I Love To Cut Things Up

That ought to catch your attention.

But it's true, I do. 

Disclaimer: there are very graphic pictures of the insides of cats on this post. You've been warned!

The past few weeks in anatomy, we've been doing the best thing in the entire world.

Dissecting a cat.

I LOVE DISSECTIONS. I LIVE FOR THEM. Our cat was a big, fat cat who so graciously died so we could cut the sucker apart.

Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures but I BROKE THE RULES and took some. Because how many times in your life do you dissect a cat?!

And I totally did wear this shirt. My classmates (and myself of course) thought I was pretty hilarious!

The inside of our cat was so fatty, it was unbelievable. It's left lung was just a mess, it looked like ground meat. It didn't look like any lobes were even left, it was sorta disappointing. But later into the dissection, as we took out the heart (!!!) we found the bottom lobe, all alone. 

On the last day, my group already had 100%, which no group had ever accomplished before, and were ahead. We decided to attempt to take out the BRAIN! for extra credit! (in case you were wondering, we finished with 114% #winning) It took a while to strip away the skin, muscle, and bone, but once we got the brain out, it was spectacular. 

I was high on adrenaline, and basically, my life was complete.

wittle baby brain. No larger than a walnut with the shell!!

THEN, the unthinkable happened! MY TEACHER SAID I COULD TAKE HOME THE CAT BRAIN AND HEART. I think my heart stopped for a minute there. I was beyond ecstatic!!!!!!! In two little jars, filled with rubbing alcohol as preservative, went the cat's heart and brain. I paraded those suckers around school proudly, looking like some sketchy cat organ seller. But I couldn't even care because I was so happy. To present the newest cool thing in my life to my mom, I promptly put the jars in the fridge, right next to the hummus and yogurt, which she was bound to eat. Let's just say when she found them, there was some yelling from her, and some laughing from me. They are now proudly displayed in my room, and I show them to all visitors.

I gave one half of the brain to the psychology teacher. She was so excited! I loved it:)

I had been hoping to have a pregnant girl cat, but we got stuck with a neutered male. My teacher had mentioned to me earlier that he had a uterus with kittens. I was obviously intrigued. The seniors are done with school now, so there's about 6 of us in our anatomy class. (PARTY!) Today, I asked him about it. He asked if I could handle it because it was really gross. But nothing fazes me. I am an invincible teenager for heaven's sake! I was expecting a smallish sac that was semi-transparent with little fetuses visible.

I was wrong.

Out he came with a bag filled preservative and a pink uterus the size of Texas (ok more like the size of a basketball). I again was FILLED with adrenaline! 

I prepped the organ, and palpated around to see if I could find any of the fetuses. And then it was time for my first C-section. 

The inside was not at all what I was hoping for or expecting. I had no idea that you could just order a pregnant cat's uterus online, and my teacher said he had this one for a few years but no students asked to see it or expressed interest in the dissection (fools, I know). I opened it up to find all these golf ball size and smaller knobs, not very hard but not very soft. And only ONE fetus! JUST ONE! gosh darn it! I wanted a litter!!! 

I pulled that little thing out and cut the cord. SO COOL. And then posed for lots of pictures. :)

Kinda looks like a horse, right?

Cutting the cord <3

It's a fetus!

enamored.

 The inside was pure disaster. Tumors and polyps were on nearly every square internal inch.

No mas fetuses:(

Inside of uterine horn- looked like Cheerios! YUM. ;)

Right before the cat dissection, we went to the cadaver lab. That was also one of the best days of my life, as I got to pop the femur out and held a HUMAN BRAIN IN MY HANDS! That was ridiculously awesome too. The smell wasn't bad for the cadaver or the cat, not candle scent worthy, but not horrible.

Anatomy has been my FAVORITE class this semester. I cannot wait for Anatomy II!! It's going to be so great! I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed my pictures, I wish you could all dissect a cat and preggo uterus. If your like me, your life will just be more and more complete:)

xo
Hannah