Strange Brouhaha

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Waste of Money

I am not a cat person.

In fact, I am not even really a pet person.

Therefore, it seems like a huge, gigantic waste of money to spend $50,000 cloning your cat.

Tell me, pet owners, does your pet really matter THAT much to you? Seriously, fifty grand is a lot of money. For fifty grand, if you love cats that much, you can get two new ones and keep them fed and healthy for their entire lives. And probably have enough money left over to do it again when those two die.

Again, I come at this from the perspective of someone whose pets have all been fish, and desultorily-cared-for fish at that. Yes, I know people love their pets and can come to think of them as children, but isn't there a built-in expectation that you're going to live longer than your pet, an expectation which you don't have with kids?

6 Comments:

  • (Josh) This lady's a freak, and I say that as a slightly annoying cat lover. We just took one of our cats in last night for a thyroid procedure that will set us back the price of a decent new bass. He's given us great companionship for the last 7 years and is still pretty young, making it worthwhile to do this. Still, I don't know what we'd have done if the vet had quoted us something in the five grand or more range . . . We're definitely not a generation that looks at pets as disposable, and we really, really love this guy, but for five grand we could keep a new cat in style.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:39 PM  

  • (Savannah) Yeah, cloning your cat is ridiculous on a whole lot of levels. Yes, you do expect your pet to die somewhere along the line. Between deaths and disappearances, I have lost eight, count 'em eight, cats in my time. Yes, the money could go towards other pets (or hell, animal welfare in general). Furthermore, cloning does nothing for the actual, allegedly beloved animal. It's just wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. Josh, I hope your cat comes through and has many happy years. I'm a cat person myself, but I've had to give them up because I'm horrifically allergic to them and cannot be around them for any length of time (sniff sniff). All you cat owners, pet your cats for me tonight.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:54 PM  

  • Yeesh. I love my cats, but I also love the fact that each one has been unique and different.

    By Blogger David Adam Edelstein, at 9:58 PM  

  • (Josh) Yeah, David, ex-ACT-ly. As I think about it more, though, people spend 50 grand on all kinds of stupid shit (Hummer, anyone?). It could be worse. Where do people with such obviously poor judgment get this dough in the first place?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:39 AM  

  • (Savannah) I know, really. At least in our basically Calvinist way of thinking, you're supposed to be at least reasonably smart and sane if you've got fifty grand to throw around. Then again, those people are the Republican base, so....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:43 AM  

  • (Fj) - I knew someone who spent more than $50,000 for chemotherapy for her old dog. The dog lost all it's hair, went crazy and died. There's a moral to the story vs. cloning somewhere here, but I don't know what it is.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:22 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home