Are cats used as lab animals??

You want the truth I take it.

Yes, cats are used in labs for a variety of medical testing. When I was in highschool, we actually had to sit in on a cat disection for 10th grade biology, and this wasn't some cat they plucked from the neighborhood, but came from a lab (cats bred for this purpose, as I understand it).

As someone who loves animals, and I'm sure you do too, it's a tough thing to digest. But our feline, and other animals friends, offer us a lot more than just being our companions. We have to find cures for diseases, and animals are often the first testing ground. It's sad to think about the animals themselves, but it's also something I understand as necessary (I'm sure others disagree with me).

ps. I DON'T agree or believe in animal testing for things like cosmetics.

Brandon,

Just be aware the if you look up things like "animal testing" on google you may end up with some highly disturbing images.

at my college, the biology class disected cats about... 3 weeks ago.. they said it wasnt gross.. it just was somewhat disturbing..

last year in BIO2(high school) we did fetal pigs, that died of natural causes... *my pig blocked the birth cannal that was the cause of the babies we disected deaths*
it wasnt bad at all, i loved it.. my friend and i were the only girls in a group together, and we were the ONLY ones to NOT, i repeat NOT, wear gloves.. all the guys were scared to touch it, we laughed at them

Brandon,

Here is a good link I found. It's informative, and I thought it was fairly well done (there are very few images, and none that are highly disturbing). It isn't "anti-testing" and seems to have a tone of understanding it's a necessary thing, but should be done responsibly.

http://www.animaland.org/asp/realissues/testing.asp

I've always said any testing should be done on people serving life sentences for murder etc..

People may disagree but "IMO" these people did wrong, what did the poor animals do?!

This is a very emotive topic, and I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it. One the one hand, I'm revolted by the thought of experimenting on a beautiful cat, BUT, on the other hand, think of all the new treatments for this that or another disease, not just for people, but in veterinary medicine too, that are a result of this testing. I suppose the thing that really bothers me most is that the animals used have no choice in the matter.

Sue

For me, just the idea of any poor defensless little animal being used for medical testing is cruel.......no matter what the reason behind it. If they had tried to make me dissect anything in highschool, I definitely would have not done it.

This is why you NEVER list a pet as "free to a good home". There are people out there that will collect animals for animal research. Breeding animals just for the purpose of testing isn't cost effective. Call me a skeptic, but I wouldn't believe any lab that says they breed animals for their research (or used only animals that died, etc). They caught a shelter in Kansas that was selling animals to labs rather than putting them to sleep because not only did they save money on the euthanasia, but made money off the sale of the animal. The industry is basically unregulated and entirely corrupt IMO.

A cat's nervous system is remarkably close to that of a human's. Therefore, using cats is beneficial to spinal-cord research, as well as many neuromuscular diseases.

The research into feline AIDS and FeLV is being applied to human AIDS, benefitting both species. Remember, without animal research, we would not have many of the vaccines and treatments that are available to both humans AND animals.

As for using death row prisoners, this is not usually a viable option. A great many of them are not healthy enough to be subjected to medical research, due to long histories of drug and/or alcohol abuse. In addition, the risk of transporting extremely dangerous people to laboratory facilities is much too high.

Since this thread covers a highly controversial subject, I'm moving it to IMO.

I wonder whether the people who purchase these animals are really for research because in most cases research animals have to meet strict criteria so as not to contaminate or to control the testing. There are multiple companies that ship animals made for such research. The most famous examples are mice, where I recall reading about this firm that ships out millions and they have multiple variety of mice for researchers to choose from. Although some people do it in house to a certain extent such as building a enclosure for a quarter of million mice. (http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seatt...ditorial2.html) Some take it to even a higher level of specificity such as Harvard which "created" or modified this particular mice to be susceptible to cancer and it made quite a bit of money selling them to research labs.

As for cats, I know they are used for lab animals and I think one of the more popular ones is the European short hair. The most recent high profile use of cats was with regards to the SARS research.

Brandon, the sad truth is that mice, cats, dogs, etc. don't vote, so it takes a lot to get laws passed to protect them. Not all of the states even have laws that animal torture and abuse is a felony, and those that do aren't always good at enforcing them. Most all of the abuse laws have an exception for "legitimate research", though it isn't defined just what "legitimate" is.

Having been involved in research for many years I have to say that legitimate research absolutely does require animals from a carefully regulated and controlled source. Random source animals are not generally appropriate.

A few notes on research itself (and I'm referring to medical research only here.):

The FDA requires animal studies in the development of all new medications.

FIV research (not FeLV) is absolutely relevant to AIDS studies. The FIV virus is in the same family and closely related to the human HIV virus. The pathological course of the two diseases is virtually identical.

I was involved in one study of a new medication to help with the treatment of diabetic ulcers. The biochemist that developed the formula actually developed it to treat the ulcers on his own diabetic dog (which constituted the entire "animal studies" portion of the study.) It worked extremely well.

I was involved in a study several years ago which developed a significant modification in the handling of transplanted organs (the particular study focused on kidneys.) Several dogs were involved in and sacrificed in the development and testing of the protocol. All surgeries, treatments, and euthanasias were managed in a humane manner. The modifications resulted in a greater than 75% reduction in the rejection rate of transplanted organs. This translates to thousands of lives saved.

Both rats and mice have been used for cancer research for decades. If any of you have ever had a pet rat and it died it was usually because of tumors, aka cancer.

There are many facilities that breed dogs and cats for lab use. They advertise their animals as "easy to handle" and "bred to be non-agressive".

Even "Guinea Pig" is known as some one or thing that is tested upon.

Many animal shelters will sell the animals to labs for various uses from testing drugs to finding faster ways to get bones to heal.

Our world is a very twisted place and sometimes I wish we had more power to change the things that are wrong quickly and without red tape.

I never offer animals free to good homes as many of those animals end up at "bait" for pit bull fighting dogs.

People will fight any type of animal from the Betta fish we keep as pets, rosters, dogs, and anything they can force together to cause mayhem. You can even order some of these animals online!

Ok I'll stop now, I think I'm a little stressed tonight.

I remember in college reading a study where the scientists were trying to find where sleep resided in the brain and they used cats for the experiments (I will not post what they did as it is very disturbing to me still).

Katie

I see an enormous difference between legitimate medical research and animal fighting, and I have a very poor opinion of any attempt lump the two together.

I've dealt with a number of dog fighting cases and can tell you it's a horrific practice. I recall one pit bull that came in gushing blood from her mouth, face, neck and chest. When animal control brought her in many of the staff were afraid of her, but a few of us with experience got her stable and as comfortable as possible (and took pictures and documented everything for the district attorney.) The next day she was badly swollen and obviously in pain, though she was medicated to try and control that pain. Poor baby was a really sweet girl which had obviously been used to "train" one of the fighting dogs. Every day I brought her a toy or treats (of both) and spent time with her, which she clearly appreciated. We held her for ten days in the hopes someone would try to claim her, with a sheriff deputy standing by just up the street the whole time. Twice someone indicated he wanted to claim her, but on both occasions when he was told "just a minute" the person ran out to a car already running and waiting in the parking lot, and got away before the deputy could get there. In the end we had to euthanize her since NC law automatically declares a fighting dog a dangerous animal, making her unavailable for adoption. I had named her "Tina" in honor of a good friend who ran a Pit Bull rescue. My friend Tina passed away three years ago from an aneurism, she was only 44.

The question of animal testing always troubles me. On the one hand, animals die in order to further the human race which is grossly overpopulated right now. The goal of saving human lives at the expense of another living creature bothers me, particularly dogs and cats. On the other hand, I'm not a vegetarian and animals die to feed me and support my life. We as a species are very judgemental on the pecking order of animals. Which ones should be allowed for food and research and which ones are sacred? (and no, I'm not an advocate for PETA.)

There should never be tests on animals when it has to deal with cosmetics and household cleaners and so fourth. If people are the ones using cosmetics, then test it on them and not animals!! As for medical research, I don't like the idea, but a lot of good has come from it, both for us humans and our animals. Also, a little off track here, but as most of you know by now, I live with 2 wonderful bobcats. This is where the idea of research bothers me. There are a lot of states where stupid "ban laws" are going into effect preventing such "private" ownership of these animals. But, they can still be kept for research and worse yet, to be raised for their fur. This is a big NO If they can not be kept by responsible private individuals, then they can not be kept in labs to suffer or for fur. I told you I was a little off the topic here...sorry.

I wasn't lumping research and fighting together, I was stating that people raise animals just for those purposes. Research is important and if done humainly, and for good reason, can be benificial for all. Raising animals to be docile while being experimented on is just as abhorant to me as raising animals to be viscious.

The fact that people know that the puppy or kitten is going somewhere that they are going to be locked alone in a cage without ever knowing a toy or companionship distresses me to no end. Scientists are not supposed to become attached to the animals they experiment on so as not to bias their research data, so they try to look at the animal as a "thing" instead of an individual.

Breaking an animals bone over and over to see how it heals with different treatments or implanting electrodes into an animals braain to see what part of the body it controls so they can map the brain I guess is important for humanity, but is it humane?

No I'm not an advocate for PETA, they are terrorists in every sense of the word.