pets out there that just need a loving home. They should be our priority. I wish you and Ivan long life and happiness.
There's only one way I would clone my cat: Cuddle Clones, which are stuffed animals that are custom made to look exactly like your pet. It will cost you a couple of hundred dollars, but it's a lot less objectionable ethically. It's the only thing I would ever consider. Also, as Vision put it: What is grief but love persisting.
I had a cat made by Cuddle Clones while alive. Her "clone" looks just like her. I sent them pictures from every side and angle. My "cloned" cat Baby is still very much alive and well---she's only 8----but I do have her as a stuffed animal. Baby loves to sleep right next to her "clone". I'll have Baby forever. (Jan Griffiths).
@@douglasgriffiths3534 I just lost my kitty of 11 years a little over a week ago and I have to admit that before he was gone I did look into cloning but thankfully the cost was high enough that I didn't go that direction. I did however order a Cuddle Clone which I hope will look like him but as I didn't have photos of him when he was healthy directly from every angle (though everything but his belly shows in at least one of them) I'm not sure how accurate the result will be. Thankfully he was an all black cat so any part that is interpolated should be pretty close to being correct.
Thank you all for what you’ve already said. I never want to judge the person who seeks to defy the will of nature. It’s, of course, very tempting. But think extra hard about it. For the reasons I outline, and others have said here.
I have never seen a Jackson Galaxy video with a judgmental vibe and it's why you're such a great communicator. So let us in the comments be *that guy*. Anyone who "cares" so much that they want to clone their animal but doesn't care what happens to the surrogate, what happens to the X number of kittens who don't make it through the quality control (UGH!!! FEEL SICK SAYING THAT!) process, that person DOESN'T CARE about animals.
My childhood cat was amazing. He was my best friend. The sweetest companion, everyone in the family still talks about him 37 years later. There is no way I could ever replicate his experiences that made him who he was. He spent his first few weeks with his very protective mother and his 3 siblings. My grandfather and grandmother cared for them. He then came home to our house with his feisty sister. I was a very gentle 2 1/2-year-old and I doted on him 24/7. I carried him around in a tissue box, so I wouldn't accidentally squeeze him while trying to hold him. He was never left alone until I was 5 and had to go to school. Then he would walk me to school through the wooded area behind my house and stop at the school fence and watch me walk into the building. He would come running to greet me in the backyard when I got home. He was pretty much the Lassie of cats. Back in the 70s cats were indoor/outdoor. We lived on a culdesac in town that backed up to undeveloped land with acres for them to roam and no predators. I'm not sure he would be as happy stuck indoors all the time. He loved to hunt and was always bringing back mice and other rodents. They were Maine Coone mixes. Not fat but absolutely huge. He and his sister would terrorize the neighbor's cocker spaniels when they would let them loose in the neighborhood. They had each other's backs. He ended up dying when I was about 12. He had a heart condition and couldn't be saved. I always thought it was because his heart was just too big. His sister lived until she was about 18 and died from cancer.
As much as I miss my pets from the past, I LOVE having room in my house to save another cat. I have 3 cats. All are rescues and 2 were a bonded pair of brothers they wanted to keep together. Since I didn't clone my last 2 cats, I was able to keep Buggy and Lemur together where they will remain for life. Their sister, they just had to learn to love and now, they're a rescued pride!
Very true, and I agree. I would love to still have our lovely Jake, who passed away last week- but then I wouldn’t have room to welcome a cat in need. It would be putting my wants over the needs of the animals who deserve loving homes. We have been so glad- we have the most wonderful household of cats, some of whom would have been euthanised if they didn’t have a home. That money could be used to help refugees, other animals and all sorts of amazing causes. Just my opinion.
@@sylviekins Yeah if one has 35k to 50k to clone ONE pet, why not actually own a dozen at that rate... then you can save and look after twelve lives and have a unique bond and memories of each cat/dog you have. I'd make that a possibility if I could. Since most people only have one to four dogs or cats at a time anyway. It would do better to just adopt a few more than you normally would (if you have the space, time and money for it) and have more furry loves to dote on.
I’m going to file this one under “stuff that should definitely be illegal.” Entirely too many people never stop to think that just because we *can* do something doesn’t mean we *should.*
Illegal it should not be. This kind of technology CAN be incredibly useful for helping to boost endangered animal numbers, for example. However, it should be heavily discouraged and made more difficult for anyone wanting to use it to clone personal pets (or maybe even humans in the future). If money is no object, people will do what they want to do, but the more we work together to educate and communicate why someone should NOT do something, the more likely it is that that person will put their money towards other means.
Well, I’m of the opinion that using genetic modification to remove genetic diseases with DNA that’s healthy is fine for animals and humans. But only for genetic disease or flaws (like an embryo that would become a baby with a hole in the heart. Remove the defective DNA that would cause the hole and replace with one that’ll produce a normal healthy heart.) For animals the tools and science of genetics could be really fantastic for species on the brink of extinction especially if we’ve had the foresight to preserve the DNA of now-dead individuals. But the whole field of genetics would need some strict controls and laws. I’d never advocate the concept of “designer babies” whether human or pet. While I believe we have the right to a healthy child, we should never have the choice to choose eye colour, hair colour, tall or short and such.
@@NatYourAverageNerd agreed about aiding the endangered animals, that's pretty much the only reason i think it should be done for if it is to be done at all.
It should be illegal to do it commercially, scientifically it’s okay imo if the project is approved by certain ethics organizations. There’d be no progress if we banned all experiments and research that include animals, we’d have no medicines or vaccines… you can’t do everything in silico.
It’s a NO for me and it is insidious! The abuse of “surrogate animals” - they didn’t sign up for this. Just disgusting this whole process. I had no idea of the awful details. Thanks Jackson for putting this out there!
Well said. The love comes with grief. It's a cycle of life. The world has enough animals that are yet to be rescued. Let's not add those failed cloned animals to it and create more burdens. As much as I would love to bring back my 10 year old Bengal cat that passed a few years ago, but her passing made me extend my love to four more rescues now living happily with us.
Hubby and I were literally talking about this earlier. Our Skilos is the best chihuahua ever. I can't imagine life after he's gone. He's already 13 years old and is exhibiting different behaviors. He's more clingy and needy. He's the sweetest baby boy. But I agree with the comments, it may be him physically but his soul, his character, his experiences with my kids as they grew with him the last 13 years will not be the same. We will have to grieve and move on. 😭
Right. I think it would be more upsetting to have a new cat who looks exactly like your past cat but...isn't them. That's part of why I've tried to get cats that don't look similar.
@@fuzzypumpkin7743 You raise a fantastic point. You can already get a cat that looks exactly like another cat, and they might even have similar temperaments and traits, but they're not the same cat. I know families who tried exactly that and it didn't go well until they accepted that they had a new, unique pet. Cloning is no different.
@@fuzzypumpkin7743 When I had decided to adopt another cat after my sweet girl passed away last year, there's this teeny tiny temptation to look for a similar looking cat (I had a pure white cat, the ideal Longcat). However, I knew from my experience with her was that the best way to find a your new furry friend is to meet the cat and see which one was interested in you on their own. It doesn't matter the age or color or the way they look, just as long as they seem to gravitate to you is a good sign. Now I have beautiful and charming grey and white Tabby cat I adopted. She was still in the last stages of her kitten age, but she looked at me straight through the glass and cried out to me when I was looking and wondering which cat to meet and greet first. The rest is history.
you never move on, years after they are gone you will look back and cherish the happy memories of them when I was 11 I lost my dog he wasn't just a pet he was like a brother to me, I'm 36 now and I still look back at the amazing memories with him
Halfway through this, I had to hold my Remy and tried not to cry. Honestly, clone or not, it's not fair to expect an animal to be exactly like what we've lost. We've had and lost dogs that we've loved deeply. And we've (my family) known it was a bad idea to get a new dog too soon and not to get the same kind because we knew that it would be too easy to put unfair expectations on the new dog to live up to the last one. I love my cats. They're my greatest loves. Remy especially. And he's getting older and I'm preparing myself for the inevitable goodbye. It absolutely crushes me to think about. Nothing makes me cry faster. I don't even come close to having the means to even consider cloning, even if I disregarded the ethical problems with it. When it comes down to it, it reads to me the same as getting a new pet and expecting it to be exactly the same. It will lead to disappointment for the owner and the animal won't understand why they're not "good enough". We are all, animal and human, a combination of our genes and our experiences. Could Remy have better teeth if I'd had him from kittenhood and he had a better diet when his adult teeth came in? Yeah, probably. Would have saved me a lot of money in dental work and he wouldn't have a lopsided grin now. But having him cloned doesn't mean that I get to "fix" that. It just means another cat that looks like him and probably has the same general temperament gets a shot at it. It wouldn't *be* Remy. It's not rewinding the clock. I could never perfectly recreate his life in a way that would assure the clone would turn out exactly the same. The clone could possibly not choose me the way Remy did. He snubbed my ex (who owned him for a year before I met him) and bonded to me so closely that my ex let me take him when we divorced. I think cloning has its uses, such as rescuing critically endangered animals from the brink of extinction. It could have its ethical uses eventually as the technology improves. But cloning *individuals*, especially with the expectation of a cloned individual to be exactly like the original, isn't right. It's also really quite vile and another example of capitalistic greed that these companies take a science that has the potential to do good and manipulate people's grief and love to spend absurd amounts of money like this. Especially as wasteful as it is with all the "failures" and "rejects" that happen. It's not a "clean" enough process for this. I really didn't expect to have such a strong opinion on this, but here it is. Thank you, Jackson, for addressing this. I didn't know it was something I needed to see.
The weirdest thing to me is how owners delude themselves in imagining that their cloned animal will get the same PERSONNALITY as the one they lost, just as similar twins can have radically different personnalities even if they share the exact same DNA code with the same education and the same parents at the same time ! Unless what they miss the most is their animal appearence and very generic tendancies, this makes does not seem to make any sense.
Ah, Jackson, I love both your passion and your clarity and wisdom. Suffering grief and loss is part of life. And, if we learn its lessons, this should make us treasure the times we have with them.
I agree totally. My favorite cat Bella died suddenly after getting her teeth cleaned. I picked her up on a Friday at closing time. My vet said she would be fine. I had them cleaned a few years earlier. I knew when I brought her home that she was dying. I could not reach my vet. We spent the weekend going to emergency care. It was traumatic for her, my husband, and me. The ER wanted to keep her overnight on Saturday. I said no. I knew she was dying and she needed to be with us and not alone in a cage in a cold room. Th ER put in their report to my vet that I refused care because it was going to be $600. My vet knew that we would have spent multiples that amount if I thought she could recover. It’s been over 6 years and as you can tell, I will never get over it. I went into such detail to make a point regarding cloning. I believe that if I had cloned her and if she was the same sweet loving Bella, I would relive that terrible weekend over and over. I cannot think of any circumstance where cloning is humane and morally acceptable.
I doubt it, their kidney probably could not purge the anesthesia, I assume they did blood test for this though. I have more than one Vet refuse to clean the teeth of my former cat as he got old since they use anesthesia and his blood work was not good enough for his kidney.
Jackson, thank you so much for this message! The way you describe the grief over a soulmate pet is spot on - it was comforting to me to hear these words from you because I finally feel like someone understands what I’ve felt since my soulmate cat tragically died in a house fire almost 3 years ago. You make some excellent points here that people considering cloning may not have thought of. Animals, just as we, are influenced by not only genetics but life experience. And while I understand how that grief could lead people to want to pursue cloning, the cost is too great to the animals who are made to suffer for it, and I feel that causing that suffering for the sake of hoping to lessen your own is not only selfish, but also disrespectful to the memory of the lost loved one. I would do anything to have my kitty baby back, but subjecting others to suffer is where I draw the line.
When my daughter's first cat, Boris, passed away, it sent my kid into a tailspin. Yet strangely a month later, a former bottle baby siamese mix literally fell in our laps, followed by a feral tuxedo kitten. A cat rescuer told us that Boris had sent them to us as they immediately bonded to my child and he saw she needed more kitties to love. We would've missed these two blessings if we'd cloned him as well as the kind of cat that is good for one stage of your life might not be the personality you want twenty years from now.
@@JacksonGalaxy I actually thought you succeeded in *not* being just reactionary and anti-tech or anti-scientific. You covered the various ethical contexts very well. And pointed out the pitfalls of applying scientific principles which are not well understood. Genes do not have a one-to-one correlation from one species or individual to another. Context and epi-genetic factors are all. Also, as human beings, we have a great deal of responsibility to other beings in our eco-system. We've done enough to destroy habitats and selectively breed species for our own profit. We need to take a much broader view of our ethical responsibilities when it comes to our amazing technologies and scientific understanding.
My friends and I speak of "The Agency" the mysterious force that makes cats show up when you need them. We're all cat lovers and very seldom go looking for cats. They will show up somehow. One of mine came with my house (plus his now passed on buddy). One was a feral kitten who let himself into my house when the door was ajar. The last was abandoned in an apartment and the landlord, an acquaintance of mine, convinced me to take her in. Love them all.
I had a friend out of grief who adopted a cat to "replace" a lost one, she realize soon you do not replace easily; he can be a clone, a perfect copy, but still a different soul
I think instead of "replacement", a better mindset is to take the love you felt for the pet that you love, and share that love with a new pet who is just as deserving. The new pet will enjoy this, and I believe it's the best way to honor your old cat. It doesn't need to be more than that. Just be prepared to live a new a different life with a new and different pet.
On a very shallow surface level, I’ve thought it would be neat to have a clone of my childhood cat. She was very much my heart cat, and sadly only had a short life because she lived outside. My parents were against having pets in the house back then, but they have changed their minds over the last 15-20 years. I thought how cool it would be to get to give her the kind of life she deserved to have back then, spoil her rotten, and get to have more time with her and make sure she knew how loved she was! But then I thought a little more and realized, no. The new clone might know how loved she is, but my old childhood cat would still be gone. My memories of her are distant now, but I loved her very much and she knew it and loved me back, and I will never forget her. She is gone and always will be. And it wouldn’t be right to clone her for a lot of reasons. I’m sure I’d love the clone cat, but she would not be my childhood cat even if she looked just like her. She would be her own individual self, just like any other cat I could adopt one day would be. It’s much better to make room for other cats and pets who are already born and need a home into my heart and do the best I can by them in her memory. My current cat is such a love bug, and I make sure to give him the best life I can.
That's a great way to put it. Giving a new cat a home while you make a new friend. I'm doing that with my new girl I adopted a few months back. My first cat that passed away last year, taught me everything on how to truly appreciate a cat (I lived with cats and dogs my entire life, but none were ever "mine" until Snowball 14 years ago). Now I try to do right in her memory by caring and loving my current girl, Rachelle.
This saddens me. My Flower is my baby, when she passes I will be broken. I’ve lost a lot but I wouldn’t clone anyone, even after losing my mom at 14. I agree with you Jackson. Grief needs to be normalized. We go through it and most of us come out the other side. It’s okay for all of us to feel emotions.
I have had so many cats and thought I would never get over their loss and never adopt another. That did not last long. There is nothing better than finding another little soul to bring back the joy to your life.
This gives me some comfort! I've never lost a cat before, I have two cats and I dread the day I lose them. 😢 But at the same time, I will be happy to rescue another furball one day!
I lost my dog last summer. She was a special girl with a calming effect on stressed/scared people and animals. Even cats and sheep that she had never met before! But she had been sick her whole life due to allergies, and died only 8 years old. I thought I would never get another dog, but right now I have a puppy sleeping on my lap. My mom always says that love is one of the few things in life that there becomes more of for every person (or pet) you share it with.
It was actually the reason I started volunteering at shelters. My former cat was lost, actually trapped but that is to long a story for now, and it started me thinking about how I need to experience being with, and helping other cats, just like I would be forced to if he never came back. He came back but I started anyway. It is really therapeutic seeing all the cats find a home. You want to take them home until you see others do so and then it just feel selfish so then you make it about trying to make each one as adoptable as you can. Heal them, as such, if needed, and support them, if needed or not, so they find someone to have a partnership with like you hopefully do with your own.
Absolutely agree with you. I’ve had so many cats and dogs over the years and as painful as it is loosing them I would never even consider cloning. I believe in nature. Thank you for all you do.
I went on a whole rant about this on Twitter and I'm too heart broken to go over it again. Just to keep it short, my shared experience of time with Sadie and Lucy was the only time in existence. It was experienced by me, as well as them. An unimaginable amount of animals who need homes are euthanized in shelters every. Single. Day. This couldn't be more self serving.. I understand grief is overwhelming but it's so self serving to clone a pet. And like you said, the companies are praying on grief. I have a feeling I will agree with everything you say and I'm glad you're going to talk about this.
I agree 100%. This precious time we have with our fur kiddos is just as precious to them. We adopt our sweet babies KNOWING we will out live them. I'd rather have precious memories the 13-20 years I have with them versus cloning to doing it again. SO many unwanted animals in this world deserving of loving homes. I'm a FIRM believer in adopting rescues or "throw aways" as mine have always come from, to then when they cross that rainbow bridge.. Bringing in new fur babes to love and to providing them their best life!
Thankyou!!!!! Thankyou . I’m so happy other people are as disgusted by this as I am. Humans can be so self serving . These people need therapy not access to cloning technology 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
@@kqusa I agree. After my senior cats passed (very close to one another in time.. in a way bittersweet because they were so close I'm in a way grateful Lucy didn't have to be without Sadie for long - I was in the process of getting her a new companion when she got very ill suddenly and our attempts to save her failed) I adopted two cats. I went out of my way to find one that had been available the longest and he is such a good boy. The two new souls have bonded now and are so close. ❤
@@kqusa EGGSactly. Plus, we won't be the same person when living through their lives a second time. We change with time, too, just like they do, so since the experience won't be the same, why not give that new, fresh time to another deserving animal?
Absolutely, agree 100%! I too had a pet only he was a ferret named, Benny. Loved him so deeply, he died of natural causes in my arms years ago and I literally felt my heart break and I still weep sometimes thinking of him. I would give anything to have him again, but, that's just it, I can't have my "Benny" back. Think about it, Jackson said something very profound, we now can clone the body, but we cannot clone the spirit with the love, the personality, the experiences that made that pet so very special in our hearts. I can find another ferret, the same sable markings, the specks of black on his nose, but you know what, he may not be Benny, but I can love him just as much and be touched by his special soul just as I was with Benny. Blessing upon you, Jackson for all the great work that you do, my sympathy to all those who have lost that very special pet, and to Benny - wardance upon the golden fields across the rainbow bridge and know that I still love you. ❤🌈
This is so horrible. Thank you for talking about cloning, Jackson. My cats can return to me in a different, unique body, but only if they choose to do so. It is a spiritual connection I have with them. It's not a machine that can be simply recreated.
@@petervansan1054 You're paying tens of thousands of dollars and taking advantage of other animals to gestate these copies, which is complex enough that you're not even guaranteed an exact match. So you're MAYBE getting a twin sibling of your pet, if this massive organizational project works out, and producing multiple other puppies/kittens in the process, while other adoptable strays die unwanted in shelters. And, as Jackson points out, you're getting all the same health issues and death that you went through with the pet you cloned. It's psychologically troubling, financially foolish, and unkind to animals.
@@paganpines but it makes you happy, no? I honestly won't do it (mostly cause I don't live in US) but I don't know what I will do when my cat dies. I love him so much :(
I lost my beloved feline buddy of 17 years, Mondo, almost a month ago now. It will be a month this Wednesday morning. He would have been 21 years old in August. His loss was sudden and unexpected and it hurt(s) like hell. Yet, under no circumstances would I clone him. I cherish him for who he was and the magic he brought to my life. I remember with fondness and bittersweet tears, the magic of his younger self as well as the sweet grandpa cat he aged into. His magic continues in my memory and my heart which has no desire to repeat the past, but to give the love I have to a creature who lives now and is not wanted. I would rather adopt a new magic sprite than grope emptily and desperately after something that has come, a create that has gone, and a memory and love that should continue in its own lovely form. Life is bittersweet. Loss is part of that.
Having had the Perfect Cat, TC the Calico for 17 years, this is one whom I would have cloned. As a Calico she was extremely unique in her markings, truly one of a kind. She arrived as a stray, fully grown, house-trained, spayed, and skilled in the hunting skills of an outdoor cat. She was perfect, so saying goodbye at her advanced age was terrible. The technology was not ready, so her unique genetics were lost forever. Then it occured to me that what made her so perfect was the life that she had lived before showing up in our backyard. Her learning experiences made her the way she was. She passed in 1981, and I still miss her to this day.
At one point I thought about cloning my Burmese cat. He was one in a million. Discussing it with my spouse, we decided that it would diminish our cat's very being. He was a singular creation - to be loved for who he was. It would also be unfair to the cloned version as we would expect them to react just like their predecessor, but they don't have that pet's life experience - unfair expectation on the new generation. Love them for the unique being they are
I feel like if I cloned my cat, lily 2.0 would still be a different cat. She wouldn't have that bond we had nor her memories. I'd prefer to adopt one of the many cats that need homes, especially a senior
Yeah, I lost my dog last summer, and it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about cloning her. It wouldn't be her anyway, and it feels like violating her memory. I don't really understand what people are thinking. If you ignore the ethical questions for a moment, just think about the pain you'd feel by seeing a look-alike of your dead pet behaving in a totally different way. I "understand" why they clone horses, because that has nothing to do with love. That's all about performance and greed involved in producing a great racing horse. As despicable as it is, that has a good chance of giving the desired results.
At first you had no bond with your cats either, but experience is nearly impossible to recreate. Now, I had my former cats at 6 weeks so it would have been easier to recreate a lot of it. Today it is typically 3 months. By then, they are much more aware and have learned and experienced a lot.
Thank you for making this video. I lost my animal soul mate 💔 16 years ago. My life isn't conducive for another and so I really enjoy your content and vicariously having animal soul mate(s) through your videos and others. This idea makes me ill. I hope to adopt again in the future and I know Captain my little dog would be delighted to know I had found another animal soul mate.
I've always felt icky about the concept of cloning animals, especially just for human wants. Thank you so much for such a thorough video on this topic, I wish more people understood the implications of cloning or even breeding animals
I completely agree. It's not fair for the animals who are born and expected to be used for something/expected to be like their 'original'. It's also not healthy for humans, since we need to learn to accept death as an unavoidable part of our lives.
@@Zowiezo101 yea and you're also cheating yourself out of another possible and equally meaningful relationship with a new dog or cat. And potentially saving a life if adopted from a shelter or rescue.
I lost my soul-cat "Koo-Koo" close to 10 years ago. I had him 20+ years. I think about him now and can still cry, esp. the day I put him down. Koo-koo still is my greatest grief. I kept a tooth in hopes of cloning him some day, and it's still in my safe. Your message is so right on, and it won't be the same "Koo-Koo" anyway. I have a new kitty, "Mama," and will keep giving her the love I had for my long lost "Koo-Koo." Thanks for the video, and yes, they prey on grief, and it's terrible.
Respect and appreciate how unique our pets are and give a home to another pet in need when it's time. There's not a limit to how many animals we can love! Besides cloning seems a bit like Pet Sematary.😬
I agree with you Jackson! I had an absolutely lovely cat when I grew up, she was my best friend. I witnessed her birth when I was three years old and I witnessed her death a couple of weeks before I moved away for college 16 years later. That cat meant the world to me, we were both skittish and anxious, but found great comfort in each other. She slept under my duvet every night. Losing her is still one of my greatest sorrows in life and I truly miss her, but I would never clone her. I would see that as a disrespect of our deep connection and our relationship, no one would be able to fill that gap, and pushing that expectation on another animal is cruel and unfair. I will always have a special place in my heart for her and remember her with fondness, and I will still be able to open my heart for that kind of love again with another pet. All animals are different, even if they are clones. Cloning doesn't give you your pet back, it keeps you from moving on and it hurts the animal that's being cloned.
So many talking about kitties appearing in our lives at just the right moment. This spring, a stray mama and three new babies fell into our lives, and, after a few careful months, have moved in and now we have four cats! We had cats years ago, and it would seem that our first family sent us a new one 💕 I retired this fall, and am so grateful to be able to share this next stage of my life with these new sweethearts. Thanks, Jackson, for teaching me how to make a warm and cozy home for this very loving and loveable family. No need to clone with so many kitties out there who need our love and care!
You are an angel. Thank you for keeping all of them together. Most people wouldn't do that; you are giving them a beautiful life together. As someone who fosters kittens, and I just want to say thank you. 🙏
This one really affected me. It hurts to loose a soul mate, but thinking about mine now that she is gone- the memories are precious and I visit them often. I would never want to try to recreate the time I had with her. Instead, I brought home another that needed and deserved love, and one day I will cry for him as I do when loosing all of my fur babies. Their memories will be just as precious. For me, the thought cloning just sullies that bittersweet beauty of pet companionship.
All my cats were rescued by me, from outside. Most were starving or dying from injuries. Their personalities and the path we took together to develop trust and a wonderful relationship took time. And these components, plus their experiences before their rescue, developed the personalities they had. They are/were all different, and all precious and loved. You cannot make a genetic clone that replicates the journey of a human or animal that shapes who it becomes. And that journey is what counts, not what he or she physically resembles. No to cloning, and if anyone has $35 grand lying around, support a shelter. Your conscience will thank you, and karma will reward you for the animals you will help.
Absolutely agree with Jackson, I love my cat, but I couldn’t do that. He’s not a thing to be replaced, you can’t just get an exact replica and the pain goes away. Be present for your cat, cry when it ends, and be thankful for the time he was there to save your life as you did for him. When you are ready, you can later adopt another cat, not as a replacement, but as another companion that you’ll you love and care for their entire life.
Honestly, I think the idea of cloning pets is absolutely ridiculous and is EXTREMELY unethical. In my opinion, it's nothing more than a giant money making scheme. I agree with Jackson. These people are predators who take advantage of folks who are grieving the loss of a pet and are in a vulnerable state. My dogs and cats are individuals with their own distinct quirks and personalities. There will never be another one of any of my pets. My babies will live their one life with me and then they will eventually pass on when it's their time. I could NEVER replace them with a "replica" that looks just like them. People need to realize that cloning the physical body does NOT also clone the animal's soul or their personality. Yes, you may have a dog or a cat that looks identical to your "original," but it will be an entirely different animal with its own distinct personality and traits. Who even knows what kind of health and/or behavioral issues these cloned animals may be prone to??? That is a HUGE concern. I cherish the time that I have with my fur kids. When they pass on, I miss them dearly, but I always have many fond memories of them and they will live on forever in my heart. I do not need or want a clone. Now, if you want an ETHICAL and cute clone, check out Cuddle Clones. You send them a photo of your pet and they will make you a custom life-sized stuffed animal that looks just like them. They are kind of expensive, but they are adorable and are nice to have as a keepsake. We got one made of our oldest Golden Retriever, who passed away from cancer 6 months ago, and it is the cutest thing ever. Everyone loves it.
I enjoy and learn SO MUCH from your videos, Jackson. I've been the owner of three cats, all strays. The first one was a tabby kitten that followed me around when I attended classes at a mental health institution. Needless to say, she greatly contributed to my mental health, until I became pregnant and my partner insisted I give her away. Her name was Baby. My second cat was a Calico (female, of course) kitten that someone left at a pet shop and my son and I fell in love with! She was SO SPECIAL! She lived with my son and I for years, until we had to sell our home and move in with my mother. Mom NEVER LIKED CATS before, but Kit Kat was so special that she fell in love with her. My son and I later left the country and my mother happily stayed with her. But she was a senior, in her 90's, and she got a severe eye infection that my sisters assumed was from emptying the cat litter box, and gave her away. Both my mother and I were heartbroken. Finally, my beautiful current companion, a small male tabby that is 9 years old, found me. He is the PERFECT COMPANION. Clean, intelligent, affectionate, communicative (but only meows to let me know he wants something or is bored and wants to play), domesticated and VERY HEALTHY! He was adopted as a kitten, along with a sibling, by a woman that took great care of him. BUT, she used to let him out and the last time she did he did not return for months. She was getting ready to move to another state and finally had to leave, leaving him behind. I happened to be in the apartment complex, looking at one to purchase, and Kat came up to me and was very affectionate. There was going to be a freeze that evening and I knew that Kat would not survive outside, so after asking a few people about the owner and being told he was a stray, I asked if he wanted to come home with me and he jumped into my car. A few days later, I took him to the vet and confirmed that he was microchipped. I contacted his owner and she was in tears, telling me that none of her family members in the state I lived in liked cats and she was just brokenhearted knowing I would probably have to take him to a shelter, where she knew he would be euthanized. I calmed her down by letting her know that I was very happy with Kat, as he with me, and asked if I could keep him. She agreed. We contacted the company that tracked his owner via the microchip and made the transfer, with me being registered as his new owner. I just moved to FL and Kat is SO VERY HAPPY with the "Catification" I've been able to provide, that he no longer begs me to let him out. I am much happier having him indoors, where he is safer, but felt sad when I could not comply with his begging me to let him out where we lived before. Now we have a large, screened, porch, on the first floor, where he loves to hang out, and two windows that provide plenty of "cat TV" for him. Sometimes he will shoot into the living room from the porch and run to my bedroom, where he can jump onto the window sill and continue to keep an eye on a squirrel, or cat, or dog, or even an interesting person he spotted from the porch! He has two litter boxes, which I had not been able to provide before. There are lots of cats on the property and he has made some friends! All within the safety of his own home. He is very territorial. We communicate well, play and cuddle together, and I think that, although I've loved my previous cats, Kat is my soulmate. I take very good care of him and hope he lives a long, healthy and happy life with me. However, I WOULD NEVER HAVE HIM CLONED!!! As you said, that is INSIDIOUS! I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LOVE AND ENJOY ALL THREE OF MY CATS, EQUALLY. It's amazing that each one met my needs according to my stages in life! In my senior years, Kat is a perfect companion. He loves time to himself and loves time with me and is quite a playful little thing! Does NOT seem his age at all!!! When his time comes to leave me, I will be happy to adopt another senior cat and provide a loving home for it as well. I am taking advantage of all the information you provide and doing everything in my power to look after Kat properly and make sure he has a great life with me. Thank you so much for all you share. All the best!
This hit me really, I would not consider cloning but I understand the temptation. My family owns a chihuahua that changed our lives, it’s the first animal I have loved sooo much, and I know it would be devastating when she pases, I think if we have a clone of her it would be fantastic spending time with her again but the thought of her incapable of recognizing us, her home, her favorite toys it’s too much, also, she has a neurological disorder and I will never subject her (and us) to that pain all over again, that would be truly cruel. At the end I think it’s just an illusion.
Thank you so much for thinking with you head and not your heart. It would be terrible for a "new" baby to go thru the trials of a a subjugating life that it has no control over!
My heart is so broken to know that this unethical practice is taking off. When my beloved cat dies someday, I know that I will be devastated and forever changed. I have had her since she was my four-week-old, emaciated foster who came to me from the streets, covered in fleas. She was the kitten I didn't want because she was a girl (and I thought about keeping one of the males from her foster litter). She was quiet, and I preferred loud cats. But somehow, she managed to wriggle her way into my heart, and I will love her for the rest of our lives. She has become my emotional support animal and helped me get through a very stressful time in my life. She is going to grow up with my future kids. She has helped raise a litter of foster kittens, and I know she'll help with more in the future. So all of this is to say that when she is gone, I will be devastated. But if I tried to clone her, I would be disrespecting our beautiful life together and her very origins: she came to me as an unwanted street kitten, too small and defenseless to care for herself. I will not subject another kitten/cat to death or suffering because I cannot handle my beloved feline passing. When she is gone, I will help other animals who need me in her memory. As a vegan, I am never surprised by people's cruelty to animals, but I am amazed at all the ways humans continue to disrespect and abuse animals, even the ones they claim to love.
From a statistical view, this basically perpetuating the issue with buying bred cats instead of adopting sheltered ones. From an ethical point of view, you're basically stamping out the identity of a soul yet to be born because you cannot accept the grief of having lost your pet and move on. Even then, you're only replicating the looks of your cat. Their personality will not be the same and neither will your attitude raising them as you'll do it with the expectation of your cat returning instead of nurturing the new life before you. What if the clone isn't a perfect copy? Will you discard them just because of that? What will happen when the 'clone' dies? Will you be so stubborn as to keep this process going on until you yourself die? I know I'll be devastated when my cat dies. It's hard to accept the years you'll spend with your pet being over now but you should not project your grief onto another cat.
I'm not trying to make any point, but there are people who get the same breed of dog again and give it the same name. Some people keep track of which one it is and some don't (Fluffy the 3rd). They claim, usually, that it is because they keep accidently calling the new dog by the old name and gave up trying to remember. I don't know, really.
@@Meeker128-Amy getting the same breed and getting the spitting image of a lost pet are two different things. One is in memory of a pet while the other is in refusal of letting the pet be a memory.
@@Meeker128-Amy , you are correct, because epigenetics is absolutely a thing. Even same environment/womb doesn't mean COMPLETELY identical physically. Identical twins can have different birthmarks or moles, and they had the same genes, in then same womb, at the same time.
@@Hermititis True. I read later that even identical twins, based on the length of the umbilical cord and position in the womb and probably other factors, is why twins have different fingerprints. My dad has a weaker chin than his identical brother, but I still sometimes mistake them in old pictures. But the way they use their voices is totally different and they wear different facial hair, which helps a lot. My dad visited a church once in southern Washington when he lived further north and his brother lived further south, in Portland. A man recognized him and my dad, being mostly deaf and having a bad memory, went along with it until the man said something about him growing a beard. Ah! You know my brother. It amuses me because they have lived very far apart for very long and that hadn't happened in 45 years.
I had an amazing cat that we adopted from the shelter when I was 3 and he was estimated to be 2 (found as a stray). From the time we got home with him until I went out of state for college, he was my shadow when I got home from school. Sadly, he died my senior year of college of old age. I still miss him very much despite it being years later. However, setting aside the massive and many ethical problems, I would not clone him even if I could for a few reasons. One, I feel that I owe it to his memory to adopt another cat because shelter pets deserve as much love as he recived. And two, as you mentione, while they might look alike, I think his experiences both before he was adopted and after made him the amazing cat he was and that's one of those intangibles that DNA can't influence. His name however has been "retired" so no other animals that I adopt will have his.
as much as i would love to do this for my sweet baby that passed away this passed july, it wouldn’t be the same. the kitten wouldn’t have the memories we’ve experienced or the bond we had. i love him dearly and i want him to stay as him and only him in my memory
You should keep moving forward with this kind of content, I find this moving forward along side the declawing video were truly some of the best videos I’ve seen from you(not to say shorts, or that your videos have not been good). These kinds of topics truly spark discussion, and you have the perfect platform for it. Keep it up, the editing, to the research, to offering both unbiased and biased source material. Otherwise, great work!
Yeah, but predictably Bramble was a foster "fail" that I hope he does not let go at this point. I was happy to see him still there and a lot bigger. He is a star.
Thanks for an informative and compassionate video. I read about the Streisand puppies and for a second, it sounded wonderful. I lost my yorkie last month to sudden kidney failure, and the truth is, he’s irreplaceable. He was my fur kid, but I’m a different person compared to getting him ten years ago. Life goes on and unless I could recreate every experience that happened to him, he would also be a different dog. My cats mostly fill the void and that’s enough. There are plenty of animals who would love a home, adopt one and move away from the idea of cloning. Your best buddy can never be duplicated.
As someone who lost their cat, then their dog within a period of 4 months apart last year, I still agree with you 100% I think another part of the problem is the fear and demonization of death in the western world be it humans or pets (especially the US). The vast majority of the population is so fixated on defying death and treating it like a disease, rather than accepting the inevitability and valuing the life we have. Hell, there's people that will look at this comment and think, "omg, she's so morbid, how could you say that??" Because without death and grief, life and love are pointless - they mean nothing if there's no end. We would do well to look at the many ways the rest of the world, and even ancient cultures, view death and take some advice from them. Great video Jackson! 💜
Completely agree (and I say this as someone with tremendous death anxiety). When our pets die, it is a reminder that we, too, will die someday, and that's a frightening notion for many of us. So rather than come to terms with our own mortality and the mortality of our beloved fur companions, we try to cheat death and play God.
@@ladycaticorn2950 For someone who's afraid of the death of the body, your soul's understanding shines through. Your soul is eternal. Our bodies aren't (thank goodness). You can never die. This is what all the religious and ancient spiritual teachings affirm. Our physical death is just a portal into the next adventure. From what I have read and heard from countless sources, the Other Side is wondrous beyond anything we experience on this beautiful but difficult planet Earth. If only the West had not cultivated fear of just about everything the way it has, particularly death of the body.
I just burst into tears while watching this! I can't believe how unethical and selfish humans can be. This is absurd... I wished my orange boys, Ginger & Cashew could have lived forever, but i respect life, nature and its experiences. We should always want to give other pets a chance to live an amazing life with us, just like the ones we've lost ❤
Aye. I very nearly did myself... I wish my own furbabies had more time on this world. But I remember them and I treasure the experiences I had with them. :)
Thank you Jackson for sharing this! When we've just lost our furbaby boy, I had the idea pop up in my mind how great it would be to just copy paste and have a little longer. But it's not fair to our baby boy, we'll let him rest and we'll love him as long as we remember him. We're trying to find a new baby boy in the shelter who'll go well together with his future sister. Looking forward to a new adventure and looking back on great memories ❤️
No it isn’t right…It’s like all the babies …..we have plenty…we don’t need more. I’m a retired social worker and my heart breaks for all the unwanted and very lovable children.
Wow - what a sobering and honest thought. It is wrong in animals and so much more in humans. Much love and respect to have worked in such a hard field. You have seen much that we as a society chose not to look at.
Over all I do agree, but frankly: If we don't, well China or other coutries will! Especially if selection for not only diseases and stuff like genetic predispositions towards substance abuse etc. is possible, but also for intelligence etc...hell, I am not even totally against trying to remove inheritable diseases from humanity. Still, if we don't, then other nations will offer and the rich will travel there and have this done there! Same for pet-cloning, if we don't allow it here, then some other nation will take advantage of that!
It is so important to have these uncomfortable conversations. Thank you Jackson for bringing this topic to the forefront. It is important that we pay attention to the surrogates are treated as well as the litter mates. The truth is these living beings are made into disposable objects and that the whole process only screams more of turning animals into objects, opposed to what they really are, their own glorious expressions of this wondrous life. You cannot repeat the same being, the building materials may all be the same but the time of day, the moment concieved, the moment born the stars overhead, the sounds that carry will never be the same, as those moments have been a gift the present leaves us with the truth. What we had will never be again, maybe similar, but always different. As we see with identical twins the two are not the same person, just shared habits and reactions but many times very different end results. The love you had will NEVER be the same, but instead of desperately trying to re-live that moment and further scarring the world for it, seek to transform your mourning into a greater good. My condolences to anyone's loss, I pray you choose to express your love and not your selfishness. I say NO to Cloning.
All my furkids were UNIQUE in their own special ways. That is what defined them in our shared soul experiences. We experienced a journey at that time that won't be replicated. No matter how much I loved them and wanted their lives to continue after they passed away, it still wouldn't be the same unless I went back in time and relived things identically. If I want to experience more of these lives that come with rescued pets, then I have to continue adopting more. No considerations for cloning.
Every animal is an individual. Soooo many animals out there are desperate for homes. If we clone, it is as bad as unethical breeding. Take home a new puppy or kitty or both and enjoy their unique personality. Plus although you might reproduce the exact DNA, you cannot reproduce the exact environment. You are not the same person as you were when you got the original animal. This new creature will not be identical because they will not have the exact same experiences. They do not have the exact same owner cause you are not who you were 10 or 20 years ago when you got that pet. You probably don't have the same people in your life who might have interacted with that pet. You probably don't have the same pets who might have had an impact on that original pet's personality. The human animal bond is special, unique, and dynamic so appreciate it everyday as it is not repeatable.
@@maryannweldin4633 Love that idea!!! The pet shelters by me have kittens for as little as $25 to get them into homes during kitten season. Go get 2 for $50 and give the other thousands that you would have spent to the shelter.
I had a wonderful cat for 15 years and went through a very tough time when I had to have him put down due to illness. As bad as it was, cloning never was an option I ever considered. Sure, a clone may look like your pet, but it's not the same animal you loved, it's just a copy. It's been 5 years since my buddy died and I still miss him very much. I started volunteering a local county animal shelter last summer and I have to say it has been a very rewarding experience. I get to interact with many cats and dogs, and I feel really good when each shift is over. I'd love to have another cat, but unfortunately my wife is not the animal person I am. Anyway, nice video, thanks.
I have had many cats over the years, some I’ve felt more of an attachment to than others but they are all special. Once I had a cat who I bonded to the moment he was born. We had such a great relationship that others wished they could have a cat like that. However, as amazing as he was, every cat I had before or since has been amazing too, just in different ways. I would not trade them for anything. They had qualities I’d say were superior to him in certain ways. He will always be the most special to me, but I’m grateful to all those other cats. The one I have now just so happens to have a lot of qualities he did. But that’s the breed. She is a lynxpoint Siamese. She is as not as much a people pleaser as he was, but like him she has a huge and very specific vocabulary. I think hers is a lot larger. I love her dearly and can’t imagine my life without the unique gift she has made to it. And having him in my life before makes me appreciate her more. So cloning? I see no advantage in it. My baby now is a rescue and is five years old. It breaks my heart that anyone gave her up. All I can say is they didn’t appreciate what a gem they had. I thank God for her everyday. And when she is gone I will thank God for the next unique treasure that comes into my life
I completely agree with you Jackson. There are too many animals in shelters, on the streets, and we don't need to add to those numbers by cloning our pets when those clones will never be the same pet we lost without our shared memories.
I absolute agree with every Point You made. Every single living Thing on this Earth is precious, because It's special and unique. Cloning takes that away and makes Live exchangeable. Humanity lacks the mentally and emotional matureness to play with such major Things. We show that clearly every Day, over and over again. Just because We're able to do It, doesn't mean We have the Right to.
I never write in comments, but in this case I just had to support this. All my cats have been rescues, I grieve for all that have passed still. But then the next one comes along and in time you find one day you love them as much as the ones gone before. You are 100% correct: from day one they are brought up differently, it‘s not going to be the same animal. Love, grieve then rescue another.
I completely understand and relate to being attached to a deceased pet. I've thought to myself many times, how much I miss my friends and would love to be able to see them again. But knowing the grim reality behind the process, I could never be ok w it. Also, it's not literally the same cat or dog. Even if they're genetically identical, they still haven't lived the same experiences, so it feels like trying to synthetically re-manufacture that bond. I also like to think that my friends that are no longer with us would prefer me to give a warm, loving home to other kitties. This is not the way, imo.
Just remember that every time they are annoying and know that you can not re-obtain any love you did not take the time to have. Grab love while you still can, a corpse is just a pile of flesh. I have never understood funeral ceremonies. That is just dying particles, they are not in that body. When you spread ashes that are not in them.
This is why I love your content. You always present both sides to these issues. But landing on the side of ethics and the principle of "why clone a pet?" that you had an extraordinary relationship with who's passed, when there are so many out there waiting to be loved. That just means you get to have a whole new experience for years and years, hopefully. I just wanted to mention that we lost our 12-year-old beautiful girl named Church in January. The pain was excruciating because one day she was fine, and within 7 days she became ill and passed away. Our wonderful vet did everything she could to try to save her. I was syringe feeding her and giving SubQ fluids at home. But as you know, cats mask illness and pain so well that often times it's not found till it's way too late. I couldn't imagine getting another feline familiar so soon. My husband saw a feral rescue post for a 9-month-old black kitten. He had been moved from 4 foster homes because people are superstitious. He said I'm not ready to adopt another baby just yet but let's just go look at him and see how we feel. There was an instant bond between Aleister Meowley and my husband. We did bring him home because he needed us and we needed him. We followed all of your instructions for introducing him to our 3-year-old tabby cat named Bela Lugosi. The baby gate, he was in his own separate room set up for catification for several weeks (I slept on the floor with him many of those nights), scent handshakes through the door, play and love and treats on either side of the gate, the whole nine yards! And it worked beautifully. Bela is so happy to have a friend, even though she was reluctant at first. And Aleister is the most gentle laid-back and friendly cat you could imagine. They are having a blast together playing on the ripple rug and with the cat dancers! Thank you for everything you do for us cat lovers and our feline familiars.
It is... they looked after me in life, I looked after them in death... but making sure my face was the last thing they saw... and my voice was the last thing they heard as they departed this world.
💯% agree, Jackson, on every point. This mindset of cloning customers, "Wait a minute, I don't have to say goodbye to the animal I loved!" ~ of course we have to say goodbye! To not do so, and pretend our beloved companion didn't die, is the opposite of honoring the dear soul that was so very precious to us! You're right that it's reductive, minimizes the value of the precious soul, which btw, is NOT the same soul in the replicated body. It demeans them by saying "See? You are replaceable!" ...instead of treasuring and honoring their uniqueness and their irreplaceable love in our lives. More important is the abuse of animals to gestate, cloning more animals that will need homes, and for me as one that worked in the cat rescue world, the impact of cloned animals on efforts to find homes for the precious souls already in shelters. Cloning is a great sadness for the millions of homeless souls!
It has been more than 2 years. But there isn't a day that I don't miss Misty. Sometimes I think that if cloning can bring her back, I will do it! But, deep down I know the clone is a totally different cat,.While sharing Misty's gene, will not share her personality. And I know this is NOT fair for the clone to exist in this world with a single purpose to be a replacement for another cat. Death gives life meaning. And I'll need to learn to move on.
My first reaction was horror that this exists. My second reaction was to burst into tears thinking of my beautiful rescue cat who was saved from a very harsh life and whose love, gratitude and unique personally is absolutely irreplaceable. He himself, as himself, with his own experiences and his relationship with us, is precious beyond description and could never be replicated. We are so lucky to have him in our life, for as long as any of our lives continue.
I would give anything to have my Mimí back with me, but cloning is not magic, nothing can bring my friend back. It offends me that there are people in the world offering to sell me that lie at the cost of my love for her.
I am a bigger Jackson Galaxy fan than ever before after this post on cloning. THANK YOU for speaking out about this issue. I can't imagine life without my kitty soul-mate but cloning her would be sooooo wrong!!
You will always know deep down, that the clonse is a clone. A lookalike, might even have the same behaviour due to the DNA cloning, but you will always know, THIS is not the one you lost. But it will remind you of it. As much as I want to believe, it's a nice thing for obvious and mulitple reasons, I don't like it :/ Let the soul of your lost one rest, grieve, mourn, hold your loved ones dear and close in your memory and heart and eventually, instead, give another animal in need a lovely home. It doesn't seem like much, but for that potential animals, a new forever home means the world! Pls
Exactly. That's what I couldn't deal with. I will KNOW that it's not my "original" pet. It's just a "replica" or a "knockoff." Cloning the physical body does not clone the soul or the personality of your pet, so while the animal may look identical, they will NOT have the same personality traits. What REALLY concerns me is that we don't know what type of health and/or behavioral issues that these "cloned" pets might be prone to. I think the whole concept of cloning pets is highly unethical and ridiculous. Love and cherish your pets while they are here. Enjoy the time that you have for them. When it's eventually their time pass on, yes, you will miss them and you will be sad, but their memory will live on in your heart forever. Take the love that you were giving to that pet and give it to another animal who needs it.
Yep, save your money to save shelter animals. They're already living, and they need us more. What NEEDS to be happening with this technology, is using it to save endangered species on the brink, instead of preying on grieving pet moms and dads. Take Honey Bees, for example. They're dying off by the thousands! Tigers, Polar Bears, etc. That tech is much better used to save the ones that are disappearing.
Agree completely! Cloning is basically just like breeding. I'd never clone my cat, a clone just wouldn't be him, it would have a completely different soul and everything. He'd rather I rescue another kitty like him instead, I'm quite sure. I didn't even know all of that stuff about Dolly the sheep dying so early and Snuppy the dog dying at the same age from the same causes. This is such an interesting video.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. Last week I had to say goodbye to my dear little Fluffy, she had an inoperable cancer at only 8 years old. There is no way on this earth that I would consider cloning as she is irreplaceable even with a clone, quite apart from the fact that in order to get that clone a cat or cats would be subjected to unecessary procedures just so that I wouldn't have to grieve, which, although devastating, is a natural process. I also believe animals have souls and that a clone wouldn't have that same soul.
Thank you Jackson, I never knew this was a thing. After watching your video I Googled this subject for my country (UK) and am shocked there is a company here doing this since 2018. Their partner is Viagen. Absolutely disgusting, inhumane and preying on people's grief to relieve them of huge amounts of money. I' m still grieving for my adopted boy and I will adopt again. I don't want a clone as it wouldn't be him. It saddens me this exists in our world.
I would definitely pay any amount to have my Sam back, even selling my house to afford it, but a clone wouldn't be my Sam. A clone is not a copy of the personality, it's just an artificially induced identical twin and one with a higher risk of genetic conditions. I think cloning sentient life is wrong.
Hey, one reason I get the house I did was so it would be enjoyed by the cats too. No condo for them, they wanted a yard, although it does have an HOA that I now lead. Damn taxes are due next month! aargh! One of my new cats love it, the other was indoor only and only goes out in the backyard sometimes but only if she goes first.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on cloning. Very well said. We are all products of complex biological and environmental forces that we have little control over. Cloning will not give you back the pet you knew and loved and lost. Once you are ready to love anew, find that special being that is waiting for the opportunity to love you back a million fold for having opened your heart to them. He or she is out there, waiting.
I absolutely, most definitely agree with you. There are so, so, so many too many animals in need of our love and care to be wasting money on a delusion because it could look like the lost pet, but it doesn't have the memories and experiences which is that make the bond with us. Adopt is always the most loving, kind, caring and humane thing we can do to honor our lost pets.
Thank you for this! Immediately as you mentioned the fact that potentially there are 2 litters before you may get your clone, I lost any enthusiasm for the prospect of cloning. Adding to shelters, overpopulation and more unwanted animals in this world is a resolute "no"!! Most importantly, your point that the life experience of the cloned animal will never be the same. That's the key. Our life experience makes us, why should it be any different for our animal companions? And most certainly, the clone might have similar characteristics, but it'll never be the same soul. Enjoy being in the present moment with your animal soulmate while you still have them. I myself am cognizant and thankful for every precious moment I still have with mine. It's the most loving, honest and uncomplicated relationship I've ever had. No to cloning!!
I don't like the idea, because it's not really the pet you lost that passed away. It's the soul of another pet that shares dna with your pet who passed away. Plus, there's so many furbabies that need homes. Rich people spending 50k doing this are dumb.
As much I miss one of our cats that was an absolute sweetheart, who died far too young due to FIP, even so I can't put together a rebuttal to your rationalization. That he would look the same but very likely wouldn't have the same personality, it would be more than a little off putting.
@@diamondsngunns88 Hi there! My sweet cat is everything I could have asked for! She's a spicy little calico named Libby. One of the sweetest, most loving cats I've ever known, who's not afraid to tell you when you crossed her boundaries! She chats with me, loves to be carried around, and has broken some of my most beloved trinkets 😩😂 Wouldn't trade her for the world
I live in Brazil, here the Animal Planet channel broadcasts My Cat From Hell (Meu Gato Endiabrado) every Caturday afternoon, 3 episodes in a roll, which I always find a way to watch. Now I'm binge watching your TH-cam channel. Great catente!
Beautiful opinion Jackson! You're spot on about how grief and loving a pet coexists within us and the process. I legit started crying when you talked about that thinking of all my fur babies that have passed. Everyone one of them special bc of the time in my life I've had them. And you're very much right about life experiences. You can't clone those as much as you want to try to be able to, it's nearly impossible. That's why living in the moment is such a special thing and memory to be able to have.
I feel that cloning pets is a con. The cloned animal will be very similar but will not be identical. So much of what makes an animal unique is developmental, not genetic. The pattern of a tabby cat's fur, for instance, will not be the same as its clone-parent; that is determined in utero. It may look similar, but it will not be identical. Most importantly, the personality will probably not be the same. That depends upon upbringing and early experiences. With a different mother, different siblings and a different environment, I don't see how there's any chance of recapitulating your lost pet. The implicit promise of bringing back your dead pet is a lie. It seems to me that the companies running these scams are exploiting the grief stricken and leaving the many, many animals languishing in shelters without a hope. It seems healthier to me to grieve, move on and find a new animal companion to share all that love with.
Even if you had one that was exactly the same personality wise.... it's still not the same animal? They don't have the memories, the experiences, it would just be a perfect lie for you to tell yourself
As much as I would like to see the pets from my early childhood again, I don't want them to be essentially scientifically necrommanced back. The clone will not be the same being. Even identical twins are not the same being. All animals, cats, dogs, humans have differing personalities. (This is the part where I will speak at length about my cats...:) I currently have 4 cats each have different mannerisms, voices and personalities. The eldest is snowflake the momma cat The younger are her three children who came back to our care after a family member passed away. Snow has a chirpy voice, chatty, is a little on the slow side and is affectionate to humans. Also she is very strong and sometimes a bit scary. She is my cat, or rather I am her human since she chose me instead, she often growls at her kids when they walk close when I am petting her. She doesn't want to share the attention I think. She otherwise is affectionate to her kids but does not want affection back from them. The boy is Caramel, originally "butterscotch" but we kept calling him caramel. He is highly intelligent, very chill and has a loud booming voice but rarely vocalizes. When I played with him as a kitten he always went for my wrist instead of the toy unlike his siblings. I have a feeling that said family member was his human, after his passing he licked himself bald out of grief. I think we have a pretty strong connection cause we went trough the same grief. He is doing a lot better and most of his bald spots have almost fully grown in and overall seems a lot more at ease. The two girls are Long cat and Fighter cat... very creative names I know. Long cat has a high pitched voice with a full meow instead of sqeaky chirps like her mom. She is almost as chill as Caramel but likes to troll her sister, running full speed and stopping to startle her. Her name sake comes from the fact that she is not only taller and more lanky than her cat family but she likes to lie on her belly like she is superman. Her front paws extended forward and hind paws extending backward. She has the most regal vibe and face shape for it, she has a long pointy face like a lot of oriental breeds. Fighter is the smallest, but has the biggest attitude. She has a sqeaky voice like her mom but also higher pitched. She is the most likely to have the zoomies come sunset, is very curious and for her name sake she likes to pick a fight with animals even when they are much larger than her and is convinced has her mother's strength. She is very resilient. Often I thought she was in trouble but she'd always turn out to be fine. I think she has a kitty napoleon complex. She only lets me pet her when she is giving me head butts, otherwise she just walks away when I go to pet her. The two girls seem like the indifferent sort of cat not particularly caring about humans but not disliking them either.
Well like I said on Instagram, we can't recreate a soul. That's what we really fall in love with is their soul. And this is any kind of love. Whether it be a person or animal it's their soul we love. That's what truly makes us who we are. God makes us all individually for a reason. And we need to understand that we are not in control of everything. We as human beings have our limitations. Spot on accurate Jackson! 🙌
Thank you Jackson, I agree 100%! These companies are relying on the fact that only nature shapes our pets, when the fact is that both nature and nurture factor into who our furry friends are. If you had a wonderful experience with a certain breed of dog, hold onto those memories and maybe adopt another of the same breed. If you do that and raise them with similar love and care you will more than likely have another wonderful partner. I have had animals that knee jerk I would love to have back, but that will never be a reality, I will always remember them fondly and feel lucky for the time we had together.
I cried for the majority of this video. Ever since I adopted my cat I've always had his death on my mind and my goal is to give him a fulfilling long and healthy life. I agree with you, Jackson and this video really touched me. Thank you as always! Also, would love to see a video about dealing with the grief of losing a pet.
I certainly don't want to condemn the science of genetic cloning outright, because I do think there are areas in which that technology and research could potentially be world-changing in a beneficial way. The world of pets just isn't that place, and never will be.
I lost my cat last month. There's so many things that I would do over for my Slayer, my beautiful one eyed tuxedo kitty soulmate. I would jump at the chance to have a do over. He was an amazing cat. I just can't imagine how many animals who suffer to go through this process. Where are the donors coming from, and what happens to them after that horrific process. Slayer taught me that I can love someone unconditionally, and he loved me unconditionally. The best way to remember his memory is to pay it forward.
I lost my cat a few months ago, and I genuinely feel like I will never find another cat as special as she was again. But even with all the love I have for her and how hard it is to say goodbye, I would never clone her. To me, that’s disrespecting her and disrespecting life in general.
Jackson you are amazing for sharing this. A touchy subject and you addressed it with both brass balls and sensitivity. At the end of the day we suffer for our attachments. Unconditional, selfless love is the way out. We have much to learn from our pets by letting go. I believe it Ceasar Millan who suggest that dogs are more evolved than humans as they have the ability to just let go, forgive and forget. Thanks so much for this video I teared up while watching it.
Absolutley agree! Imagine people walking in and donating $30k-$35k to a shelter, what an amazing world that would be!
absolutely agree with you.
Aye... donate that to a shelter... they'd let you take home the dog of your choice for free :)
The type of people who are spending that much on cloning are not people who want to donate to shelters which is so unfortunate because that kind of money could save SO many animals' lives.
@@ladycaticorn2950 I agree, I just mean it would be amazing if they did spend that much!
Yeah right? Why? Just get another pet and donate the money somewhere, anywhere, especially shelters. Barbara Streisand is an idiot. It’s not going to be your same baby as before just because it’s genetically identical. Just get another one. What the heck?
When I became a "crazy cat dad", I loved my two girls immensely. They changed my life forever. As they got older and each had their own medical conditions, I learned a lot about feline health by watch you, Jackson, and doing my own research. Armed with that knowledge, I made a promise to my girls that I would adopt, in their memory, after they passed on. As much as I miss them, I would never have attempted to clone them even if I did have the financial means to do so. I feel for every animal stuck in a shelter that has no home. After my girls passed, I kept my promise and adopted an older, bonded pair and they now have a home to call their own and I love them as much as I loved those two girls that started it all.
Right On!! No need to create more cats. Adopt, adopt, adopt!!!
That’s a great way to be, giving a home to an animal that just needs a little help, is one of the best things that you could do for them, then they quickly become our fur babies, they aren’t our pet anymore, we’re their human. 🤙🏽
I loved my Chloe Cat beyond my ability to say. She was that "once in a lifetime " pet for me and when I lost her, I grieved for the longest time. I didn't think I would ever love another pet the way I loved her. However, in her memory, I adopted another, older cat, my beautiful boy Fitz who was 10 when he rescued me. And I was right - I don't love Fitz the way I loved Chloe, but that's because he's a different cat with a different personality so I love him in a different way - just as much, but different . I also adopted another little girl, Lily, who's disabled, and I love her differently to Chloe and Fitz, because she's different. I'll never forget my beloved Chloe but that doesn't stop me from loving my current furbabies, just as I'll love all my future cats, all of whom will be adopted "hard to home" older or disabled cats because they need me. I'll spend my time and money helping cats who are already here and in need - that's my way of honouring the love I still have for my Chloe.
There is no reason you should love Fitz the same as you loved Chloe. They were different kitties... with their own unique preferences.
Its the same with me and my two. Ares keeps the rodent population in check and Hermes handles my mental issues. I don't love them the same... Hermes is demanding in terms of affection and Ares isn't.
Thank you for recognizing the fact that special needs babies are so amazing, like you I might add!
Thank you for taking in disabled and older cats! They deserve even more love then kittens because they have been there done that and have been abandoned. I have so much love and respect for you!
Yes. I think your experience here echoes a lot of our experiences with our beloved fur babies. I will stick to adopting. 💜
Btw, I adopted a Birman kitty, who’s owner just “don’t want him no more” and he has epilepsy. I too have epilepsy. So, we take care of each other, and I completely understand what he’s going through. Obviously the previous owner didn’t want an imperfect “perfect” cat. Mickey is beautiful. Actually, I have a video with him in it on my channel. 👍🏽🌹
Just all tears over here. Lost my kitty almost a year ago, and still miss him so very much. At the beginning of this video, my thinking was that the only thing that would stop me from cloning my dear feline would be its affordability, but then you got into the details of what is actually done to get to the final result, and that convinced me that it's a terrible path to take. Much better to donate what I can, and adopt from a shelter, when I am finally ready to love a new little being. Thank you!
I am so sorry for your loss and hope you find healing and peace. Fostering kittens is also a wonderful way to help out. You get to experience the love of baby cats trusting you after you raised them, but you can also give them away if you're not quite ready to permanently commit to anyone yet.
You are right. The clone may look the same but it is NOT the "same". It's better to save a cat or dog from a shelter. Donating to a shelter in the name of you beloved departed furbaby would be a lasting tribute. We had a recent pet death in our family. I will never forget him. I have video and photos as alasting memory. Whatever the next furbaby to join the family will be loved and wanted. I wonder about these surrogates who will only be a vessel to produce something she doesn't understand. What is her life going to be? This is the horror equivalent to the human "handmaids tale". Makes my heart break.
I'm in a similar place as you. My heart goes out to you! My cat died in 2020 (NOT of natural causes 💔) while I was away at college in another state. It was a devastating shock. Lots of tears. But while watching this video all I could think about was even if they perfected their system and didn't harm surrogate animals and didn't discard/donate dozens of "failed clones" to shelters... Wouldn't it be the worst heartbreak to pay all that money, wait all that time, only to experience your cloned pet having a totally different behavior and personality than the original? Every day you'd look at it and be reminded of the heartbreak, but have none of the lost love (you went through all of that for) fulfilled. My cat had very unique behaviors that no other cat in my life has ever done. I loved all the cats in my life, but her personality and her unique behaviors were what made her special, not her fur pattern and color, etc. It's similar to my reason of why I would never support human cloning or "upload" of a consciousness. I believe in souls. I believe it's our soul that makes us who we are. And I don't believe that can be captured or copied or digitized. And while I still have days I cry because I miss my sweet kitty girl who was taken away too soon under horrible circumstances outside my control, I'll always treasure and find comfort in the memories of her sweet purr-filled headbutts and cuddles when she comforted me in some of my darkest days. She was such a blessing through some of the toughest years of my life, and her life absolutely had meaning and huge purpose beyond what she even knew. She was so playful and loving and happy, and that's how I choose to remember her. We don't have to focus on the grief or loss or painful death. We can focus on their life and celebrate that and all the good they brought to our lives. 💜 Just my two cents for what it's worth.
I am so sorry! I believe that's your baby in your pic, OMG! What a DARLING little one! 😻 I'm glad you are taking the time to grieve and reassess what you have to offer to a new kitty in your home. Just remember, we may have limited resources but love is not one of them!
We lost our cat Roland a few months ago. So we rescued Ivan from our local animal shelter. That's the way it should be.
Thank you for opening your heart to another creature who needed love and a home
Good for you! There's already so many pets out there that just need a loving home. They should be our priority. I wish you and Ivan long life and happiness.
I hit like at least 6 more times if I could
I am sorry for your loss. I’m happy for Ivan. And, I adore the name Roland, for a kitty 🐱
@@pommiebears I think of the food supplier.
There's only one way I would clone my cat: Cuddle Clones, which are stuffed animals that are custom made to look exactly like your pet. It will cost you a couple of hundred dollars, but it's a lot less objectionable ethically. It's the only thing I would ever consider.
Also, as Vision put it: What is grief but love persisting.
I had a cat made by Cuddle Clones while alive. Her "clone" looks just like her. I sent them pictures from every side and angle. My "cloned" cat Baby is still very much alive and well---she's only 8----but I do have her as a stuffed animal. Baby loves to sleep right next to her "clone". I'll have Baby forever. (Jan Griffiths).
@@douglasgriffiths3534 I just lost my kitty of 11 years a little over a week ago and I have to admit that before he was gone I did look into cloning but thankfully the cost was high enough that I didn't go that direction. I did however order a Cuddle Clone which I hope will look like him but as I didn't have photos of him when he was healthy directly from every angle (though everything but his belly shows in at least one of them) I'm not sure how accurate the result will be. Thankfully he was an all black cat so any part that is interpolated should be pretty close to being correct.
there is absolutely zero ethical issues with cloning pets. You can object to wasting money but that's it
Thank you all for what you’ve already said. I never want to judge the person who seeks to defy the will of nature. It’s, of course, very tempting. But think extra hard about it. For the reasons I outline, and others have said here.
I have never seen a Jackson Galaxy video with a judgmental vibe and it's why you're such a great communicator. So let us in the comments be *that guy*. Anyone who "cares" so much that they want to clone their animal but doesn't care what happens to the surrogate, what happens to the X number of kittens who don't make it through the quality control (UGH!!! FEEL SICK SAYING THAT!) process, that person DOESN'T CARE about animals.
I totally agree with what you shared in the video and what said here!! Blessings to you and your fur babies!! 😊💖
If nothing else, this tech should be used to stabilize the numbers of endangered species, not to prey on pet moms and dads.
@@CrownOfRoses541
What a fantastic idea!
@@CrownOfRoses541 I don't know how well that would work especially if the gene pool has dwindled, but we shouldn't rule it out!
My childhood cat was amazing. He was my best friend. The sweetest companion, everyone in the family still talks about him 37 years later. There is no way I could ever replicate his experiences that made him who he was. He spent his first few weeks with his very protective mother and his 3 siblings. My grandfather and grandmother cared for them. He then came home to our house with his feisty sister. I was a very gentle 2 1/2-year-old and I doted on him 24/7. I carried him around in a tissue box, so I wouldn't accidentally squeeze him while trying to hold him. He was never left alone until I was 5 and had to go to school. Then he would walk me to school through the wooded area behind my house and stop at the school fence and watch me walk into the building. He would come running to greet me in the backyard when I got home. He was pretty much the Lassie of cats. Back in the 70s cats were indoor/outdoor. We lived on a culdesac in town that backed up to undeveloped land with acres for them to roam and no predators. I'm not sure he would be as happy stuck indoors all the time. He loved to hunt and was always bringing back mice and other rodents. They were Maine Coone mixes. Not fat but absolutely huge. He and his sister would terrorize the neighbor's cocker spaniels when they would let them loose in the neighborhood. They had each other's backs. He ended up dying when I was about 12. He had a heart condition and couldn't be saved. I always thought it was because his heart was just too big. His sister lived until she was about 18 and died from cancer.
That's exactly how I feel too
As much as I miss my pets from the past, I LOVE having room in my house to save another cat. I have 3 cats. All are rescues and 2 were a bonded pair of brothers they wanted to keep together. Since I didn't clone my last 2 cats, I was able to keep Buggy and Lemur together where they will remain for life. Their sister, they just had to learn to love and now, they're a rescued pride!
Very true, and I agree. I would love to still have our lovely Jake, who passed away last week- but then I wouldn’t have room to welcome a cat in need. It would be putting my wants over the needs of the animals who deserve loving homes. We have been so glad- we have the most wonderful household of cats, some of whom would have been euthanised if they didn’t have a home. That money could be used to help refugees, other animals and all sorts of amazing causes. Just my opinion.
@@sylviekins Yeah if one has 35k to 50k to clone ONE pet, why not actually own a dozen at that rate... then you can save and look after twelve lives and have a unique bond and memories of each cat/dog you have. I'd make that a possibility if I could. Since most people only have one to four dogs or cats at a time anyway. It would do better to just adopt a few more than you normally would (if you have the space, time and money for it) and have more furry loves to dote on.
@@PetMama1313 well said, I agree👍
I’m going to file this one under “stuff that should definitely be illegal.” Entirely too many people never stop to think that just because we *can* do something doesn’t mean we *should.*
Illegal it should not be. This kind of technology CAN be incredibly useful for helping to boost endangered animal numbers, for example. However, it should be heavily discouraged and made more difficult for anyone wanting to use it to clone personal pets (or maybe even humans in the future). If money is no object, people will do what they want to do, but the more we work together to educate and communicate why someone should NOT do something, the more likely it is that that person will put their money towards other means.
I'm curious as to your argument of why it should be illegal. I'm on the fence and it might push me over.
Well, I’m of the opinion that using genetic modification to remove genetic diseases with DNA that’s healthy is fine for animals and humans. But only for genetic disease or flaws (like an embryo that would become a baby with a hole in the heart. Remove the defective DNA that would cause the hole and replace with one that’ll produce a normal healthy heart.) For animals the tools and science of genetics could be really fantastic for species on the brink of extinction especially if we’ve had the foresight to preserve the DNA of now-dead individuals.
But the whole field of genetics would need some strict controls and laws. I’d never advocate the concept of “designer babies” whether human or pet. While I believe we have the right to a healthy child, we should never have the choice to choose eye colour, hair colour, tall or short and such.
@@NatYourAverageNerd agreed about aiding the endangered animals, that's pretty much the only reason i think it should be done for if it is to be done at all.
It should be illegal to do it commercially, scientifically it’s okay imo if the project is approved by certain ethics organizations. There’d be no progress if we banned all experiments and research that include animals, we’d have no medicines or vaccines… you can’t do everything in silico.
It’s a NO for me and it is insidious! The abuse of “surrogate animals” - they didn’t sign up for this. Just disgusting this whole process. I had no idea of the awful details. Thanks Jackson for putting this out there!
That is very true as well- they are really being used in an unacceptable way.
You're right it's bad enough they try to do it with humans
@@amr526 wdym? They're cloning humans?
@@thugpug4392 no, but there is a surrogate industry...
@@SonsOfLorgar yeah for people who can't safely bring a baby to term. What's immoral or disgusting about that?
Well said. The love comes with grief. It's a cycle of life. The world has enough animals that are yet to be rescued. Let's not add those failed cloned animals to it and create more burdens. As much as I would love to bring back my 10 year old Bengal cat that passed a few years ago, but her passing made me extend my love to four more rescues now living happily with us.
Hello Beibei how’s the weather over there
THE ORIGINAL LOVE THAT YOU SHARED W/YOUR PET, CAN NEVER BE DUPLICATED, CLONING IS WRONG !
@Jamie Black THANK-YOU, SO MUCH, I'LL KEEP YOU IN MIND. LIKE WISE IF YOUR EVER IN THE KEYS, (FLA.)
i'd love to have my cats back who passed, but the joy of meeting a new cat and learning to love him/her isn't something i'd ever want to give up.
Hubby and I were literally talking about this earlier. Our Skilos is the best chihuahua ever. I can't imagine life after he's gone. He's already 13 years old and is exhibiting different behaviors. He's more clingy and needy. He's the sweetest baby boy. But I agree with the comments, it may be him physically but his soul, his character, his experiences with my kids as they grew with him the last 13 years will not be the same. We will have to grieve and move on. 😭
Right. I think it would be more upsetting to have a new cat who looks exactly like your past cat but...isn't them. That's part of why I've tried to get cats that don't look similar.
@@fuzzypumpkin7743 You raise a fantastic point. You can already get a cat that looks exactly like another cat, and they might even have similar temperaments and traits, but they're not the same cat. I know families who tried exactly that and it didn't go well until they accepted that they had a new, unique pet. Cloning is no different.
I had my chihuahua for 16 years and feel the same! I'd never clone her. It would make it more difficult
@@fuzzypumpkin7743 When I had decided to adopt another cat after my sweet girl passed away last year, there's this teeny tiny temptation to look for a similar looking cat (I had a pure white cat, the ideal Longcat). However, I knew from my experience with her was that the best way to find a your new furry friend is to meet the cat and see which one was interested in you on their own. It doesn't matter the age or color or the way they look, just as long as they seem to gravitate to you is a good sign.
Now I have beautiful and charming grey and white Tabby cat I adopted. She was still in the last stages of her kitten age, but she looked at me straight through the glass and cried out to me when I was looking and wondering which cat to meet and greet first. The rest is history.
you never move on, years after they are gone you will look back and cherish the happy memories of them
when I was 11 I lost my dog he wasn't just a pet he was like a brother to me, I'm 36 now and I still look back at the amazing memories with him
Halfway through this, I had to hold my Remy and tried not to cry.
Honestly, clone or not, it's not fair to expect an animal to be exactly like what we've lost. We've had and lost dogs that we've loved deeply. And we've (my family) known it was a bad idea to get a new dog too soon and not to get the same kind because we knew that it would be too easy to put unfair expectations on the new dog to live up to the last one.
I love my cats. They're my greatest loves. Remy especially. And he's getting older and I'm preparing myself for the inevitable goodbye. It absolutely crushes me to think about. Nothing makes me cry faster. I don't even come close to having the means to even consider cloning, even if I disregarded the ethical problems with it. When it comes down to it, it reads to me the same as getting a new pet and expecting it to be exactly the same. It will lead to disappointment for the owner and the animal won't understand why they're not "good enough".
We are all, animal and human, a combination of our genes and our experiences. Could Remy have better teeth if I'd had him from kittenhood and he had a better diet when his adult teeth came in? Yeah, probably. Would have saved me a lot of money in dental work and he wouldn't have a lopsided grin now. But having him cloned doesn't mean that I get to "fix" that. It just means another cat that looks like him and probably has the same general temperament gets a shot at it. It wouldn't *be* Remy. It's not rewinding the clock. I could never perfectly recreate his life in a way that would assure the clone would turn out exactly the same. The clone could possibly not choose me the way Remy did. He snubbed my ex (who owned him for a year before I met him) and bonded to me so closely that my ex let me take him when we divorced.
I think cloning has its uses, such as rescuing critically endangered animals from the brink of extinction. It could have its ethical uses eventually as the technology improves. But cloning *individuals*, especially with the expectation of a cloned individual to be exactly like the original, isn't right.
It's also really quite vile and another example of capitalistic greed that these companies take a science that has the potential to do good and manipulate people's grief and love to spend absurd amounts of money like this. Especially as wasteful as it is with all the "failures" and "rejects" that happen. It's not a "clean" enough process for this.
I really didn't expect to have such a strong opinion on this, but here it is. Thank you, Jackson, for addressing this. I didn't know it was something I needed to see.
The weirdest thing to me is how owners delude themselves in imagining that their cloned animal will get the same PERSONNALITY as the one they lost, just as similar twins can have radically different personnalities even if they share the exact same DNA code with the same education and the same parents at the same time ! Unless what they miss the most is their animal appearence and very generic tendancies, this makes does not seem to make any sense.
No they won't.
For me the greatest nightmare is someone DID clone my cats... and I come home to 'new' cats and they have no idea of who I am.
This is exactly what I am talking about. It is still not the pet I lost. 😭😭😭
Ah, Jackson, I love both your passion and your clarity and wisdom. Suffering grief and loss is part of life. And, if we learn its lessons, this should make us treasure the times we have with them.
Hello Victoria how’s the weather over there
I agree totally. My favorite cat Bella died suddenly after getting her teeth cleaned. I picked her up on a Friday at closing time. My vet said she would be fine. I had them cleaned a few years earlier. I knew when I brought her home that she was dying. I could not reach my vet. We spent the weekend going to emergency care. It was traumatic for her, my husband, and me. The ER wanted to keep her overnight on Saturday. I said no. I knew she was dying and she needed to be with us and not alone in a cage in a cold room. Th ER put in their report to my vet that I refused care because it was going to be $600. My vet knew that we would have spent multiples that amount if I thought she could recover. It’s been over 6 years and as you can tell, I will never get over it. I went into such detail to make a point regarding cloning. I believe that if I had cloned her and if she was the same sweet loving Bella, I would relive that terrible weekend over and over. I cannot think of any circumstance where cloning is humane and morally acceptable.
Thank you for sharing that. It sounds like such a hard time. But you did right by her.
It will never be humane and morally acceptable. Sorry for your heart-ache. 🕊
Fair enough. If it helps. I agree with you. I'm sorry for your loss...
I can’t help wondering why the people in the ER would be so thoughtless. I hope they don’t work with pets any more.
I doubt it, their kidney probably could not purge the anesthesia, I assume they did blood test for this though. I have more than one Vet refuse to clean the teeth of my former cat as he got old since they use anesthesia and his blood work was not good enough for his kidney.
Jackson, thank you so much for this message! The way you describe the grief over a soulmate pet is spot on - it was comforting to me to hear these words from you because I finally feel like someone understands what I’ve felt since my soulmate cat tragically died in a house fire almost 3 years ago. You make some excellent points here that people considering cloning may not have thought of. Animals, just as we, are influenced by not only genetics but life experience. And while I understand how that grief could lead people to want to pursue cloning, the cost is too great to the animals who are made to suffer for it, and I feel that causing that suffering for the sake of hoping to lessen your own is not only selfish, but also disrespectful to the memory of the lost loved one. I would do anything to have my kitty baby back, but subjecting others to suffer is where I draw the line.
Very well said!
Hello Michelle how’s the weather over there
When my daughter's first cat, Boris, passed away, it sent my kid into a tailspin. Yet strangely a month later, a former bottle baby siamese mix literally fell in our laps, followed by a feral tuxedo kitten. A cat rescuer told us that Boris had sent them to us as they immediately bonded to my child and he saw she needed more kitties to love. We would've missed these two blessings if we'd cloned him as well as the kind of cat that is good for one stage of your life might not be the personality you want twenty years from now.
So well said… sure I may be sounding anti-technology in this video. Absolutely untrue. But what you said at the end is beautiful.
@@JacksonGalaxy I actually thought you succeeded in *not* being just reactionary and anti-tech or anti-scientific. You covered the various ethical contexts very well. And pointed out the pitfalls of applying scientific principles which are not well understood. Genes do not have a one-to-one correlation from one species or individual to another. Context and epi-genetic factors are all.
Also, as human beings, we have a great deal of responsibility to other beings in our eco-system. We've done enough to destroy habitats and selectively breed species for our own profit. We need to take a much broader view of our ethical responsibilities when it comes to our amazing technologies and scientific understanding.
I really believe they do find us🥰
And it would not have been the same cat, anyone who has ever known identical twins knows that they may look alike but are different people.
My friends and I speak of "The Agency" the mysterious force that makes cats show up when you need them. We're all cat lovers and very seldom go looking for cats. They will show up somehow. One of mine came with my house (plus his now passed on buddy). One was a feral kitten who let himself into my house when the door was ajar. The last was abandoned in an apartment and the landlord, an acquaintance of mine, convinced me to take her in. Love them all.
I had a friend out of grief who adopted a cat to "replace" a lost one, she realize soon you do not replace easily; he can be a clone, a perfect copy, but still a different soul
I think instead of "replacement", a better mindset is to take the love you felt for the pet that you love, and share that love with a new pet who is just as deserving. The new pet will enjoy this, and I believe it's the best way to honor your old cat. It doesn't need to be more than that. Just be prepared to live a new a different life with a new and different pet.
On a very shallow surface level, I’ve thought it would be neat to have a clone of my childhood cat. She was very much my heart cat, and sadly only had a short life because she lived outside. My parents were against having pets in the house back then, but they have changed their minds over the last 15-20 years. I thought how cool it would be to get to give her the kind of life she deserved to have back then, spoil her rotten, and get to have more time with her and make sure she knew how loved she was! But then I thought a little more and realized, no. The new clone might know how loved she is, but my old childhood cat would still be gone. My memories of her are distant now, but I loved her very much and she knew it and loved me back, and I will never forget her. She is gone and always will be. And it wouldn’t be right to clone her for a lot of reasons. I’m sure I’d love the clone cat, but she would not be my childhood cat even if she looked just like her. She would be her own individual self, just like any other cat I could adopt one day would be. It’s much better to make room for other cats and pets who are already born and need a home into my heart and do the best I can by them in her memory. My current cat is such a love bug, and I make sure to give him the best life I can.
That's a great way to put it. Giving a new cat a home while you make a new friend. I'm doing that with my new girl I adopted a few months back. My first cat that passed away last year, taught me everything on how to truly appreciate a cat (I lived with cats and dogs my entire life, but none were ever "mine" until Snowball 14 years ago). Now I try to do right in her memory by caring and loving my current girl, Rachelle.
Despite what some think was are more then our genes.
Hello Emily how’s the weather over there
This saddens me. My Flower is my baby, when she passes I will be broken. I’ve lost a lot but I wouldn’t clone anyone, even after losing my mom at 14. I agree with you Jackson.
Grief needs to be normalized. We go through it and most of us come out the other side. It’s okay for all of us to feel emotions.
I have had so many cats and thought I would never get over their loss and never adopt another. That did not last long. There is nothing better than finding another little soul to bring back the joy to your life.
This gives me some comfort! I've never lost a cat before, I have two cats and I dread the day I lose them. 😢 But at the same time, I will be happy to rescue another furball one day!
I lost my dog last summer. She was a special girl with a calming effect on stressed/scared people and animals. Even cats and sheep that she had never met before! But she had been sick her whole life due to allergies, and died only 8 years old. I thought I would never get another dog, but right now I have a puppy sleeping on my lap. My mom always says that love is one of the few things in life that there becomes more of for every person (or pet) you share it with.
@@JWildberry Your mother is right. Love grows the more you give it away!
It was actually the reason I started volunteering at shelters. My former cat was lost, actually trapped but that is to long a story for now, and it started me thinking about how I need to experience being with, and helping other cats, just like I would be forced to if he never came back. He came back but I started anyway. It is really therapeutic seeing all the cats find a home. You want to take them home until you see others do so and then it just feel selfish so then you make it about trying to make each one as adoptable as you can. Heal them, as such, if needed, and support them, if needed or not, so they find someone to have a partnership with like you hopefully do with your own.
Absolutely agree with you. I’ve had so many cats and dogs over the years and as painful as it is loosing them I would never even consider cloning. I believe in nature. Thank you for all you do.
"Nature is cruel mistress".
I went on a whole rant about this on Twitter and I'm too heart broken to go over it again. Just to keep it short, my shared experience of time with Sadie and Lucy was the only time in existence. It was experienced by me, as well as them. An unimaginable amount of animals who need homes are euthanized in shelters every. Single. Day. This couldn't be more self serving.. I understand grief is overwhelming but it's so self serving to clone a pet. And like you said, the companies are praying on grief.
I have a feeling I will agree with everything you say and I'm glad you're going to talk about this.
I agree 100%. This precious time we have with our fur kiddos is just as precious to them. We adopt our sweet babies KNOWING we will out live them. I'd rather have precious memories the 13-20 years I have with them versus cloning to doing it again. SO many unwanted animals in this world deserving of loving homes. I'm a FIRM believer in adopting rescues or "throw aways" as mine have always come from, to then when they cross that rainbow bridge.. Bringing in new fur babes to love and to providing them their best life!
Thankyou!!!!! Thankyou . I’m so happy other people are as disgusted by this as I am. Humans can be so self serving . These people need therapy not access to cloning technology 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
@@kqusa I agree. After my senior cats passed (very close to one another in time.. in a way bittersweet because they were so close I'm in a way grateful Lucy didn't have to be without Sadie for long - I was in the process of getting her a new companion when she got very ill suddenly and our attempts to save her failed) I adopted two cats. I went out of my way to find one that had been available the longest and he is such a good boy. The two new souls have bonded now and are so close. ❤
@@kqusa EGGSactly. Plus, we won't be the same person when living through their lives a second time. We change with time, too, just like they do, so since the experience won't be the same, why not give that new, fresh time to another deserving animal?
@@glittercatstudios yes!!😍😻
Absolutely, agree 100%! I too had a pet only he was a ferret named, Benny. Loved him so deeply, he died of natural causes in my arms years ago and I literally felt my heart break and I still weep sometimes thinking of him. I would give anything to have him again, but, that's just it, I can't have my "Benny" back. Think about it, Jackson said something very profound, we now can clone the body, but we cannot clone the spirit with the love, the personality, the experiences that made that pet so very special in our hearts. I can find another ferret, the same sable markings, the specks of black on his nose, but you know what, he may not be Benny, but I can love him just as much and be touched by his special soul just as I was with Benny. Blessing upon you, Jackson for all the great work that you do, my sympathy to all those who have lost that very special pet, and to Benny - wardance upon the golden fields across the rainbow bridge and know that I still love you. ❤🌈
This is so horrible. Thank you for talking about cloning, Jackson. My cats can return to me in a different, unique body, but only if they choose to do so. It is a spiritual connection I have with them. It's not a machine that can be simply recreated.
why is it horrible?
@@petervansan1054 You're paying tens of thousands of dollars and taking advantage of other animals to gestate these copies, which is complex enough that you're not even guaranteed an exact match. So you're MAYBE getting a twin sibling of your pet, if this massive organizational project works out, and producing multiple other puppies/kittens in the process, while other adoptable strays die unwanted in shelters. And, as Jackson points out, you're getting all the same health issues and death that you went through with the pet you cloned. It's psychologically troubling, financially foolish, and unkind to animals.
@@paganpines but it makes you happy, no? I honestly won't do it (mostly cause I don't live in US) but I don't know what I will do when my cat dies. I love him so much :(
I lost my beloved feline buddy of 17 years, Mondo, almost a month ago now. It will be a month this Wednesday morning. He would have been 21 years old in August. His loss was sudden and unexpected and it hurt(s) like hell. Yet, under no circumstances would I clone him. I cherish him for who he was and the magic he brought to my life. I remember with fondness and bittersweet tears, the magic of his younger self as well as the sweet grandpa cat he aged into. His magic continues in my memory and my heart which has no desire to repeat the past, but to give the love I have to a creature who lives now and is not wanted. I would rather adopt a new magic sprite than grope emptily and desperately after something that has come, a create that has gone, and a memory and love that should continue in its own lovely form. Life is bittersweet. Loss is part of that.
Having had the Perfect Cat, TC the Calico for 17 years, this is one whom I would have cloned. As a Calico she was extremely unique in her markings, truly one of a kind.
She arrived as a stray, fully grown, house-trained, spayed, and skilled in the hunting skills of an outdoor cat.
She was perfect, so saying goodbye at her advanced age was terrible.
The technology was not ready, so her unique genetics were lost forever.
Then it occured to me that what made her so perfect was the life that she had lived before showing up in our backyard. Her learning experiences made her the way she was.
She passed in 1981, and I still miss her to this day.
I seem to take about as long as I had them stop grieving but not twice that like you.
Cloned tortoiseshell/calico cats wouldn't look the same anyway, they look totally different.
At one point I thought about cloning my Burmese cat. He was one in a million. Discussing it with my spouse, we decided that it would diminish our cat's very being. He was a singular creation - to be loved for who he was. It would also be unfair to the cloned version as we would expect them to react just like their predecessor, but they don't have that pet's life experience - unfair expectation on the new generation. Love them for the unique being they are
I feel like if I cloned my cat, lily 2.0 would still be a different cat. She wouldn't have that bond we had nor her memories. I'd prefer to adopt one of the many cats that need homes, especially a senior
Exactly.
Yeah, I lost my dog last summer, and it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about cloning her. It wouldn't be her anyway, and it feels like violating her memory. I don't really understand what people are thinking. If you ignore the ethical questions for a moment, just think about the pain you'd feel by seeing a look-alike of your dead pet behaving in a totally different way.
I "understand" why they clone horses, because that has nothing to do with love. That's all about performance and greed involved in producing a great racing horse. As despicable as it is, that has a good chance of giving the desired results.
At first you had no bond with your cats either, but experience is nearly impossible to recreate. Now, I had my former cats at 6 weeks so it would have been easier to recreate a lot of it. Today it is typically 3 months. By then, they are much more aware and have learned and experienced a lot.
Thank you for making this video. I lost my animal soul mate 💔 16 years ago. My life isn't conducive for another and so I really enjoy your content and vicariously having animal soul mate(s) through your videos and others. This idea makes me ill. I hope to adopt again in the future and I know Captain my little dog would be delighted to know I had found another animal soul mate.
I've always felt icky about the concept of cloning animals, especially just for human wants. Thank you so much for such a thorough video on this topic, I wish more people understood the implications of cloning or even breeding animals
What do you think about it in terms of cloning for certain livestock to produce more food etc?
@@daddy8518 I don't eat animals so I'm totally against the concept of unnecessarily using animals for basically anything
I completely agree. It's not fair for the animals who are born and expected to be used for something/expected to be like their 'original'.
It's also not healthy for humans, since we need to learn to accept death as an unavoidable part of our lives.
@@daddy8518 costly still... i think cloning should only be done to help aid keeping a species from going extinct.
@@Zowiezo101 yea and you're also cheating yourself out of another possible and equally meaningful relationship with a new dog or cat. And potentially saving a life if adopted from a shelter or rescue.
I lost my soul-cat "Koo-Koo" close to 10 years ago. I had him 20+ years. I think about him now and can still cry, esp. the day I put him down. Koo-koo still is my greatest grief. I kept a tooth in hopes of cloning him some day, and it's still in my safe. Your message is so right on, and it won't be the same "Koo-Koo" anyway. I have a new kitty, "Mama," and will keep giving her the love I had for my long lost "Koo-Koo." Thanks for the video, and yes, they prey on grief, and it's terrible.
Respect and appreciate how unique our pets are and give a home to another pet in need when it's time. There's not a limit to how many animals we can love! Besides cloning seems a bit like Pet Sematary.😬
You're wrong. It's exactly like Pet Sematary.
Ya know, I was just thinking the same thing.
@@frostyjim2633 And just as creepy too.
Yeah, I thought of Stephen Kings "Pet Cemetary" novel and that didn't work out at all. Even though it was fiction.
I agree with you Jackson!
I had an absolutely lovely cat when I grew up, she was my best friend. I witnessed her birth when I was three years old and I witnessed her death a couple of weeks before I moved away for college 16 years later. That cat meant the world to me, we were both skittish and anxious, but found great comfort in each other. She slept under my duvet every night.
Losing her is still one of my greatest sorrows in life and I truly miss her, but I would never clone her. I would see that as a disrespect of our deep connection and our relationship, no one would be able to fill that gap, and pushing that expectation on another animal is cruel and unfair.
I will always have a special place in my heart for her and remember her with fondness, and I will still be able to open my heart for that kind of love again with another pet.
All animals are different, even if they are clones. Cloning doesn't give you your pet back, it keeps you from moving on and it hurts the animal that's being cloned.
So many talking about kitties appearing in our lives at just the right moment. This spring, a stray mama and three new babies fell into our lives, and, after a few careful months, have moved in and now we have four cats! We had cats years ago, and it would seem that our first family sent us a new one 💕 I retired this fall, and am so grateful to be able to share this next stage of my life with these new sweethearts. Thanks, Jackson, for teaching me how to make a warm and cozy home for this very loving and loveable family. No need to clone with so many kitties out there who need our love and care!
You are an angel. Thank you for keeping all of them together. Most people wouldn't do that; you are giving them a beautiful life together. As someone who fosters kittens, and I just want to say thank you. 🙏
This one really affected me. It hurts to loose a soul mate, but thinking about mine now that she is gone- the memories are precious and I visit them often. I would never want to try to recreate the time I had with her. Instead, I brought home another that needed and deserved love, and one day I will cry for him as I do when loosing all of my fur babies. Their memories will be just as precious. For me, the thought cloning just sullies that bittersweet beauty of pet companionship.
All my cats were rescued by me, from outside. Most were starving or dying from injuries. Their personalities and the path we took together to develop trust and a wonderful relationship took time. And these components, plus their experiences before their rescue, developed the personalities they had. They are/were all different, and all precious and loved. You cannot make a genetic clone that replicates the journey of a human or animal that shapes who it becomes. And that journey is what counts, not what he or she physically resembles.
No to cloning, and if anyone has $35 grand lying around, support a shelter.
Your conscience will thank you, and karma will reward you for the animals you will help.
...amen and amen...
Like the Street Cat Named Bob.
Absolutely agree with Jackson, I love my cat, but I couldn’t do that. He’s not a thing to be replaced, you can’t just get an exact replica and the pain goes away. Be present for your cat, cry when it ends, and be thankful for the time he was there to save your life as you did for him. When you are ready, you can later adopt another cat, not as a replacement, but as another companion that you’ll you love and care for their entire life.
Honestly, I think the idea of cloning pets is absolutely ridiculous and is EXTREMELY unethical. In my opinion, it's nothing more than a giant money making scheme. I agree with Jackson. These people are predators who take advantage of folks who are grieving the loss of a pet and are in a vulnerable state. My dogs and cats are individuals with their own distinct quirks and personalities. There will never be another one of any of my pets. My babies will live their one life with me and then they will eventually pass on when it's their time. I could NEVER replace them with a "replica" that looks just like them. People need to realize that cloning the physical body does NOT also clone the animal's soul or their personality. Yes, you may have a dog or a cat that looks identical to your "original," but it will be an entirely different animal with its own distinct personality and traits. Who even knows what kind of health and/or behavioral issues these cloned animals may be prone to??? That is a HUGE concern. I cherish the time that I have with my fur kids. When they pass on, I miss them dearly, but I always have many fond memories of them and they will live on forever in my heart. I do not need or want a clone. Now, if you want an ETHICAL and cute clone, check out Cuddle Clones. You send them a photo of your pet and they will make you a custom life-sized stuffed animal that looks just like them. They are kind of expensive, but they are adorable and are nice to have as a keepsake. We got one made of our oldest Golden Retriever, who passed away from cancer 6 months ago, and it is the cutest thing ever. Everyone loves it.
I agree with you, I am a religious person and this just doesn't seem right.
I agree.. I'm pretty sure they are cloning humans as well, this world we live in is sick!
May God be with us..
Perfectly said!!! Thank you!👍
@@keepthefaith2655 Honestly, the idea of cloning any living being utterly disgusts me!!!!
Well said, I concur
I enjoy and learn SO MUCH from your videos, Jackson. I've been the owner of three cats, all strays. The first one was a tabby kitten that followed me around when I attended classes at a mental health institution. Needless to say, she greatly contributed to my mental health, until I became pregnant and my partner insisted I give her away. Her name was Baby. My second cat was a Calico (female, of course) kitten that someone left at a pet shop and my son and I fell in love with! She was SO SPECIAL! She lived with my son and I for years, until we had to sell our home and move in with my mother. Mom NEVER LIKED CATS before, but Kit Kat was so special that she fell in love with her. My son and I later left the country and my mother happily stayed with her. But she was a senior, in her 90's, and she got a severe eye infection that my sisters assumed was from emptying the cat litter box, and gave her away. Both my mother and I were heartbroken. Finally, my beautiful current companion, a small male tabby that is 9 years old, found me. He is the PERFECT COMPANION. Clean, intelligent, affectionate, communicative (but only meows to let me know he wants something or is bored and wants to play), domesticated and VERY HEALTHY! He was adopted as a kitten, along with a sibling, by a woman that took great care of him. BUT, she used to let him out and the last time she did he did not return for months. She was getting ready to move to another state and finally had to leave, leaving him behind. I happened to be in the apartment complex, looking at one to purchase, and Kat came up to me and was very affectionate. There was going to be a freeze that evening and I knew that Kat would not survive outside, so after asking a few people about the owner and being told he was a stray, I asked if he wanted to come home with me and he jumped into my car. A few days later, I took him to the vet and confirmed that he was microchipped. I contacted his owner and she was in tears, telling me that none of her family members in the state I lived in liked cats and she was just brokenhearted knowing I would probably have to take him to a shelter, where she knew he would be euthanized. I calmed her down by letting her know that I was very happy with Kat, as he with me, and asked if I could keep him. She agreed. We contacted the company that tracked his owner via the microchip and made the transfer, with me being registered as his new owner. I just moved to FL and Kat is SO VERY HAPPY with the "Catification" I've been able to provide, that he no longer begs me to let him out. I am much happier having him indoors, where he is safer, but felt sad when I could not comply with his begging me to let him out where we lived before. Now we have a large, screened, porch, on the first floor, where he loves to hang out, and two windows that provide plenty of "cat TV" for him. Sometimes he will shoot into the living room from the porch and run to my bedroom, where he can jump onto the window sill and continue to keep an eye on a squirrel, or cat, or dog, or even an interesting person he spotted from the porch! He has two litter boxes, which I had not been able to provide before. There are lots of cats on the property and he has made some friends! All within the safety of his own home. He is very territorial. We communicate well, play and cuddle together, and I think that, although I've loved my previous cats, Kat is my soulmate. I take very good care of him and hope he lives a long, healthy and happy life with me. However, I WOULD NEVER HAVE HIM CLONED!!! As you said, that is INSIDIOUS! I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LOVE AND ENJOY ALL THREE OF MY CATS, EQUALLY. It's amazing that each one met my needs according to my stages in life! In my senior years, Kat is a perfect companion. He loves time to himself and loves time with me and is quite a playful little thing! Does NOT seem his age at all!!! When his time comes to leave me, I will be happy to adopt another senior cat and provide a loving home for it as well. I am taking advantage of all the information you provide and doing everything in my power to look after Kat properly and make sure he has a great life with me. Thank you so much for all you share. All the best!
This hit me really, I would not consider cloning but I understand the temptation. My family owns a chihuahua that changed our lives, it’s the first animal I have loved sooo much, and I know it would be devastating when she pases, I think if we have a clone of her it would be fantastic spending time with her again but the thought of her incapable of recognizing us, her home, her favorite toys it’s too much, also, she has a neurological disorder and I will never subject her (and us) to that pain all over again, that would be truly cruel. At the end I think it’s just an illusion.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Its not the same dog
Thank you so much for thinking with you head and not your heart. It would be terrible for a "new" baby to go thru the trials of a a subjugating life that it has no control over!
My heart is so broken to know that this unethical practice is taking off. When my beloved cat dies someday, I know that I will be devastated and forever changed. I have had her since she was my four-week-old, emaciated foster who came to me from the streets, covered in fleas. She was the kitten I didn't want because she was a girl (and I thought about keeping one of the males from her foster litter). She was quiet, and I preferred loud cats. But somehow, she managed to wriggle her way into my heart, and I will love her for the rest of our lives. She has become my emotional support animal and helped me get through a very stressful time in my life. She is going to grow up with my future kids. She has helped raise a litter of foster kittens, and I know she'll help with more in the future. So all of this is to say that when she is gone, I will be devastated.
But if I tried to clone her, I would be disrespecting our beautiful life together and her very origins: she came to me as an unwanted street kitten, too small and defenseless to care for herself. I will not subject another kitten/cat to death or suffering because I cannot handle my beloved feline passing. When she is gone, I will help other animals who need me in her memory. As a vegan, I am never surprised by people's cruelty to animals, but I am amazed at all the ways humans continue to disrespect and abuse animals, even the ones they claim to love.
From a statistical view, this basically perpetuating the issue with buying bred cats instead of adopting sheltered ones.
From an ethical point of view, you're basically stamping out the identity of a soul yet to be born because you cannot accept the grief of having lost your pet and move on.
Even then, you're only replicating the looks of your cat. Their personality will not be the same and neither will your attitude raising them as you'll do it with the expectation of your cat returning instead of nurturing the new life before you.
What if the clone isn't a perfect copy? Will you discard them just because of that?
What will happen when the 'clone' dies? Will you be so stubborn as to keep this process going on until you yourself die?
I know I'll be devastated when my cat dies. It's hard to accept the years you'll spend with your pet being over now but you should not project your grief onto another cat.
I'm not trying to make any point, but there are people who get the same breed of dog again and give it the same name. Some people keep track of which one it is and some don't (Fluffy the 3rd). They claim, usually, that it is because they keep accidently calling the new dog by the old name and gave up trying to remember. I don't know, really.
@@Meeker128-Amy getting the same breed and getting the spitting image of a lost pet are two different things.
One is in memory of a pet while the other is in refusal of letting the pet be a memory.
@@giraoshaw I read just now that because of a different womb environment, they will probably not be a "spitting image”, just very similar.
@@Meeker128-Amy , you are correct, because epigenetics is absolutely a thing.
Even same environment/womb doesn't mean COMPLETELY identical physically. Identical twins can have different birthmarks or moles, and they had the same genes, in then same womb, at the same time.
@@Hermititis True. I read later that even identical twins, based on the length of the umbilical cord and position in the womb and probably other factors, is why twins have different fingerprints. My dad has a weaker chin than his identical brother, but I still sometimes mistake them in old pictures. But the way they use their voices is totally different and they wear different facial hair, which helps a lot.
My dad visited a church once in southern Washington when he lived further north and his brother lived further south, in Portland. A man recognized him and my dad, being mostly deaf and having a bad memory, went along with it until the man said something about him growing a beard. Ah! You know my brother.
It amuses me because they have lived very far apart for very long and that hadn't happened in 45 years.
I had an amazing cat that we adopted from the shelter when I was 3 and he was estimated to be 2 (found as a stray). From the time we got home with him until I went out of state for college, he was my shadow when I got home from school. Sadly, he died my senior year of college of old age. I still miss him very much despite it being years later.
However, setting aside the massive and many ethical problems, I would not clone him even if I could for a few reasons. One, I feel that I owe it to his memory to adopt another cat because shelter pets deserve as much love as he recived. And two, as you mentione, while they might look alike, I think his experiences both before he was adopted and after made him the amazing cat he was and that's one of those intangibles that DNA can't influence. His name however has been "retired" so no other animals that I adopt will have his.
as much as i would love to do this for my sweet baby that passed away this passed july, it wouldn’t be the same. the kitten wouldn’t have the memories we’ve experienced or the bond we had. i love him dearly and i want him to stay as him and only him in my memory
A very thoughtful and humane take on a complex issue. Thank you.
You should keep moving forward with this kind of content, I find this moving forward along side the declawing video were truly some of the best videos I’ve seen from you(not to say shorts, or that your videos have not been good). These kinds of topics truly spark discussion, and you have the perfect platform for it. Keep it up, the editing, to the research, to offering both unbiased and biased source material. Otherwise, great work!
Amen.
Yeah, but predictably Bramble was a foster "fail" that I hope he does not let go at this point. I was happy to see him still there and a lot bigger. He is a star.
Thanks for an informative and compassionate video. I read about the Streisand puppies and for a second, it sounded wonderful. I lost my yorkie last month to sudden kidney failure, and the truth is, he’s irreplaceable. He was my fur kid, but I’m a different person compared to getting him ten years ago. Life goes on and unless I could recreate every experience that happened to him, he would also be a different dog. My cats mostly fill the void and that’s enough. There are plenty of animals who would love a home, adopt one and move away from the idea of cloning. Your best buddy can never be duplicated.
As someone who lost their cat, then their dog within a period of 4 months apart last year, I still agree with you 100% I think another part of the problem is the fear and demonization of death in the western world be it humans or pets (especially the US). The vast majority of the population is so fixated on defying death and treating it like a disease, rather than accepting the inevitability and valuing the life we have. Hell, there's people that will look at this comment and think, "omg, she's so morbid, how could you say that??" Because without death and grief, life and love are pointless - they mean nothing if there's no end. We would do well to look at the many ways the rest of the world, and even ancient cultures, view death and take some advice from them. Great video Jackson! 💜
Well said!
Completely agree (and I say this as someone with tremendous death anxiety). When our pets die, it is a reminder that we, too, will die someday, and that's a frightening notion for many of us. So rather than come to terms with our own mortality and the mortality of our beloved fur companions, we try to cheat death and play God.
Beautifully said. I completely agree. Thank you.
@@ladycaticorn2950 For someone who's afraid of the death of the body, your soul's understanding shines through. Your soul is eternal. Our bodies aren't (thank goodness). You can never die. This is what all the religious and ancient spiritual teachings affirm. Our physical death is just a portal into the next adventure. From what I have read and heard from countless sources, the Other Side is wondrous beyond anything we experience on this beautiful but difficult planet Earth. If only the West had not cultivated fear of just about everything the way it has, particularly death of the body.
@@jeandixon586 I hope you're right about death, but it's hard to know (hence the anxiety for me).
Even if I could, there's no more "room" to agree with you more than I do now. You're right 10000000%
Hello Ann how’s the weather over there
I just burst into tears while watching this! I can't believe how unethical and selfish humans can be. This is absurd... I wished my orange boys, Ginger & Cashew could have lived forever, but i respect life, nature and its experiences. We should always want to give other pets a chance to live an amazing life with us, just like the ones we've lost ❤
Aye. I very nearly did myself... I wish my own furbabies had more time on this world. But I remember them and I treasure the experiences I had with them. :)
I have no respect for death but I do for life so the choice is obvious regardless of the (duck quack sound) thing called death.
Thank you Jackson for sharing this! When we've just lost our furbaby boy, I had the idea pop up in my mind how great it would be to just copy paste and have a little longer. But it's not fair to our baby boy, we'll let him rest and we'll love him as long as we remember him.
We're trying to find a new baby boy in the shelter who'll go well together with his future sister. Looking forward to a new adventure and looking back on great memories ❤️
No it isn’t right…It’s like all the babies …..we have plenty…we don’t need more. I’m a retired social worker and my heart breaks for all the unwanted and very lovable children.
Wow - what a sobering and honest thought. It is wrong in animals and so much more in humans. Much love and respect to have worked in such a hard field. You have seen much that we as a society chose not to look at.
Over all I do agree, but frankly: If we don't, well China or other coutries will! Especially if selection for not only diseases and stuff like genetic predispositions towards substance abuse etc. is possible, but also for intelligence etc...hell, I am not even totally against trying to remove inheritable diseases from humanity. Still, if we don't, then other nations will offer and the rich will travel there and have this done there! Same for pet-cloning, if we don't allow it here, then some other nation will take advantage of that!
Most people are worthy of love, DJT and Ted Cruz would be exceptions.
It is so important to have these uncomfortable conversations. Thank you Jackson for bringing this topic to the forefront. It is important that we pay attention to the surrogates are treated as well as the litter mates. The truth is these living beings are made into disposable objects and that the whole process only screams more of turning animals into objects, opposed to what they really are, their own glorious expressions of this wondrous life. You cannot repeat the same being, the building materials may all be the same but the time of day, the moment concieved, the moment born the stars overhead, the sounds that carry will never be the same, as those moments have been a gift the present leaves us with the truth. What we had will never be again, maybe similar, but always different. As we see with identical twins the two are not the same person, just shared habits and reactions but many times very different end results. The love you had will NEVER be the same, but instead of desperately trying to re-live that moment and further scarring the world for it, seek to transform your mourning into a greater good. My condolences to anyone's loss, I pray you choose to express your love and not your selfishness. I say NO to Cloning.
Very eloquently put. I had no idea this was going on. It's terrifying
All my furkids were UNIQUE in their own special ways. That is what defined them in our shared soul experiences. We experienced a journey at that time that won't be replicated. No matter how much I loved them and wanted their lives to continue after they passed away, it still wouldn't be the same unless I went back in time and relived things identically. If I want to experience more of these lives that come with rescued pets, then I have to continue adopting more. No considerations for cloning.
Every animal is an individual. Soooo many animals out there are desperate for homes. If we clone, it is as bad as unethical breeding. Take home a new puppy or kitty or both and enjoy their unique personality. Plus although you might reproduce the exact DNA, you cannot reproduce the exact environment. You are not the same person as you were when you got the original animal. This new creature will not be identical because they will not have the exact same experiences. They do not have the exact same owner cause you are not who you were 10 or 20 years ago when you got that pet. You probably don't have the same people in your life who might have interacted with that pet. You probably don't have the same pets who might have had an impact on that original pet's personality. The human animal bond is special, unique, and dynamic so appreciate it everyday as it is not repeatable.
Especially at the prices they charge. Put that money into shelters and rescues.
Amen. Each one is unique in her or her own way.
@@maryannweldin4633 Love that idea!!! The pet shelters by me have kittens for as little as $25 to get them into homes during kitten season. Go get 2 for $50 and give the other thousands that you would have spent to the shelter.
I had a wonderful cat for 15 years and went through a very tough time when I had to have him put down due to illness. As bad as it was, cloning never was an option I ever considered. Sure, a clone may look like your pet, but it's not the same animal you loved, it's just a copy. It's been 5 years since my buddy died and I still miss him very much. I started volunteering a local county animal shelter last summer and I have to say it has been a very rewarding experience. I get to interact with many cats and dogs, and I feel really good when each shift is over. I'd love to have another cat, but unfortunately my wife is not the animal person I am. Anyway, nice video, thanks.
I have had many cats over the years, some I’ve felt more of an attachment to than others but they are all special. Once I had a cat who I bonded to the moment he was born. We had such a great relationship that others wished they could have a cat like that. However, as amazing as he was, every cat I had before or since has been amazing too, just in different ways. I would not trade them for anything. They had qualities I’d say were superior to him in certain ways. He will always be the most special to me, but I’m grateful to all those other cats. The one I have now just so happens to have a lot of qualities he did. But that’s the breed. She is a lynxpoint Siamese. She is as not as much a people pleaser as he was, but like him she has a huge and very specific vocabulary. I think hers is a lot larger. I love her dearly and can’t imagine my life without the unique gift she has made to it. And having him in my life before makes me appreciate her more. So cloning? I see no advantage in it. My baby now is a rescue and is five years old. It breaks my heart that anyone gave her up. All I can say is they didn’t appreciate what a gem they had. I thank God for her everyday. And when she is gone I will thank God for the next unique treasure that comes into my life
Love at first sight.
I completely agree with you Jackson. There are too many animals in shelters, on the streets, and we don't need to add to those numbers by cloning our pets when those clones will never be the same pet we lost without our shared memories.
I absolute agree with every Point You made. Every single living Thing on this Earth is precious, because It's special and unique. Cloning takes that away and makes Live exchangeable. Humanity lacks the mentally and emotional matureness to play with such major Things. We show that clearly every Day, over and over again. Just because We're able to do It, doesn't mean We have the Right to.
I never write in comments, but in this case I just had to support this. All my cats have been rescues, I grieve for all that have passed still. But then the next one comes along and in time you find one day you love them as much as the ones gone before. You are 100% correct: from day one they are brought up differently, it‘s not going to be the same animal. Love, grieve then rescue another.
I do, the google algorithm knows the majority do not so it weighs them heavily over view counts or even subscriptions
I completely understand and relate to being attached to a deceased pet. I've thought to myself many times, how much I miss my friends and would love to be able to see them again. But knowing the grim reality behind the process, I could never be ok w it. Also, it's not literally the same cat or dog. Even if they're genetically identical, they still haven't lived the same experiences, so it feels like trying to synthetically re-manufacture that bond. I also like to think that my friends that are no longer with us would prefer me to give a warm, loving home to other kitties. This is not the way, imo.
Just remember that every time they are annoying and know that you can not re-obtain any love you did not take the time to have. Grab love while you still can, a corpse is just a pile of flesh. I have never understood funeral ceremonies. That is just dying particles, they are not in that body. When you spread ashes that are not in them.
This is why I love your content. You always present both sides to these issues. But landing on the side of ethics and the principle of "why clone a pet?" that you had an extraordinary relationship with who's passed, when there are so many out there waiting to be loved. That just means you get to have a whole new experience for years and years, hopefully. I just wanted to mention that we lost our 12-year-old beautiful girl named Church in January. The pain was excruciating because one day she was fine, and within 7 days she became ill and passed away. Our wonderful vet did everything she could to try to save her. I was syringe feeding her and giving SubQ fluids at home. But as you know, cats mask illness and pain so well that often times it's not found till it's way too late. I couldn't imagine getting another feline familiar so soon. My husband saw a feral rescue post for a 9-month-old black kitten. He had been moved from 4 foster homes because people are superstitious. He said I'm not ready to adopt another baby just yet but let's just go look at him and see how we feel. There was an instant bond between Aleister Meowley and my husband. We did bring him home because he needed us and we needed him. We followed all of your instructions for introducing him to our 3-year-old tabby cat named Bela Lugosi. The baby gate, he was in his own separate room set up for catification for several weeks (I slept on the floor with him many of those nights), scent handshakes through the door, play and love and treats on either side of the gate, the whole nine yards! And it worked beautifully. Bela is so happy to have a friend, even though she was reluctant at first. And Aleister is the most gentle laid-back and friendly cat you could imagine. They are having a blast together playing on the ripple rug and with the cat dancers! Thank you for everything you do for us cat lovers and our feline familiars.
Animals have souls. No one can clone a soul. Grief is the price we pay for love, and however painful, it's worth it.
Exactly!! Remember the joy you had with the cat your love!
It is... they looked after me in life, I looked after them in death... but making sure my face was the last thing they saw... and my voice was the last thing they heard as they departed this world.
@@shep9231 Yes. We owe them that. Thank you for being a great pet guardian. I know how hard that was to do. ❤️
@@rubysmith8818 Souls don't exist though. Yes, I'm going to be that guy.😎
💯% agree, Jackson, on every point. This mindset of cloning customers, "Wait a minute, I don't have to say goodbye to the animal I loved!" ~ of course we have to say goodbye! To not do so, and pretend our beloved companion didn't die, is the opposite of honoring the dear soul that was so very precious to us! You're right that it's reductive, minimizes the value of the precious soul, which btw, is NOT the same soul in the replicated body. It demeans them by saying "See? You are replaceable!" ...instead of treasuring and honoring their uniqueness and their irreplaceable love in our lives.
More important is the abuse of animals to gestate, cloning more animals that will need homes, and for me as one that worked in the cat rescue world, the impact of cloned animals on efforts to find homes for the precious souls already in shelters. Cloning is a great sadness for the millions of homeless souls!
It has been more than 2 years. But there isn't a day that I don't miss Misty. Sometimes I think that if cloning can bring her back, I will do it! But, deep down I know the clone is a totally different cat,.While sharing Misty's gene, will not share her personality. And I know this is NOT fair for the clone to exist in this world with a single purpose to be a replacement for another cat.
Death gives life meaning. And I'll need to learn to move on.
❤
✨💜🐈♥️✨
I'm sorry for your help.
I wish I could help lighten your burden... I'm sorry...
My first reaction was horror that this exists.
My second reaction was to burst into tears thinking of my beautiful rescue cat who was saved from a very harsh life and whose love, gratitude and unique personally is absolutely irreplaceable. He himself, as himself, with his own experiences and his relationship with us, is precious beyond description and could never be replicated.
We are so lucky to have him in our life, for as long as any of our lives continue.
I would give anything to have my Mimí back with me, but cloning is not magic, nothing can bring my friend back. It offends me that there are people in the world offering to sell me that lie at the cost of my love for her.
I am a bigger Jackson Galaxy fan than ever before after this post on cloning. THANK YOU for speaking out about this issue. I can't imagine life without my kitty soul-mate but cloning her would be sooooo wrong!!
You will always know deep down, that the clonse is a clone. A lookalike, might even have the same behaviour due to the DNA cloning, but you will always know, THIS is not the one you lost. But it will remind you of it. As much as I want to believe, it's a nice thing for obvious and mulitple reasons, I don't like it :/
Let the soul of your lost one rest, grieve, mourn, hold your loved ones dear and close in your memory and heart and eventually, instead, give another animal in need a lovely home. It doesn't seem like much, but for that potential animals, a new forever home means the world! Pls
Exactly. That's what I couldn't deal with. I will KNOW that it's not my "original" pet. It's just a "replica" or a "knockoff." Cloning the physical body does not clone the soul or the personality of your pet, so while the animal may look identical, they will NOT have the same personality traits. What REALLY concerns me is that we don't know what type of health and/or behavioral issues that these "cloned" pets might be prone to. I think the whole concept of cloning pets is highly unethical and ridiculous. Love and cherish your pets while they are here. Enjoy the time that you have for them. When it's eventually their time pass on, yes, you will miss them and you will be sad, but their memory will live on in your heart forever. Take the love that you were giving to that pet and give it to another animal who needs it.
@@jrwheeler81 well said
Yep, save your money to save shelter animals. They're already living, and they need us more. What NEEDS to be happening with this technology, is using it to save endangered species on the brink, instead of preying on grieving pet moms and dads. Take Honey Bees, for example. They're dying off by the thousands! Tigers, Polar Bears, etc. That tech is much better used to save the ones that are disappearing.
@@jrwheeler81 actually it does clone the genetic component of personality.
@@Aashishkebab False. Personality and temperament are determined by the animal's external environment and how they are raised.
Agree completely! Cloning is basically just like breeding. I'd never clone my cat, a clone just wouldn't be him, it would have a completely different soul and everything. He'd rather I rescue another kitty like him instead, I'm quite sure.
I didn't even know all of that stuff about Dolly the sheep dying so early and Snuppy the dog dying at the same age from the same causes. This is such an interesting video.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. Last week I had to say goodbye to my dear little Fluffy, she had an inoperable cancer at only 8 years old. There is no way on this earth that I would consider cloning as she is irreplaceable even with a clone, quite apart from the fact that in order to get that clone a cat or cats would be subjected to unecessary procedures just so that I wouldn't have to grieve, which, although devastating, is a natural process. I also believe animals have souls and that a clone wouldn't have that same soul.
Hello Rosalyn how’s the weather over there
@@stevenhenry4227 last week it was a warm 19C this week it's been snowing so typical British weather.
@@rosalynadams8360 Oh that’s nice the weather over here is okay so where are you from? I’m from Dallas Taxes but I live in Miami Florida
Thank you Jackson, I never knew this was a thing. After watching your video I Googled this subject for my country (UK) and am shocked there is a company here doing this since 2018. Their partner is Viagen. Absolutely disgusting, inhumane and preying on people's grief to relieve them of huge amounts of money. I' m still grieving for my adopted boy and I will adopt again. I don't want a clone as it wouldn't be him. It saddens me this exists in our world.
I would definitely pay any amount to have my Sam back, even selling my house to afford it, but a clone wouldn't be my Sam.
A clone is not a copy of the personality, it's just an artificially induced identical twin and one with a higher risk of genetic conditions.
I think cloning sentient life is wrong.
Hey, one reason I get the house I did was so it would be enjoyed by the cats too. No condo for them, they wanted a yard, although it does have an HOA that I now lead. Damn taxes are due next month! aargh! One of my new cats love it, the other was indoor only and only goes out in the backyard sometimes but only if she goes first.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on cloning. Very well said. We are all products of complex biological and environmental forces that we have little control over. Cloning will not give you back the pet you knew and loved and lost. Once you are ready to love anew, find that special being that is waiting for the opportunity to love you back a million fold for having opened your heart to them. He or she is out there, waiting.
I absolutely, most definitely agree with you. There are so, so, so many too many animals in need of our love and care to be wasting money on a delusion because it could look like the lost pet, but it doesn't have the memories and experiences which is that make the bond with us.
Adopt is always the most loving, kind, caring and humane thing we can do to honor our lost pets.
Thank you for this!
Immediately as you mentioned the fact that potentially there are 2 litters before you may get your clone, I lost any enthusiasm for the prospect of cloning. Adding to shelters, overpopulation and more unwanted animals in this world is a resolute "no"!!
Most importantly, your point that the life experience of the cloned animal will never be the same. That's the key. Our life experience makes us, why should it be any different for our animal companions? And most certainly, the clone might have similar characteristics, but it'll never be the same soul.
Enjoy being in the present moment with your animal soulmate while you still have them. I myself am cognizant and thankful for every precious moment I still have with mine. It's the most loving, honest and uncomplicated relationship I've ever had.
No to cloning!!
I don't like the idea, because it's not really the pet you lost that passed away. It's the soul of another pet that shares dna with your pet who passed away. Plus, there's so many furbabies that need homes. Rich people spending 50k doing this are dumb.
Exactly, there are so many cats in need of homes, and there is no way to perfectly replicate your original pet's experiences even if you wanted to.
As much I miss one of our cats that was an absolute sweetheart, who died far too young due to FIP, even so I can't put together a rebuttal to your rationalization.
That he would look the same but very likely wouldn't have the same personality, it would be more than a little off putting.
Hey Jackson! You've helped me overcome my lifelong fear of cats, and I'm now adopting a kitty of my own.
I hope things are going well with your kitty, Raisa!
@@diamondsngunns88 Hi there! My sweet cat is everything I could have asked for! She's a spicy little calico named Libby. One of the sweetest, most loving cats I've ever known, who's not afraid to tell you when you crossed her boundaries! She chats with me, loves to be carried around, and has broken some of my most beloved trinkets 😩😂 Wouldn't trade her for the world
@@imonteamjay that’s so sweet!! I’m so happy you and Libby are so close. She sounds absolutely wonderful 😻🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️
I’m so glad Jackson has a good ethical framework. I trust him so much more after this video
I live in Brazil, here the Animal Planet channel broadcasts My Cat From Hell (Meu Gato Endiabrado) every Caturday afternoon, 3 episodes in a roll, which I always find a way to watch.
Now I'm binge watching your TH-cam channel.
Great catente!
We owe our faithful friends our grief and pain when they pass. It's because of them, not their clones, that made us happy and felt loved.
Exactly! 😍
Beautifully said
Beautiful opinion Jackson! You're spot on about how grief and loving a pet coexists within us and the process. I legit started crying when you talked about that thinking of all my fur babies that have passed. Everyone one of them special bc of the time in my life I've had them. And you're very much right about life experiences. You can't clone those as much as you want to try to be able to, it's nearly impossible. That's why living in the moment is such a special thing and memory to be able to have.
I feel that cloning pets is a con. The cloned animal will be very similar but will not be identical. So much of what makes an animal unique is developmental, not genetic. The pattern of a tabby cat's fur, for instance, will not be the same as its clone-parent; that is determined in utero. It may look similar, but it will not be identical. Most importantly, the personality will probably not be the same. That depends upon upbringing and early experiences. With a different mother, different siblings and a different environment, I don't see how there's any chance of recapitulating your lost pet. The implicit promise of bringing back your dead pet is a lie. It seems to me that the companies running these scams are exploiting the grief stricken and leaving the many, many animals languishing in shelters without a hope. It seems healthier to me to grieve, move on and find a new animal companion to share all that love with.
Even if you had one that was exactly the same personality wise.... it's still not the same animal? They don't have the memories, the experiences, it would just be a perfect lie for you to tell yourself
As much as I would like to see the pets from my early childhood again, I don't want them to be essentially scientifically necrommanced back. The clone will not be the same being.
Even identical twins are not the same being.
All animals, cats, dogs, humans have differing personalities.
(This is the part where I will speak at length about my cats...:)
I currently have 4 cats each have different mannerisms, voices and personalities.
The eldest is snowflake the momma cat
The younger are her three children who came back to our care after a family member passed away.
Snow has a chirpy voice, chatty, is a little on the slow side and is affectionate to humans. Also she is very strong and sometimes a bit scary. She is my cat, or rather I am her human since she chose me instead, she often growls at her kids when they walk close when I am petting her. She doesn't want to share the attention I think.
She otherwise is affectionate to her kids but does not want affection back from them.
The boy is Caramel, originally "butterscotch" but we kept calling him caramel. He is highly intelligent, very chill and has a loud booming voice but rarely vocalizes. When I played with him as a kitten he always went for my wrist instead of the toy unlike his siblings.
I have a feeling that said family member was his human, after his passing he licked himself bald out of grief.
I think we have a pretty strong connection cause we went trough the same grief. He is doing a lot better and most of his bald spots have almost fully grown in and overall seems a lot more at ease.
The two girls are Long cat and Fighter cat... very creative names I know.
Long cat has a high pitched voice with a full meow instead of sqeaky chirps like her mom. She is almost as chill as Caramel but likes to troll her sister, running full speed and stopping to startle her. Her name sake comes from the fact that she is not only taller and more lanky than her cat family but she likes to lie on her belly like she is superman. Her front paws extended forward and hind paws extending backward.
She has the most regal vibe and face shape for it, she has a long pointy face like a lot of oriental breeds.
Fighter is the smallest, but has the biggest attitude. She has a sqeaky voice like her mom but also higher pitched.
She is the most likely to have the zoomies come sunset, is very curious and for her name sake she likes to pick a fight with animals even when they are much larger than her and is convinced has her mother's strength. She is very resilient. Often I thought she was in trouble but she'd always turn out to be fine. I think she has a kitty napoleon complex.
She only lets me pet her when she is giving me head butts, otherwise she just walks away when I go to pet her.
The two girls seem like the indifferent sort of cat not particularly caring about humans but not disliking them either.
Well like I said on Instagram, we can't recreate a soul. That's what we really fall in love with is their soul. And this is any kind of love. Whether it be a person or animal it's their soul we love. That's what truly makes us who we are. God makes us all individually for a reason. And we need to understand that we are not in control of everything. We as human beings have our limitations. Spot on accurate Jackson! 🙌
Thank you Jackson, I agree 100%! These companies are relying on the fact that only nature shapes our pets, when the fact is that both nature and nurture factor into who our furry friends are. If you had a wonderful experience with a certain breed of dog, hold onto those memories and maybe adopt another of the same breed. If you do that and raise them with similar love and care you will more than likely have another wonderful partner. I have had animals that knee jerk I would love to have back, but that will never be a reality, I will always remember them fondly and feel lucky for the time we had together.
Most of the studies on nature vs nurture yield 20% nature / 80% nurture. So a clone is really 1/5th alike, in a way.
I totally agree with you Jackson. Also, cloning creates suffering in the cloned animal.
I cried for the majority of this video. Ever since I adopted my cat I've always had his death on my mind and my goal is to give him a fulfilling long and healthy life. I agree with you, Jackson and this video really touched me. Thank you as always! Also, would love to see a video about dealing with the grief of losing a pet.
Wow, that was such a beautiful message about love and grief. I've rarely heard it explained so perfectly, you genuinely brought a tear to my eye.
I think this is your best video yet! Thank you for your wise, true and honest words!! ❤🐈⬛
I certainly don't want to condemn the science of genetic cloning outright, because I do think there are areas in which that technology and research could potentially be world-changing in a beneficial way. The world of pets just isn't that place, and never will be.
I lost my cat last month. There's so many things that I would do over for my Slayer, my beautiful one eyed tuxedo kitty soulmate. I would jump at the chance to have a do over. He was an amazing cat. I just can't imagine how many animals who suffer to go through this process. Where are the donors coming from, and what happens to them after that horrific process. Slayer taught me that I can love someone unconditionally, and he loved me unconditionally. The best way to remember his memory is to pay it forward.
I lost my cat a few months ago, and I genuinely feel like I will never find another cat as special as she was again. But even with all the love I have for her and how hard it is to say goodbye, I would never clone her. To me, that’s disrespecting her and disrespecting life in general.
Jackson you are amazing for sharing this. A touchy subject and you addressed it with both brass balls and sensitivity. At the end of the day we suffer for our attachments. Unconditional, selfless love is the way out. We have much to learn from our pets by letting go. I believe it Ceasar Millan who suggest that dogs are more evolved than humans as they have the ability to just let go, forgive and forget. Thanks so much for this video I teared up while watching it.