dissecting cats

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2008

I'm a cat lover too, and you just gotta put that aside. Oh, try not to let your labmates name the cat. Mine did, which made it harder for me.

9livesRN, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2008

i liked it! actualy it is not as bad as it sounds, they smell sort of funky, but you get used to it...

you have to skin them also!

sweet_lime · Nov 5, 2008

I agree with the others - once you get started with the dissection, it loses its stigma. The cat doesn't even look like anything much. Look at it this way -someday you're going to be a nurse and you're going to see a lot worse :\

smellyacres, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2008

if you can't handle a cat how are you gonna handle a cadaver? A lot of schools use cadavers.

Most people say they don't really look real. If you wanna be a nurse you gotta deal with some tough things..

NICUDreamer11 · Nov 5, 2008

Well, I'm not a "huge" cat lover, but I do have a cat and thought that I wouldn't like dissecting one. It really wasn't that bad though. I thought the smell was worse than the actual idea that you were dissecting an animal.

One big thing is that I didn't think it even looked that much like a cat. It's little and bony and they do so much stuff to it before sending it to the school that it definitely looks nothing like Fluffy you've got at home Another thing to think about is that these cats were going to be killed anyway. Most of them are strays that would have been euthanized. So you could say they are actually serving a better purpose by helping you learn A+P :)

Yes, I know some of this was kind of silly, but I guess if you think about it too much it will make it worse. Just remember it's worth it to get the grade in A+P and it will all be over soon!

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2008

if you can't handle a cat how are you gonna handle a cadaver? A lot of schools use cadavers.

Cadavers chose to donate their bodies to science- that's a huge difference for me. I'd love to be at a school that uses cadavers in non-med school A&P! That would be really amazing.

The cats we dissected were huge- uniformly huge. I think ours were not random strays that would have been euthanized but cats bred for the purpose.

prmenrs, RN · Nov 5, 2008

The cat you get to dissect will not in any way what-so-ever resemble any cat you've ever known, much less loved.

First of all, it's usually quite large. It's been "formalin-ized", or perserved in some way, and it's completely stretched out, very stiff, board-like. Mine almost looked 2 dimensional.

This is just one step along your way--don't get too freaked by it!

flightnurse2b, LPN · Nov 5, 2008

some places will allow you to do a virtual dissection on the puter.... but for your benefit i would try and dissect the cat first. it really helps put things together with the body. it's not that bad really, the worst part was skinning it....and my lab partner was a guy who liked to hunt so i got lucky.. but it doesn't look anything like a live cat. wear some vick's under your nose that day to help with the smell.

good luck!! you will learn alot from the cat dissection and i think you will be happy you did it. :)

smellyacres, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2008

Cadavers chose to donate their bodies to science- that's a huge difference for me. I'd love to be at a school that uses cadavers in non-med school A&P! That would be really amazing.
The cats we dissected were huge- uniformly huge. I think ours were not random strays that would have been euthanized but cats bred for the purpose.

It's either you dissecting the cat or another student who wants that spot in A&P. Just be lucky your in the class, getting it done. At my school, all of the anatomy classes fill up within the first few hours of priority registration!

Just remember, your doing this for nursing school, to follow you dream!! Just think of it as an educational expeirence, from what others have been saying, most people find it very interesting, and it overcomes the sadness.

Hope you do okay! sorry if this was sucky advice!

lildiamond · Nov 5, 2008

Cadavers chose to donate their bodies to science- that's a huge difference for me. I'd love to be at a school that uses cadavers in non-med school A&P! That would be really amazing.
The cats we dissected were huge- uniformly huge. I think ours were not random strays that would have been euthanized but cats bred for the purpose.

I totally agree with this! I work in the veterinary field at the present moment. The cats that are used in anatomy classes are generally purchased form DEALERS who's business it is to provide cats for students to dissect. THey are killed and then put in formaldehyde immediately after death. I can say that I know of NO ANIMAL SHELTER that has facilites that do this in Orange COunty, CA. This is not always the case in every state perhaps, but most often, the cats on the table have been killed specifically for the purpose of dissection.

I don't know where everyone lives, but at Santa Ana community college, they have a few Anatomy classes that only use cadavers. :) And rest assured, the person on the table being dissected willed their body to science!

As future nurses, I feel we should stand up for this unnecessary abuse of animals. Further, we are HUMAN nurses, so really dissecting cats (yes I know their anatomy is very similar in respects) is outdated. Human nurses should dissect human cadavers!

Just my thoughts .

9livesRN, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2008

we had baby pigs also