Pet Cloning - Page 3

Dolly did not live a shortened life "because" she was a clone.  She developed arthritis, but also a form of lung cancer, which also affected other sheep of her same flock.  The reasoning, is that they are at high risk for the disease when they are kept indoors for their entire life, as Dolly was, for security purposes.  Back to the arthritis, Dolly was cloned from a nucleus of a breast cell that was already six years old.  The ends of the chromosomes (called telomeres) are shortened with each nuclear division, and if she had not began her life with already six year old chromosomes, she would have naturally lived another six years.

Some have speculated that a contributing factor to Dolly's death was that she could have been born with a genetic age of six years, the same age as the sheep from which she was cloned. One basis for this idea was the finding that Dolly's telomeres were short, which typically is a result of the ageing process. The Roslin Institute have stated that intensive health screening did not reveal any abnormalities in Dolly that could have come from advanced ageing. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_(sheep)

Not the best site to go by but it gives us a basic idea.

If i could go back in time, and had the money, I'd clone Suki my Siamese can and Hanny my GSD.

Fluffy2:        What does it take to store DNA for later cloning? What it the cost?

Would I clone my dog if I had the money? You betcha.

Perhaps Shelley can have Gabi cloned!!

I was talking about this with my mam earlier and she said she would deffintly have her Jack cloned (her cat) if she had the money

Ha, good one.  Despite what anyone may think or if she'd deny it, Shelley never actually wanted Gabi back.  She manipulated that whole state of affair to justify her efforts in discrediting molly.  There's a couple potential donors I would probably "accidentally" defridgerate.

I think I would like to clone Faro Policia.  Alot of writing to explain why, and it's probably something I'd never get around to doing anyway.  My "once in a lifetime dog" is another, and very different from Faro.  I'm thinking I would never attempt to clone that dog.

If the cloning process were more easily and affordably available, would it debase the value we hold on the living dogs that stand before us?  Would they be more "disposeable" than they already are now?  Would we be less cautious in the care and safety of these clones, knowing that if the worst happened, we could always start anew?  Do we deserve a "second chance" to perfect our training, our relationship, where we might have blown it previously?