# DIY gross necropsy - any tips or pointers?



## Sterling (Apr 3, 2009)

I have no medical experience to speak of, but I read through a couple of websites for mouse and rat necropsies (http://www.geocities.com/virtualbiology, http://ratfanclub.org/autopsy.html) and I found them fascinating.

Now, I have a mouse that has displayed symptoms of myco on and off since I got her, and over the past few weeks her condition has steadily worsened. I will be putting her, and the mouse who was housed with her, to sleep because the latter is now showing mild symptoms of the disease. I also plan on culling an apparently healthy male mouse who has turned out to be unsuitable for breeding due to his temperament.

I'd like to do some gross necropsies and compare the trio - just to see what they look like inside. It seems a bit morbid, I know, but I really want to see first-hand what the lungs of sick mice look like in various stages of the disease, as compared to a seemingly healthy mouse. A necropsy will be useful for 'hands-on' knowledge about mouse biology too.

I feel that the first incision will be the hardest and I know it will be difficult to distance myself emotionally since my really sick mouse was one of my favourites. But the thing that I am most afraid of is having blood gush out and hit me in the face. I would be physically sick if that happened. Will blood spurt out? I've never dissected an animal before. I really don't know what to expect and I'm quite nervous about it. Any words of wisdom or encouragement will be most welcome.


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

I can't imagine blood will gush anywhere in a dead animal - the spurting would surely be from the pressure when blood is being pumped throughout the body. The amount of blood in an average sized mouse will only be a few ml anyway. It may sound horrible, but do you think you will take photos? It might be useful for others to also see the differences between the mice.


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