Excellent

Sorry folks but I can't take it anymore. I just HAVE to talk about nerd things. Today I stayed after school for a wet lab, hosted by the Feline Club (of which I am secretary). The e-mail about it seemed like it could be a good experience, so I thought I'd give it a go. I had the BEST time I've had in awhile. We worked in groups of 3-4 on a cat cadaver, and got to learn different procedures on it with vets from the teaching hospital guiding us. I first got some practice at palpating kidneys, which is an important skill when dealing with cats since they often get kidney problems as they age. You just put your hands behind the ribcage, lift up, and grab them. The left is easier to feel than the right, because the right one is more cranial (towards the head) and hidden under the ribcage. When I got home, I tried to palpate Gypsy and Dagny's kidneys' but had no luck; my lack of success was probably due to my inexperience and more likely to my cats' chunkiness. The cat I was working on was an unneutered male, so we neutered him and took turns practicing tying the spermatic cord into a knot. I also got to put a urethral cathedar into the old boy. We then took turns doing a CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) tap. This is done by shaving a spot on the back of the head, and inserting a needle into the space right above the atlas (first bone of spine, or C1). No one in my group was able to get any spinal fluid out, probably because the cat had been dead for too long. Next, one of the vets showed us how to pass a nasoesophageal tube. It is just a small tube passed through the nose and strung through until just before the cardiac sphincter (this seals off the stomach). If the tube passes through to the stomach, the sphincter will remain open and acid can reflux up the esophagus. Finally, the same vet showed us how to do a declaw, so we practiced removing our cadaver's claws. It actually involves removing the distal phalanx of the cat (like cutting off the tip of your finger just below the joint). What a lab! It was so....excellent.