Introduction to
Cat Dissection
Respect the Cats
•Zero tolerance!
•Creature of God
Why Small Cats?
• Because they are small and
easy to store
• They tend to have less fat
to deal with
Why is my cat biting a foam block?
•It is to keep you
from getting poked
or scraped by their
teeth
Why is the neck of my cat such a
mess?
• We have had the cats injected,
pink = arteries and blue = veins
• Sometimes the injection process
isn’t too kind to the neck, but it
helps a ton when looking at the
circulatory system
How Do I Store My Cat?
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Wrap the cat in paper towels
Spray the cat well with Bio Shield humectant
Put the cat back in it’s original bag
Put the bagged cat into a large zip lock bag
Label your bag with your names and period
Put your cat in the appropriate bin
We keep the cats in the greenhouse because it
is colder there
Skin
• For most of the cat the skin has
been removed
• It still remains on the paws, tail
and head
• You will have to remove some of
the skin in these places
Skinning the Cat
• The skin is
attached to the
muscle layer by
connective
tissues
• Using a blunt
probe or your
finger can break
the fine webbing
Dissecting the Head
• The muscles are often covered in a
layer of fat.
• You can remove this layer, but
sometimes it takes too much time
• Don’t be afraid to get in there and
dig around a bit
Isolating muscles
• The goal is to completely expose
every muscle on the lab
• NEVER create a muscle by slicing
through meat to make it look like
your diagram!
• There are small lines of connective
tissue that are clues as to where to
cut!
The goal is to see as much of each
muscle as possible
Work your way up towards the cheek
from the neck
Feel free to cut the skin off if it is in the
way
• Next head to the temporalis
muscle