Disecting Cats

truern · Aug 19, 2004

OMG!! There's no way I would dissect a cat or any other animal. This is not medical school, I'm not going to be a surgeon, and even then there's human cadavers.

We had models, books, some terrific computer animations, and I don't feel I missed out at all.

GDeppe · Aug 19, 2004

Although I didn't like doing it, I have had to do many, many things I didn't enjoy while being a nurse. Somethings were downright discusting , but they had to be done. Since so many programs have cat disecting as part of their curriculum, then it must help in someway. I love my cats and dogs like my children, but...Just MHO.

stephiebob/lpn2rn · Aug 19, 2004

In A&P1 we had sheep hearts. In A&P2 we did use cats. It took almost the entire semester. We had to skin it, study the muscles then cut it open to study the organs. Mine even had kittens so of course we had to remove them :crying2: so sad. Needless to say I was extra sweet to my kitty at home. There is another instructor at my college that will not disect, he says it's a waste of time. I guess it depends on the teacher.

nikonos · Aug 19, 2004

My current AP2 course in my program uses cats for dissection purposes. In the past for my biology degree I've done everything from polychaete worms, frogs, grasshoppers, sea stars, fetal pigs, a skate, yellow perch, dogfish, lamprey and next month will be making the drive to the med school to work with human cadaver dissection in a gross anatomy setting before I go to my own classes. The vast majority of US nursing programs do not use cadavers not because of the cost of the bodies but the extreme cost of the facilities and equipment it takes to house and use them. As immoral and offensive as some may find dissections, it is a time-tested method of learning anatomy. I have used the interactive multimedia that is out there and found that it did not help me as much as actually doing it myself with the specimen in front of me. Were it not for dissections my marks would not have been nearly as high as they were in my courses. If you can get out of it based on your beliefs then cool, but it has been my experience that it helps people tremendously to see first-hand how the tissues are arranged in an actual organism.

Saved_by_Grace · Aug 19, 2004

we did fetal pigs in my college biology class and cats in my college anatomy class. i don't think that anyone "likes' to do it. but since these classes were prereq's to the nursing program you had to do it. if you refused, you failed the course. i just kept telling myself that my particular specimen would still be dead even if i refused the assignment, and the next student wanting my spot in the program would take my place and still be dissecting that animal. that helped get me through it.

Christina_NICU · Aug 19, 2004

We dissected cats in Anatomy in high school. It was strange at first but then it just became this "thing" I was working on. :stone

At my university we had cadavers for Anatomy, but we didn't get to do the dissecting. The Gross Anatomy students did that. I had no problem with either, to be honest.

Ok this is my 3rd day of the ADN program and I was just wondering is anyone else out there disecting a cat? I remeber fetal pigs in high school, but thought that cat disection was kida odd. Maybe its just me.

nahjah · Aug 19, 2004

In A&P1 we had to disect rats (big ones ). We did the sheep heart and cow eye as well. We were supposed to do the fetal pig in A&P 2 but luckily, we ran out of time and never got around to it! :) I am a big cat lover having two of my own and would not be able to do it.

totallytheresa · Aug 19, 2004

We used cats in A&P too... and it was pretty disturbing.. had to cover the faces with a towel! I didn't like it, and cats are NOT human bodies, so of course we're put together a lot differently, but it was my first experience that I remember (high school was looong ago!) where I could see inside a body. Because looking at books, etc... is not even close to what real veins, arteries, organs, etc.. look like. So for me, that was interesting. It was hard for me for a while to look at my own cats and not see their insides! And I'm glad that class is over!! Thank G we didn't have to skin them, that would have been way too much.

Altra, BSN, RN · Aug 19, 2004

Because looking at books, etc... is not even close to what real veins, arteries, organs, etc.. look like. So for me, that was interesting.

I totally agree -- I have to respectfully disagree with those who have said there's no value in dissection. I learned a great deal from being able touch and feel tissues and seeing how they "behave." It made the physiology real. And that's just not possible with simulated materials.

We dissected a cat and a sheep brain.

Truly_Blessed · Aug 19, 2004

whatever is going to help me learn better...I will do. Whatever it takes to become a nurse...I will do. If that means dissecting a cat...so be it. Doesn't mean I will like it, but I'll do it. I agree with WannaBLPN2005's statement.

DeanG · Aug 19, 2004

I'm not sure if its taboo to respond to a thread that you start but I just wanted to say, when I posted this, my theory was cat anatomy doesn't equal human anatomy. I'm not in this to be a vet. But a few of you pointed out that you got to learn some basics when working on cats, and I hope I get to also. My school does offer you the choice of not disecting a cat but the alternative is a 10 page research paper for each system, no thanks. For JenRN2B, our A&P class is highly integrated with our nursing class so that what we learn in one class , we use in another. I would love to only have a nursing class each day, but I do like that A&P AND NURSING info will be fresh in my mind for the NCLEX so when I do review for that test I don't have to think back to something I learned in A&P four years ago. There are pros and cons to both.

kathy_79 · Aug 19, 2004

i did dissection on my A&P I and II we had to skin cat , later we separated muscle which we learnt, after that we studied inside organs: urinary, part of circulatory, reproductive, and part of bones. it could not imagine to do it at first but when i started it was just piece of cake. on my A&P it is required to dissect and if you refuse usually they lower your scores. besides, my school has also cadaver lab. this is very good and i am already prepare to take it following semester.

good luck to you, you will pass it.