How Much Does It Cost To Clone A Dog?

The gentlemanly art of cloning has been turning heads and starting heated conversations ever since it was first proposed in the early 20th century. Is it ethical? How far is too far? Most importantly, can it be used to duplicate your iddle biddle puppy dog because he's the best iddle puppy in the whole wide world yes he is?

After more than a century of discussion, we at least have an answer to one of those questions. Now, spitting in the faces of nature and Michael Crichtonalike, it is possible to create a genetic copy of your beloved pupper. What some might see as "meddling in the domain of powers not meant for man," others see as a way to keep smoochin' their pooches until long after they've had their brains cryogenically preserved to be placed in a superior robot body at a later date.

And as with any time that scientific morality gets thrown to the wind, there's really only one question left: how much is this technological affront to God going to cost you?

Right now, there's really only one game in town for pet cloning in the United States, and that's the objectively Bond Villain corporation-sounding Viagen. Viagen offers "state of the art housing, high nutrition diets, expert veterinary care and many other features" as part of their all-inclusive dog photocopying service. With all of that glamour, your standard pup enthusiast would probably pay double the $50,000 asking price. 

Yes, it costs around fifty large to produce a to-scale duplicate of your beloved pet, according to the Viagen website. And you know what? If you've got that kind of money to burn, maybe that seems like an excellent idea. Pets are special to us. It's just that, and not to get on a high horse, you could also definitely pay a fraction of a percent of that and go adopt a dog from your local shelter. They're kind of awesome. 

Or, you know. Shell out more than a lot of people make in a year so you can play Jurassic Bark.