Skinning Day #1

Focus question: What measures must be taken when making an incision in order to not harm the muscle?

Location:

Making an incision from the middle lower neck, through the middle of the body all to the area between the hind limbs. A thin cut was made in order to not cut the muscles of the cat in the process.

Procedure:

1. Put our masks, gloves and aprons on
2. Take cat out of back room
3. Take cat out of bag and place on bin cover
4. Take out the scalpels and check to make sure the blade on securely
5. Start the incision on the neck
6. After first incision has been made, clean scalpel off and place back in the kit
7. Place cat back in bag after removing stray hairs which have come off due to the incision
8. Clean off cover of the bin in the sink
9. Place cat bag in bin and and put bin in the back room
10. Wash hands

Materials

1. apron
2. masks
3. gloves
4. cat bin
5. kit
6. scalpels

Data collected

The cut was very easy. The neck area was considered strong and thick. The area near the neck was a hard cut at first but as the first incision started going through the middle of the bod, there seemed to be no fat tissue. Because of the minimal padding provided by the skinny cat, the incision had to be made carefully in order to prevent any cut to the muscle.

Conclusion:
My first thought when making the incision in the cat was the surprise at how tough the skin was. I truly was not expecting it, and was expecting more of a butter-like consistency when slicing into it instead of the tough resistance my blade met. I also was not expecting so much fur to come off with the cut and for the skin to be so easy to distinguish from muscle. A challenge my partner and I faced when making the incision was effectively holding back the cat's maimed arm.