A&P 2 dissection.

Stephalump · Jun 17, 2012

I think any animal/insect that isn't alive and well enough to scurry across my floor or give me West Nile Virus or THE PLAGUE is fine. Don't opt out, The rat won't bite you! Think of it as a hamster (or if this is one of them GIANT rats...a squirrel). hahaha The worst thing I ever dissected was a shark...I mean it was amazing and all but MY GOODNESS THE SMELL!!!!!!!! These rats don't have that much of a smell to them (I think they are grown in some lab right?); sharks on the other hand are partially rotting and have the lovely fishy oils that are so morbidly foul it makes you wanna gag. :) If you can get past the "ewwwww factor" now then you'll be ready when we get to the not so aromatic parts of nursing!

Weren't rats a major vector for the the Black Death?

I think I'd Lysol that sucker down before digging in.

CRNBSN18 · Jun 17, 2012

We had a fetal pig! We also did the kidneys & the heart. I loved it! My instructor called me the class surgeon. Lol. I cleaned out my kidney to see the renal pyramids and it was SO cool!! We also had a huge ureter on ours. Totally awesome! My heart was cool too but I didn't get any pics of it and everyone else was afraid o touching it.

alex1987 · Jun 17, 2012

We did a rat in A&P I... it was gross :uhoh21: and for A&P II we did a sheep brain and a cat :up:

timmedico · Jun 17, 2012

Lol In a way, rats were a major factor in the Black Death. Fleas were the issue, but it was the infected woodland rats that carried the fleas into the cities, allowing these fleas to then proceed into city rats and into every domestic beast and humans. These rats you dissect are harmless, as they are born and raised in a lab setting. So in a way, they are the "sanitary rats". :)

Brannray · Jun 17, 2012

I'm takin A&P I this fall so I haven't got to do ny animals yet, but the rats they being in are lab rats, so I wouldn't worry too much about it! I def wouldn't opt out of it though! It'll be a great learning experience for you! Who knows, you may love it!! =)

country73 · Jun 17, 2012

In my A&P II we did like 7 cats, and a sheep's heart.

jocy_anne · Jun 18, 2012

Wow, I've never heard of rat dissection before! We did a fetal pig in A&P II. My lab partner and I named her Shirley, lol. :lol2:

robyn_a · Jun 18, 2012

In my class, we dissected rats and got to work with a cadaver as well. I thought the rats would gross me out (that tail!!!), but it really wasn't bad at all. :) Good Luck!

mrsmommy · Jun 18, 2012

We did a cat and THAT was tough! I cried and cried bc I have a cat and it skeeved me out. BUT I got over it, just held my breath bc the smell was awful. Give me a rat any day!!

willowita, ADN, RN · Jun 19, 2012

My physiology professor is a spinal chord researcher and they use rats in her lab. They can make them walk upright and they do different experiments on them that require severing their spinal cords. There was also a video she showed us where they cut out the gastrocnemius of a live rat to study muscle contraction.

She said the lab used cats before but enough animal rights people complained that they had to use rats instead.