Dissection and animal rights help?

Question

I want to become a vet and i know i'm going to have to dissect at some point but i believe strongly in animal rights. what do i do? i took biology in high school last year and my teacher didn't make me participate in the actual dissection. i would have no problem is the animal had died of natural cause (like old age) and didn't die in a lab or anything like that, but how would i know that?

Answer 1

well if you go to www.peta.com  they have probably can help you out there, they send you start kits with stickers and such that say slogans against dissecting animals and fur and things like that.  

Answer 2

Yes this is a tough one for you. But on the principles of the "greatest good for the greatest number" if its unavoidable then you will have to do it. You could make amends by doing something good for an animal charity or something similar, like Tim suggests.

Good luck with your career, you sound like just the right kind of person to be a vet!

Answer 3

Even if it were possible to get a DVM without doing any dissection or experimental surgery, do you think a client who loves his dog will want you doing surgery on the dog?

Answer 4

there's plenty of new technology out there where you can get hands on experience and not have to dissect. not all the dogs and cats in labs are leftover from animals that died of natural causes. not at all.  contact the "pysicians committe for responsible medicine- pcrm" and they will definately have info available to help you.

Answer 5

dont worry=] i want to become a vet too, and i looked ino it, and the cas and dogs youll disect are donated by their owners after they die of illnesses or old age. so no worries! =]

Answer 6

I don't know how you could know for sure. It won't be just dogs and cats you'd be dealing with but a range of animals, I would presume, including those that many have no qualms over killing for education.

If you really believe strongly in being a vet, then go for it. You could make a positive difference by treating the animals well, never putting down a healthy animal, encouraging provision for poorer families (animals deserve means-tested health care too) and things like that. If Dissection may not have to be a part of a course, I've known there to be book studies instead. It's well worth sending some e-mails and making phone calls to enquire about a whole range of courses you would consider in the future.

I would say, however, that the best way to support animal rights is to be vegan. Some sources suggest that the average meat eater causes 2000 more deaths during his life time than the average vegan. Perhaps more lives than you'd ever save as a vet? To be vegan is to acknowledge the rights' of all animals by taking measures not to cause them to be exploited by your own lifestyle, e.g. by eating meat and animal products, wearing leather, fur, wool, silk, going to the horses or the dogs etc.

There are other ways to help animals that won't have to involve dissection, like animal rights activism: you could talk to people about veganism; leaflet; collect funds for charities supporting animals' rights (e.g. Animal Aid); write letters to organisations, companies and your MP about animal issues; talk to people on the Internet; write a blog; write articles; get active in demos; give homes to rescued animals and actually rescue animals yourself.

I hope this helps,

Tim

Answer 7

I was quarantined once for anthrax. I was present when they dissected the animal. Yes, there will be things you dislike doing, but that's your chosen profession which in the long run can benefit you and animals in your charge.

Answer 8

That's a tough one. Yes, you probably will need to dissect and you might even wind up dealing with vivisection (yikes).

The answer is: you'd never have any way of knowing unless you found the animal yourself.

You are going to need to dissect one. If you aren't comfortable opening up an animal to look inside, you really shouldn't be a vet. Dead or alive, you're going to need to cut animals open and see what is or was wrong in them. Some of these animals will live, some will die. Some of it will be because of you, some of it will be despite you.

What you need to decide is how important helping animals is to you. Does the end justify the means, or not? Basically, is it worth it to you to need to dissect 50 animals if it means that you get to heal, help, or even save the lives of hundreds of animals a year for the rest of your life?

Unfortunately, in this case, it is an either-or. In order to gain the competence to operate on a living animal, you first need to be comfortable operating on a dead one. Looking at pictures, using computer programs, heck, even virtual reality can not replace actual experience. You certainly can understand what organs look like, what they do, and where they are located in relation to each other, but (gross, sorry) only touching the real organs, in their place, will show you how they respond. You can't know how much pressure and stretching an artery will take without actually poking at one.

Furthermore, it's very obviously better to operate on a dead animal before you try it with a live one. You don't want to accidentally kill something, right? Once you have the basics, you move to vivisection. This one is really a tough call. Basically, vivisection is when you take a living animal and perform an operation. Following the operation, rather than sewing the animal back up, it is put to sleep. Generally, these animals come from "death row" in shelters. This is tough, but again, you don't really want to accidentally remove the heart of someone's beloved pet on your first operation.

So really, this is all your call. Balance what you know you can accomplish as a vet against what you know you'll have to do to become one. I personally say go for it. The number of animals that will die to contribute towards your education is small compared to the number of animals that will live and thrive because of it.