Pet cloning

Pet cloning is the cloning of a pet animal. The first commercially cloned pet was a cat named Little Nicky, produced in 2004 by Genetic Savings & Clone for a north Texas woman for the fee of US$50,000. On May 21, 2008 BioArts International announced a limited commercial dog cloning service through a program it called Best Friends Again in partnership with a Korean company Sooam Biotech. This program came on the announcement of the successful cloning of a family dog Missy, which was widely publicized in the Missyplicity Project. In September 2009 BioArts announced the end of its dog cloning service. In July 2008, the Seoul National University created five clones of a dog named Booger for its Californian owner. The woman paid $50,000 for this service.

Sooam Biotech continued developing proprietary techniques for cloning dogs based on a licence from ViaGen's subsidiary Start Licensing (which owns the original patent for cloning Dolly the sheep). Sooam created cloned puppies for owners whose dogs had died, charging $100,000 a time Sooam Biotech was reported to have cloned 700 dogs by 2015 and to be producing 500 cloned embryos of various species a day in 2016. In 2015 the longest period after which Sooam Biotech could clone a puppy was 12 days from the death of the original pet dog.

While a cloned animal may be more similar to the original than its sibling, it will on average only be as similar as an identical twin .

Controversy

Some critics, accuse pet cloning proponents of encouraging prospective pet cloning clients to falsely expect that their new pets will be indistinguishable from their old pets.

Defenders of pet cloning argue that pet cloning does not contribute to pet homelessness, the animals involved are treated humanely, it makes people happy, there is a demand for it, it will contribute to scientific, veterinary, and medical knowledge, and it will help efforts to preserve endangered cousins of the cat and dog. They also claim that cloning is no more inhumane than breeding.

In 2005, California Assembly Member Lloyd Levine introduced a bill to ban the sale or transfer of pet clones in California. However, it was voted down.

Pet Adoption process

The central issue in adoption is whether a new owner can provide a safe, secure, permanent home for the pet. Responsible shelters, pounds, and rescue organizations refuse to supply animals to people whom they judge unable to supply the animal with a suitable home. Sometimes, a new owner may face training or behavioral challenges with a pet who has been neglected, abused, or left untrained. In the vast majority of cases, patience, training, and consistency of care will help the pet overcome its past.

A forever home is the home of an adopter who agrees to be responsible for the animal for its entire life. There are two basic understandings of the concept. A broad interpretation simply says that the adopter of the pet agrees that the animal's well-being is now their personal responsibility for the rest of the animal's life. If the adopter can no longer keep the animal for any reason, they would need to be responsible for finding a healthy and happy home for the animal, and making sure that the people of the new home are taking good care of the animal for the rest of its life. Should the adopter die before the animal, they should have a plan in place for the care of the animal. A more restrictive view that some shelters attempt to integrate as part of the adoption agreement puts conditions on when and why the adopter could arrange to move the animal to a new family. For example, forever home agreements might specify that the adopter will not get rid of the animal for trivial reasons, or that the adopter will always be sure that the animal will be permitted should they move to a new residence. Some agreements might specify allergies or violent behavior on the part of the animal as reasons allowable for an adopter to relinquish the animal.

One problem shelters are fighting to overcome is what they term "Big Black Dog syndrome". Big black dogs (BBDs) are consistently the hardest dogs to place — even if they’re friendly, well trained, and in perfect health. This may be due to a number of factors, including fear stigma against certain breed types, attraction to ads and the fact that black dogs often do not photograph as well as lighter coated ones, and the fact that black dogs are often portrayed as aggressive in film and on television. Organizations have started campaigns to educate the public about BBD syndrome.

Similarly, shelters often have difficulty placing black cats due to common superstitions regarding black cats as bringers or harbingers of bad luck. Some shelters also have policies halting or limiting adoption of black cats immediately prior to Halloween for fear that the animals will be tortured, or used as "living decorations" for the holiday and then abandoned. Rabbits are sometimes treated in the same manner prior to Easter as well, though they are rarely found in regular shelters since they are considered "exotic" (anything not a dog or cat). Another popular fad is using a small dog, pretty white Persian kitten or other small pet as a fashion accessory to “complement an outfit.” Such animals may end up discarded, abandoned, or placed in a shelter when no longer needed.

Education about and promotion of pet adoption is also done by animal welfare organizations, and by local government animal control agencies. In 2016, the U.S. state of Georgia made the "adoptable dog" its state dog, similar to Colorado's adopted dog.

After filling out an application to adopt an animal, there is also an adoption fee that must be paid to adopt an animal. Adoption fees have several purposes that they fulfill. If someone is willing to pay for an animal chances are they will take care of him or her and not abuse or neglect their new pet. Most animals that are of age are spayed or neutered and up to date on all of their shots. Depending on the shelter or organization, some pets may be microchipped which helps locate them if they are lost. The adoption fees are in place to help cover these costs, and also help provide food for the animals left in the shelter. < Why are pet adoption fees so expensive?. (2017). MNN - Mother Nature Network. Retrieved 25 September 2017, from https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/why-are-pet-adoption-fees-so-expensive>

Pet adoption

Pet adoption is the process of taking responsibility for a pet that a previous owner has abandoned or released to a shelter or rescue organization. Common sources for adoptable pets are animal shelters and rescue groups. Some organizations give adopters ownership of the pet, while others use a guardianship model wherein the organization retains some control over the animal's future use or care.

Also available is online pet adoption. These sites have databases of pets being housed by thousands of animal shelters and rescue groups, and are searchable by the public. They include Petfinder.org, Let's Adopt and Adopt-a-Pet.com.

Unwanted pets

People deal with their unwanted pets in many ways. Some people have the pet euthanized (also known as putting it down or putting it to sleep), although many veterinarians do not consider this to be an ethical use of their resources for young and healthy animals, while others argue that euthanasia is a more humane option than leaving a pet in a cage for very long periods of time. Other people simply release the pet into the wild or otherwise abandon it, with the expectation that it will be able to take care of itself or that it will be found and adopted. More often, these pets succumb to hunger, weather, traffic, or common and treatable health problems. Some people euthanize pets because of terminal illnesses or injuries, while others even do it for common health problems that they cannot, or will not, pay for treating. More responsible owners will take the pet to a shelter, or call a rescue organization, where it will be cared for properly until a home can be found. Homes cannot always be found, however, and euthanasia is often used for the excess animals to make room for newer pets, unless the place has a no-kill policy. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that 3-4 million dogs and cats are euthanized each year in the US because of a lack of homes. Animal protection advocates campaign for adoption instead of buying animals in order to reduce the number of animals who have to be euthanized. Many shelters and animal rescues encourage the education of spaying or neutering a pet in order to reduce the number of animals euthanized in shelters and to help control the pet population.

To help lower the number of animals euthanized each year, some shelters have developed a no-kill policy. Best Friends Animal Society is the largest no-kill shelter in the United States who adopts policies such as "Save Them All. " Like this shelter and many others, they strive to keep their animals as long as it takes to find them new homes. City shelters and government funded shelters rarely have this policy because of the large number of animals they receive. No-kill shelters are usually run by groups that have volunteers or individuals with enough space to foster pets until a permanent home can be found. However, many of these groups and individuals have a finite number of spaces available. This means they will not take in new animals unless a space opens up, although they will often take back pets that they have adopted out previously. Sometimes they try to find the animals foster homes, in which the animal is placed in a home temporarily until someone adopts it.

Types of Pets

While many people have kept many different species of animals in captivity over the course of human history, only a relative few have been kept long enough to be considered domesticated. Other types of animals, notably monkeys, have never been domesticated but are still commonly sold and kept as pets. There are also inanimate objects that have been kept as "pets", either as a form of game, or humorously .

Domesticated

Domesticated pets are the most common types of pet. A domesticated animal is any animal that has been tamed and made fit for a human environment. They have consistently been kept in captivity over a long enough period of time that they exhibit marked differences in behavior and appearance from their wild relatives.

Mammals

 

·         Alpacas

·         Cows

·         Donkeys

·         Dogs

·         Cats

·         Domesticated silver foxes

·         Sheep

·         Horses

·         Goats

·         Rodents including fancy rats, fancy mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, and chinchillas

·         Ferrets

·         Llamas

·         Pigs

·         Domestic rabbits

·         Domesticated hedgehogs

Birds

·         Companion parrot like scarlet macaw, blue and gold macaw or green winged macaw

·         Domestic canary

·         Chickens

·         Domestic turkeys

·         Domestic ducks and geese

·         Domestic pigeons and doves

·         Finches

Fish

·         Goldfish

·         Koi

·         Siamese fighting fish

·         Barb

·         Guppy

·         Betta

·         Molly

Wild animals

Wild animals are often kept as pets. The term wild in this context specifically applies to any species of animal which has not undergone a fundamental change in behavior to facilitate a close co-existence with humans. Some species listed here may have been bred in captivity for a considerable length of time, but are still not recognized as domesticated.

Exotic mammals

·         Anteaters like southern tamanduas

·         Canidae like Arctic foxes, coydogs, dingos, fennec foxes, gray foxes, and wolfdogs

·         Civets like binturongs and genets

·         Deer like leaf muntjacs

·         Duikers

·         Elephants

·         Felidae like bobcats, ocelots, margays, and servals

·         Marsupials like opossums, gliding possums, koalas, short-tailed opossums, wallabys, and wombats

·         Mongoose

·         Mustelids like badgers, minks, skunks, and otters

·         Primates like capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees, guenons, lemurs, macaques, marmosets, slow lorises, spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, sykes' monkeys, tamarins, and vervet monkeys

·         Procyonidae like cacomistles, coatimundi, kinkajous, raccoons, and ringtail cats

·         Rodents like chipmunks, degus, dormouse, flying squirrels, groundhogs, patagonian cavys, pouched rats, and prairie dogs.

·         Sloths such as two-toed sloths and pale-throated three-toed sloths

·         Monotremes such as platypus and echidnas

Birds

·         Crows, ravens, and magpies

·         Parakeets, parrots, and other talking birds

·         Toucans

·         Peafowl

·         Birds of prey

·         Aquatic birds

·         Types of Old World Quail and New World Quail

Reptiles

·         Iguanas

·         Lizards, including bearded dragons, leopard geckos, green anoles, blue tongue skinks, monitor lizards, and green iguanas

·         Snakes, including corns, kings, milks, and ball pythons

·         Tortoises

·         Turtles

Amphibians

·         Frogs

·         Newts

·         Salamanders, including Axolotls

·         Toads

Fish

·         Angelfish

·         Barb

·         Cichlid

·         Corydoras

·         Danio

·         Discus

·         Gourami

·         Live-bearer

·         Loach

·         Mbuna

·         Rainbowfish

·         Rasbora

·         Tetra

·         Blenny

·         Boxfish

·         Butterflyfish

·         Chromis

·         Clownfish

·         Damsel

·         Goby

·         Tang

·         Triggerfish

·         Wrasse

Arthropods

·         Ants

·         Caterpillars

·         Centipedes

·         Crabs and hermit crabs

·         Millipedes

·         Praying mantises

·         Stick insects

·         Sea-Monkeys

·         Triops

·         Tarantulas and other spiders

Environmental impact on pets

Pets have a considerable environmental impact, especially in countries where they are common or held in high densities. For instance, the 163 million dogs and cats kept in the United States consume about 20% of the amount of dietary energy that humans do and an estimated 33% of the animal-derived energy. They produce about 30% ± 13%, by mass, as much feces as Americans, and through their diet, constitute about 25–30% of the environmental impacts from animal production in terms of the use of land, water, fossil fuel, phosphate, and biocides. Dog and cat animal product consumption is responsible for release of up to 64 ± 16 million tons CO2-equivalent methane and nitrous oxide, two powerful greenhouse gasses. Americans are the largest pet owners in the world, but pet ownership in the US has considerable environmental costs.

Effects of pets on their caregiver's health

Health benefits

Pets might have the ability to stimulate their caregivers, in particular the elderly, giving people someone to take care of, someone to exercise with, and someone to help them heal from a physically or psychologically troubled past. Animal company can also help people to preserve acceptable levels of happiness despite the presence of mood symptoms like anxiety or depression. Having a pet may also help people achieve health goals, such as lowered blood pressure, or mental goals, such as decreased stress. There is evidence that having a pet can help a person lead a longer, healthier life. In a 1986 study of 92 people hospitalized for coronary ailments, within a year 11 of the 29 patients without pets had died, compared to only 3 of the 52 patients who had pets. Having pet(s) was shown to significantly reduce triglycerides, and thus heart disease risk, in the elderly. A study by the National Institute of Health found that people who owned dogs were less likely to die as a result of a heart attack than those who didn’t own one. There is some evidence that pets may have a therapeutic effect in dementia cases. Other studies have shown that for the elderly, good health may be a requirement for having a pet, and not a result. Dogs trained to be guide dogs can help people with vision impairment. Dogs trained in the field of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) can also benefit people with other disabilities.

Pets in long-term care institutions

People residing in a long-term care facility, such as a hospice or nursing home, experience health benefits from pets. Pets help them to cope with the emotional issues related to their illness. They also offer physical contact with another living creature, something that is often missing in an elder's life. Pets for nursing homes are chosen based on the size of the pet, the amount of care that the breed needs, and the population and size of the care institution. Appropriate pets go through a screening process and, if it is a dog, additional training programs to become a therapy dog. There are three types of therapy dogs: facility therapy dogs, animal-assisted therapy dogs, and therapeutic visitation dogs. The most common therapy dogs are therapeutic visitation dogs. These dogs are household pets whose handlers take time to visit hospitals, nursing homes, detention facilities, and rehabilitation facilities. Different pets require varying amounts of attention and care; for example, cats may have lower maintenance requirements than dogs.

Connection with community

In addition to providing health benefits for their owners, pets also impact the social lives of their owners and their connection to their community. There is some evidence that pets can facilitate social interaction. Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Leslie Irvine has focused her attention on pets of the homeless population. Her studies of pet ownership among the homeless found that many modify their life activities for fear of losing their pets. Pet ownership prompts them to be and act responsibly, with many making a deliberate choice not to drink or use drugs, and to avoid contact with substance abusers or those involved in any criminal activity for fear of being separated from their pet. Additionally, many refuse housing in shelters if their pet is not allowed to stay with them.

Health risks

Health risks that are associated with pets include:

·         Aggravation of allergies and asthma caused by dander and fur or feathers

·         Falling injuries. Tripping over pets, especially dogs, causes more than 86,000 falls serious enough to prompt a trip to the emergency room each year in the United States. Among elderly and disabled people, these falls have resulted in life-threatening injuries and broken bones.

·         Injury, mauling, and sometimes death caused by pet bites and attacks

·         Disease or parasites due to animal hygiene problems, lack of appropriate treatment, and undisciplined behavior (faeces and urine)

·         Stress caused by behaviour of animals

Environmental impact

Pets have a considerable environmental impact, especially in countries where they are common or held in high densities. For instance, the 163 million dogs and cats kept in the United States consume about 20% of the amount of dietary energy that humans do and an estimated 33% of the animal-derived energy. They produce about 30% ± 13%, by mass, as much feces as Americans, and through their diet, constitute about 25–30% of the environmental impacts from animal production in terms of the use of land, water, fossil fuel, phosphate, and biocides. Dog and cat animal product consumption is responsible for release of up to 64 ± 16 million tons CO2-equivalent methane and nitrous oxide, two powerful greenhouse gasses. Americans are the largest pet owners in the world, but pet ownership in the US has considerable environmental costs.