Would You Clone Your Pet?

Recently, my colleague Janet (About.com Guide to Veterinary Medicine) asked her readers about cloning pets. There have been a few news stories now about pets (dogs, mainly) that have been cloned, so there seems to be at least a minimal market for it. The price is pretty high now (around $150,000), but even if money were no object, I can't see cloning any of my pets. I love them all dearly, and I miss the ones that have passed away, but I can't see myself living with their clones. It's a bit hard to explain, but I like the experience of getting to know each pet as an individual, and I'd like to experience that again when the time comes to add new pets to the family (or perhaps the clones wouldn't really be the same, but then that would defeat the purpose of cloning). As for my current dogs, their allergies are so awful I wouldn't knowingly put another animal at risk of having to live like this again. And most importantly, there are so many homeless animals out there in shelters (including lots of exotics), I'd like to open my home to new shelter pets who need a first time forever home when it comes time to consider adding more pets to the family. Besides, I think it would make me feel weird having cloned pets. There's my incoherent ramblings on the idea of cloning pets -- what do you think? Hop over to Janet's Veterinary Medicine blog to vote in her poll about cloning and share your comments.