Skinning, Day Two

9/19/14

Today, the main focus was for Kate and I to continue to skin the trunk of our cat and then move on to the forelimbs and hindlimbs. Again, this was done by using a scalpel. As I continued to skin the center of the Semara’s lower abdomen, I stumbled across a small, squishy yellow mass. At first, I thought this mass was just discoloration of the skin or a fat pocket but, as I continued to remove more skin tissue, more of the mass was revealed. I then realized this was not a fat pocket or part of Semara’s skin so, I called over my instructor, Ms. McKinney. Ms. McKinney immediately knew that this mass was a perforated a bowel. A perforated bowel is when a hole develops in the wall of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large bowel, rectum or gallbladder. Semara had perforation of the intestine, which causes the contents of the intestines to leak into the abdominal cavity, causing her immediate death. A perforated bowel may start out as an infection that won’t kill you right away, but once a specific organ leaks into the abdominal cavity (for example the intestines), that will cause immediate death without proper treatment (surgery). It was upsetting to hear that Semara’s cause of death was a perforated bowel because that is a very painful condition. Though this was very painful, I’m glad that Semara died of natural causes. By the end of class, Kate and I had removed the remaining skin tissue from Semara’s pelvic area, inner thighs and outer thighs. Kate also had begun to skin Semara’s right forelimb and was almost finished. Posted below are a few pictures of Semara’s perforated bowel which also display how much skinning progress Kate and I made since the previous day.