Vegetarian being asked to dissect a cat !

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Oh geesh, classes have just started and ALREADY I have a problem.

You see I'm a vegetarian and my lab for Anatomy and Physiology has a part to it that is dissecting a cat. Problem is I have a respect for life and am a strict vegetarian (no leather, meat of any kind, etc.) This is part of the reason why I want to become a nurse - to help the world not hurt it. If I dissect a cat then I will be directly responsible for that cat having been killed. What should I do? The lab (as a whole) looks like it is one third of the final grade. I've already emailed the dean of students, and I'm waiting to hear back from him. I can't imagine that I'm the only one to ever have had this problem. Nursing schools weigh GPA very heavily. I want to kick ass.. any suggestions?

I can look in on others doing a dissection (as that is their own choice), but if I do it myself then I become responsible. Sigh.

Thank you in advance..

you avoided my question I did not ask if you would put dog to sleep. I asked you to think about the rationalization of testing. If it was a sick child you would not find another child to test or put your child to sleep. I respect everyones differences and would not expect the world to be the same. You started to question my lifestyle remember? I wonder what Albert Einstein would think about this; he was a vegetarian. I never assume people that I do not know are inhumane ever. I do not believe I am better than anyone either. I am usually very private about my beliefs (for good reason) and I am non judgemental of family and friends, coworkers etc. However, I will take opportunities to provide factual information to others when fallacy presents itself. (i.e. diet) etc. God bless you and your family and may your nursing career flourish. colleen QUOTE=Fun2Care]I am also a donor, but will not donate my whole body to science. My family needs something to bury. However, some in my family have donated their bodies to science.

If my family pet was ill, and there was not a cure, I would have it put to sleep to get it out of its misery. I do not support cruelty. I do not think pets should live in pain.

If my child was ill, you bet I'd allow my pet to be used for testing. If my pet was ill, you bet I'd let another pet be put to sleep to find a cure!

I do not wear fur, I eat Tuna that is dolphin safe, I do not eat dogs, ....there's a lot of humane characteristics that I do have.

We just have a difference in opinion, as it should be. If everyone thought the same, we would live in one boring world. :)

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Specializes in Operating Room.

No, I wouldn't, but I know it does happen.

There are many couples out there who have another child for the sole purpose of allowing the older child to live.... I can't remember the reasoning at the moment.

I think this is very strange, but it happens.

I have to ask, do you have a problem with testing on rats, or just dogs and cats?

Can a cow be tested on to save other cows, and possibly humans having to eat the cows?

Ok....I can argue at a fence post. lol I don't disagree with you to such an extreme I would be walking in a picket line saying animal testing must continue. lol

How do you feel about stem cell research? ...just wondering....

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No, I wouldn't, but I know it does happen.

There are many couples out there who have another child for the sole purpose of allowing the older child to live.... I can't remember the reasoning at the moment.

I think this is very strange, but it happens.

I have to ask, do you have a problem with testing on rats, or just dogs and cats?

Can a cow be tested on to save other cows, and possibly humans having to eat the cows?

Ok....I can argue at a fence post. lol I don't disagree with you to such an extreme I would be walking in a picket line saying animal testing must continue. lol

How do you feel about stem cell research? ...just wondering....

Whoosh! you are definitely an inquistive lady!! lol. Lets see, against stem cell research if it is not from cord blood, I don't value one animals life more than another; don't understand why cows need to be tested for cows? if you mean mad cow disease, that occurs when cows are fed ground up infected sheep. (cows, sheep, are herbivoures). Did I miss anything!! ha, ha.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

lol.... A cow was just the first animal that came to mind....maybe I'm hungry. LOL

Have a good one.....going to bed now. :)

Whoosh! you are definitely an inquistive lady!! lol. Lets see, against stem cell research if it is not from cord blood, I don't value one animals life more than another; don't understand why cows need to be tested for cows? if you mean mad cow disease, that occurs when cows are fed ground up infected sheep. (cows, sheep, are herbivoures). Did I miss anything!! ha, ha.
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Well, first of all I'm a guy (surprising that a guy might like animals but..). Thanks to all posters though heh heh. I will let you all know how this turns out. It's not a matter of cats VS humans. It's that we are civilized and don't need to result to such barbaric and cruel measures. I believe a creature's right to exist is not based on their intelligence. Hey, let's face it - we've all met morons before. That doesn't mean we can dissect half the population even though it may be a nice idea sometimes! I'm not sure what to expect. It's a community college so I don't know if that will work for me or against me. I told the Dean that I could watch a dissection, but didn't want a cat killed in my name. One day I just woke up and was a vegetarian (practically vegan). I didn't decide to do it. I just was. That might be hard for the administration or other users to understand. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. *fingers crossed*

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Guys, this is a serious issue for me. I know it is easy to get emotional about all this. Been there done that, but I'm going to sound greedy here. Please don't clutter up my thread by fighting or other issues. It just sounds like we are getting away from the point here. Or am I wrong about that? Thank you.

Oh and I do appreciate the feedback too so don't get me wrong. Take care guys.

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Believe it or not, there is a reason that cats are used for this. They are the most similar to humans (save primates) for comparison of anatomy.

Personally, I had a great deal of difficulty w/ this in anatomy. I am an animal lover and have spent my entire life caring for animals. Dissecting a human in gross anatomy was far easier than the cat in anatomy.

But trust me, the cat was not killed just for you. Our group in class decided to honor the cat: we were respectful, learned as much as we could and were thankful for her helping us w/ our progress. Same as we were for the human.

Animals are being euthanized daily, in far too high numbers for a society such as ours to be comfortable with...

IMHO, I would learn from the dissection and put my efforts into the problem of animal overpopulation.

Good luck to you.

SJ

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Please contact PETA-People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. I think they have their headquarters in Washington DC. I think they have dealt with this issue in the past. Good luck :)

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Guys, this is a serious issue for me. I know it is easy to get emotional about all this. Been there done that, but I'm going to sound greedy here. Please don't clutter up my thread by fighting or other issues. It just sounds like we are getting away from the point here. Or am I wrong about that? Thank you.

Oh and I do appreciate the feedback too so don't get me wrong. Take care guys.

I understand your concern. As a Buddhist, I don't want to be slicing and dicing on another person/animal/being. That's one of the reasons I decided NOT to take A&P at my local CC and to take it online through EduKan. They use software called A.D.A.M. for their A&P lab, instead of dissecting things. That software is now being used in some medical schools (e.g., UCSF) instead of dissecting human cadavers. So I figure if it's good enough for a med student, good enough for me.

Cheers,

DL

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In my class we used 6 cats for the whole class. The teacher did all the disecting...it was his experience that when the students did the cutting they would often "ruin" what they were supposed to be looking at and learning from. I was happy that they tried to conserve a bit and that I never had to do anything but look. Does everyone in your class get their own cat? That is a waste...perhaps you could suggest an alternative? I hope you are able to find a solution that works for you.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

In A&P in high school, we had 1 cat per 2 people. In A&P 1 we didn't disect a cat, A&P 2 at another school had cats already dissected. (...and they looked like they had been preserved several semesters.....)

OK, here's another question! :)

How many of you would donate your life savings when you die to a save the animals over testing for such things as AIDS, Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), Cancer, Hepatitis C., etc?

To the OP....this is not a argument, it is just a discussion. Everyone has different opinions, and I'd rather everyone type their differences than to speak them to each other in person. LOL :smiley_ab :banghead: :cheers:

In my class we used 6 cats for the whole class. The teacher did all the disecting...it was his experience that when the students did the cutting they would often "ruin" what they were supposed to be looking at and learning from. I was happy that they tried to conserve a bit and that I never had to do anything but look. Does everyone in your class get their own cat? That is a waste...perhaps you could suggest an alternative? I hope you are able to find a solution that works for you.
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OK, here's another question! :)

How many of you would donate your life savings when you die to a save the animals over testing for such things as AIDS, Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), Cancer, Hepatitis C., etc?

To the OP....this is not a argument, it is just a discussion.

Thanks for the enthusiasm - this just seems like it should be another topic that you should post yourself eh? A new thread of your own that you can get all kinds of responses back from you know? Take care. I'll find out more about my own situation Monday I think.

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