A & P 1 at community colleges

Well, at my CC we had to disect a sheep's brain and a cow's eye. Now I am in A&P II, and I have already in the first week disected a sheep's lung and cut out the heart to save for a later disection. I also know that we will be disecting a fetal pig at the end of the term.

Is it the smell or the sight that bothers you. I have heard about some people using vicks under the nose to help with the smell. I actually had a cough the other night and was sucking on a Halls. I found that the smell wasn't as potent. If it is the sight, I imagine that you may be out of luck. They only advice I could give, is if you image that the item that you are disecting is made of plastic or something. Trick your mind into thinking that it isn't real. I don't know, just a thought.

I wish you lots of luck. I am sure that it will get better.

Kayla

I am in A&P I at a CC for the second time. The first time I got an Incomplete. 10 yrs later i am in it again. The first time we didn't do any disection while I was in the class, but the prof did wheel in a human cadaver and proceded to open her up and point out the parts of the body. The A&P II students did the actual disection. This time around we will be doing a cat. I am not sure when we will start.

In Adv. Bio. in HS we did a frog and also the teacher told us that if we saw decent "road kill" or we shot a groundhog or something (we live in the country) that we could bring it in and he would do a disection. Sure enough, one of the country boys shot a groundhog and we watched the disection. It was interesting and the smell wasn't near as bad.

The idea of using halls or some types of vicks should help. Also, let your prof. know that you are sensitive to smells and he might be able to give you some idea as to what to use.

I am taking A&P I next semester and am more concerned about dissecting an eye than a body! I have this "eye thing" where anything involving eyes grosses me out.

I am hoping to be able to talk myself through it. I was hoping we'd start dissecting things this semester, in BIO 101, but we aren't.

Good luck!

We dissected fetal pigs, cats, sheep brain, & cow eyeball in A&P I. A&P II so far has been a cow's heart.

I had huge issues with this. I was tempted to make a big stink about it to the school board because there are software apps out there that can replace actual dissection. I am a huge animal rights advocate & just thinking about this was torture to me. Because of my love for cats, I stayed away from the cats; however, & chose a fetal pig. It helps to cover the animal's face.

The thing that got me through it was knowing these animals were already dead. I did not want them to die in vain & decided (thanks to support from others) that I would allow myself to learn from their deaths. I had 2 partners with the pig, & I didn't personally do any of the cutting, although I did stick my finger in looking for an organ. After that, & being over the fact that my dissection had a face, I was able t perform the dissections on the brain & eyeball without batting an eye. (I even made a joke to my partner who sort of just sat there saying "hot potato" as I acted as if I was going to throw the brain at her.)

Just breath a lot... maybe put some Vaseline or minty chap-stick around your nose for the smell. It's really not that bad.

maybe you could check youtube for a video of a lab disection. get yourself prepared for it. i'm in the same boat as you. but i will do whatever is necessary to make my career goals. good luck to you.

I started A&P I last Monday. We dissected a rat on the first day of lab on Wednesday. It is not as bad as it may seem. We were given goggles as well as mask, in case the odor was an issue, but it wasn't. Don't focus so much on the dissection, it is a one day occurrence, you blink and before you know it, you are in car driving home from campus. Good Luck

cow eye, sheep brain.. in a&p 2 we do a cat.

I attend community college, and yes, we did animal dissection. I'm a little squeamish too, but I did just fine. If you approach the assignment with a clinical mentality, you will be okay and learn a lot from the process. Give it your best and do what you can during the lab; maybe step out of the classroom for a minute and take a deep breath if needed.

I didn't do any dissections in A&P I or II, however I did dissect a few animals in Bio.

A&P I at my CC - rat, sheep's brain, and cat. We did the rat in the very first lab! I don't know yet what we'll do in A&P II. It wasn't that bad, though. Just put some vicks under your nose if the smell bothers you!!