Skinning Day #4

Focus question: Should removing the skin from the neck be handled differently from the rest of the body?

Location
Finishing off the skinning on the back and effectively removing the skin entirely from the muscle.

Procedure

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

Materials

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

Data collected

The skin around the stomach region comes off much more easily. The skin around the neck is very tough and hard to cut through. There are many visible veins all around the muscle that is now exposed.

Conclusion

We finally finished entirely skinning our cat today. I really got desensitized to skinning the cat by the end of the process which made the entire thing easier. The cat had to be drained again today because the excess liquid had gathered up underneath the space that was now present between it's back skin and back muscle. I did not enjoy the process of draining the liquid again. Honestly, the wet cat thing really does bother me but once I start making incisions, I start focusing on just the skin or just the muscle individually which makes the whole thing much easier. The neck incision required more strength instead of the usual careful cutting I have become accustomed to when skinning.