Disturbing pic of cat on forums website

[steel]

REST EASY.....a friend did some research.The kitty was being prepped for surgery...

http://www.chipsquinn.org/news/photo/photo_catvac.htm

As odd as it looks that is normal procedure... the loose hairs need to be removed so they don't contaminate the surgical site. And the ties are necessary to keep the cat from moving during the procedure. (and they DO move even under full anesthetic!)

[Nomilynn]

What's weird though is the cat should have a breathing tube and be hooked up to oxygen and the actual anesthetic. Also, you wouldn't tie down until the cat was actually ready in the surgical suite, and using a dustbuster at that point is completely unsterile.. because even if they clean the cat at that point, I don't think you would take a dustbuster into the surgery suite. When I worked at a clinic we also used a vacuum to clean up the excess hair, but we did it outside the OR and once the area was prepped the animal was brought into the OR and then treated from that point on only by those who had scrubbed in.

But yes, it's normal that the cat would be tied down like that for a surgery.

[Twisterdog]

REST EASY.....a friend did some research.The kitty was being prepped for surgery...

http://www.chipsquinn.org/news/photo/photo_catvac.htm

As odd as it looks that is normal procedure... the loose hairs need to be removed so they don't contaminate the surgical site. And the ties are necessary to keep the cat from moving during the procedure. (and they DO move even under full anesthetic!)

Even if cats are tied for surgery, which I have no doubt is true ... nothing else makes sense.

I have a really hard time believing a vet uses a dustbuster in the operating room. I'm obviously not a vet, so I could be wrong, but I really don't see a surgeon using a dustbuster!

The setting of this photo is not a sterile operating room, a veterinarian's clinic. I see nothing that makes me think this cat is anywhere NEAR a vet's office. And, going out on a limb again here, but I don't think vet techs are suddenly twelve year old boys in street clothes with dustbusters.

Come on!

[Karen]

"La Shinda Clark, photographer at The Philadelphia Inquirer and 1995 Scholar, won third place for feature photos in the National Press Photographers Association 2003 Best of Photojournalism contest. In the photo, volunteer Cameron Tarzwell, 13, cleans loose hair that has been shaved from an anesthetized cat, Princess, in preparation for an operation. Tarzwell has been assisting a veterinarian for four years. The photo was one in a picture story on a spaying and neutering program in Chester County in Pennsylvania."

is the text linked with the photo.

surely we have Pet Talkers there who could verify? Though it was taken 6 years ago ...

[happylabs]

It is still upsetting to me. I do not think I want a 13 year old assisting with my cat's preparation for surgery! I agree with the others about being sterile. I don't think anyone should have won an award for this photo.

[aTailOf2Kitties]

It's not sterile because it doesn't need to be yet. The shaved area is cleaned with antiseptic after the hair is removed. The cat does not seem distressed so I would agree that it is anesthetized and being prepped for surgery, albeit without the breathing tube yet (not sure why). You can see the light is brighter on the cat's abdomen as if from a surgical light. I don't know why a kid would be in there, but I don't see anything particularly wrong with the pic. Obviously someone (probably older) was taking the picture so it wasn't like he just wandered in there all alone.

I worked at a small town vet clinic and the surgery suite was just a small white room with a table and looks much like the background in that pic. Occasionally vet techs would bring their kids to work. If they were bored and restless, we'd let them sweep the surgery suite or do other small tasks. Vaccuuming a cat would not be a huge issue as long as there was an adult supervision.

[smokey the elder]

Surgery preps can be alarming to look at, whether for animals or us humans.

[Laura's Babies]

The shaved area is cleaned with antiseptic after the hair is removed

Yep, can't sanitize the area when it is full of fur. As for the boy vacuuming the cat and his age, I am sure he was well supervised and who knows, he could be in the next generation of vets.

As inexperienced as I am at stuff like that, shaving, cleaning and sanitizing to prep for surgery was MY job when I helped SBR on spay day. He taught us all how to wrap and sanitize the tools and how to give shots and prep. I never did the shots but I did the rest including assisting him in surgery. While we were pressed for space, we did prep in a different area while he was sewing up the one he was finishing up.

[RICHARD]

Surgery preps can be alarming to look at, whether for animals or us humans.

LOL, after years of working in human ORs I saw plenty of Wardrobe Malfunctions. They are alarming-especially when you see a rather large area of skin that has been 'denuded'.

My only concern about the DustBuester is the exhaust and what stuff gets blown up into the air-The HVAC systems in ORs have heavy duty air scrubbers to take out any gunk in the air!

I didn't see the pic and won't......

[Alysser]

It is still upsetting to me. I do not think I want a 13 year old assisting with my cat's preparation for surgery! :

I did find the picture disturbing until Karen gave the explanation. It's a weird picture and I don't understand how that is at a vet's office. Certainly doesn't look it to me, but I don't agree with this statement much either. A teenager, being supervised by a professional vet is perfectly capable of cleaning up the area of a cat. NOT the surgical part, but the perparation part, yes. I have a friend, whom for his SAE project for our FFA program volunteers at a Vet's office and cleans cages, walks dogs, etc. But he has helped prepare animals for surgery, doing easy things like this boy is doing, the vet was not only supervising but helping him in the process. I myself don't see how age matters here, being a Vet(or to get in vet school) you need experience and this is perfect experience for that.

[Nomilynn]

I don't think the dustbuster is the most disturbing part. It doesn't make sense to me that they would tie the cat down to do this particular part of the prep, but maybe certain places would. However, you would NOT allow the cat, the dustbuster, or a kid into the sterlie surgical suite. That would be done OUTSIDE the suite on a different area because the surgery area would be completely contaminated.

The disturbing part is the fact that the anethetized cat does not have a breathing tube, nor is it hooked to oxygen or the gas. Once the pre-anesthetic is in, it needs to be tubed because the pre-anesthetic doesn't last very long.. and you put the breathing tube in while the animal is on their stomach. If you decided to clean the area before the breathing tube, the surgery site would be contaminated because you would have to flip the animal over.

It still does not make sense to me.

[Twisterdog]

Well, I stand corrected ... I had no idea that some vets let NINE YEAR OLD children assist with surgery, not wear sterile operating room scrubs, etc. Sure am glad MY vet does not operate like this one!

I agree with happylabs ... when my pets go to the vet for surgery, I expect the same professional, sterile, careful treatment as I would for a human relative.

[happylabs]

I did find the picture disturbing until Karen gave the explanation. It's a weird picture and I don't understand how that is at a vet's office. Certainly doesn't look it to me, but I don't agree with this statement much either. A teenager, being supervised by a professional vet is perfectly capable of cleaning up the area of a cat. NOT the surgical part, but the perparation part, yes. I have a friend, whom for his SAE project for our FFA program volunteers at a Vet's office and cleans cages, walks dogs, etc. But he has helped prepare animals for surgery, doing easy things like this boy is doing, the vet was not only supervising but helping him in the process. I myself don't see how age matters here, being a Vet(or to get in vet school) you need experience and this is perfect experience for that.

Sorry but I regard the medical/surgical care of my pets as important as if it were a human relative. I am checking with my vet to see if minors are allowed to assist in surgical prep.

[aTailOf2Kitties]

You all are totally overreacting. It's a cat tied down for surgery prep. The vet I used to work at used the exact same setup. A small room with a surgical table, anesthesia machine and surgery lights. The animal was tied down at 4 corners to keep it from rolling around as the doctor performed surgery. So don't say it can't be a vet, because I saw it every day. The whole room got sterilized every morning and the table cleaned before each surgery. Cats were given an injection in their holding cage, intubated (this place may be using a mask instead), tied to the table, shaved, vaccummed, scrubbed, covered in a sterile drape, operated on, and placed in an adjoining room to recover.

Please keep in mind that not every town has a huge million-dollar surgery suite with rows and rows of tables. Small-town, independant vet clinics look just like that pic more often than not.

As far as the kid goes.... geez it's a Dustbuster. It's not like they turned him loose with a scalpel and a bottle of Ketamine Somebody stop him before he gets the gauze and Nolvasan scrub!