Disecting cats in Biology class.

[k9krazee]

I don't think that high schools should be allowed to dissect cats, or larger animals in general. I read something somewhere that only 10% of people will actually pursue science in higher education and fewer of those will ever use the skills/knowledge you gain by doing dissections.

In HS we dissected the fetal pig. I didn't have much of an issue with that because the pigs were all still born or died of natural causes. The other high schools in the area all dissected cats, but my teacher told us that it cost too much money to do the cats, and he had students in the past that weren't as willing to do it.

I can understand dissecting cats in college courses, but don't really understand why so many high schools do it. I do wonder where they get them from though.

[Barbara]

I know that disecting animals is part of your school life- I would never have survived that. Here it is not done at all- only at university when you study biology or medicine. I was happy to learn about anatomy from drawings and hope that will be it for the rest of my life.
I cannot even disect a dead chicken for dinner and am close to fainting when I cut my finger but if I had to face a mammal I would have just died.

[Suki Wingy]

Well, I do. When I die, I want every salvageable organ and tissue to be used to save other people's lives that are dieing if they don't get X organ transplant.

About the cats, if there was a sure-fire way to prove they didn't die just to be dissected then I would be all for it. If the school board made sure somehow that the cats either died of natural causes or were euthenized at a shelter after they would have been anyway then I'd be happy. The average city shelter euthenizes 5-10 healthy cats a day because they just don't have room for them all. If they had to go to die at least their bodies could go to good use.

I don't know if the cats care what happens to them, because no one can ever prove or disprove in life after death, but I believe there is nothing after death, which is why I want my body to go to helping other people live after I am gone.

[pomtzu]

I don't know if the cats care what happens to them, because no one can ever prove or disprove in life after death, but I believe there is nothing after death,

I imagine that statement will evoke numerous opinions here. Maybe somebody should start a new thread on this one, but it won't be me, since I refuse to debate politics or religion on PT! It makes interesting reading tho...........

[Suki Wingy]

It kind of is related to this though. How can the cats care what happens to their bodies if their thoughts cease to exist after they are dead?

Conversely, someone could say the cats' thoughts and souls still live on after their body dies and so they would be upset that their bodies were cut up. I know that people used to believe that their bodies needed to be intact for them to go to heaven so they went to great lengths to make sure they weren't stolen by grave robbers when they died. Same as this current situation has with cats, there was an upswing in people killing healthy people in order to fill the schools' needs for cadavers.

[Twisterdog]

I can understand dissecting cats in college courses, but don't really understand why so many high schools do it. I do wonder where they get them from though.

That is a very good point, I meant to mention that in my earlier post. Dissecting ANYTHING in high school is generally a complete waste. Who needs that information ... a doctor, vet or biologist. How many high school kids grow up to be those things? And if they do, they will get plenty of it in college and post-graduate work.

And an interesting point was made about the source of the cats ... if they were euthanized at an animal control facility earlier anyway, then that is a far different thing then raising and killing cats specifically for dissection or experimentation.

[IRescue452]

I wouldn't do the cats in high school. I cried after seeing them because they reminded me of my own cat. I believe most cats are killed for the purpose of dissection, but slowly slowly slowly places that do dissections are starting to get animals from shelters and vets (yes your own pets could end up on the dissection table after euthanasia at the vet if you don't ask where they are going). I read somewhere that some places catch cats off the streets in Mexico and use them, but who knows. Imagine if you recognized the cat on the table and you were in high school. I volunteered at the animal shelter and my biggest fear was seeing one of the cats from the shelter in science class all cut up.

I did the frog though and I use the info as I've done necropsies on my own rodents when they die of unknown causes. But in all reality, most of what I learned about what the insides of a healthy mouse should look like and how to navigate their organs by looking at pictures, not by a classroom dissection.

I would never ever do vivisection (dissecting a live animal), unless you were actually doing a surgery. There's no point in keeping the animal alive while you cut it up just so you can kill it when you're done.

[CathyBogart]

My school did get the cats from the local Humane Society after they had been PTS. I saw them do the drop-off once. At least those cats went on to educate someone when they couldn't find loving homes.

[IRescue452]

Getting them locally is not a good move in my opinion. They should go to a different county humane society. Can you imagine if some high school student had to give up their cat because their parents for some reason made them (someone in the house is allergic or so on) and then the cat showed up in a bag of formeldahyde on their science desk?

[sammy101]

IMO, if the cats were PTS humanely or died of natural causes I see nothing wrong with it. I don't think that's right for high school though. I think college/university is more fit for something like this.

I dissected a rat in 10th grade. I was ok with it then but I don't know about now.

[lizbud]

My high school required Biology classes. I loved the science of it, but
the lab excerise was awful. I quickly found a good lab partner who did
all the cutting while I took notes. We only had to do worms & frogs.