Story of a Cat in Animal Testing

The Story of a Cat in Animal Testing is our interpretation of how a cat would feel if he was one of those millions of animals taking part in animal testing studies. Please excuse if perhaps at times the information may not be 100% accurate.

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Cat in Animal Testing – The Morning

We arrived at a strangely looking building, all white, with many people, all dressed in white with bizarre black things around their necks. One man came up and tried to take me away.

I am normally quite peaceful but I had never been given away to anyone before. I was roaming the streets free until they trapped me in a net.

My heart was racing and I could not help but open my mouth and meow the hall away. The man put his fingers around my mouth to close it and I found myself gasping for air. They threw me in an iron cage, in a room full of cats like me, all looking horrified. They were all staring at me in silence.

I still had not received any food. That evening the man came back and pulled me by the back of my neck out of the cage, just like my mom did when I was a kitten. Back then, it did not hurt and I could not feel her teeth in my fur. This time my heart bounced up and down my body as he dragged me into a room full of other humans all in white. I saw blood stains, I saw some scattered fur and broken claws and there was a very heavy reek in the air. It filled my nostrils and would not leave my brain.

They put me on a flat surface and injected something in my neck. It happened quickly and all I remember is the stinging pain. Then they placed some odd black wires and pumps on my head and started observing me. It took a while. My heart was racing and my mouth was dry, my eyes were getting watery, my nose was dry and started to hurt, and I could not really feel my paws.

And Then Something Happened

My body blocked and I was about to lose conscience. There was no light, color or smell, I could not sense anything anymore, my hind legs dropped as if without bones. The humans smiled at one another that now the arteries in my head are blocked and I finally had a stroke. That information, they said, would be useful for medical research into stroke in humans. Some other cats were going to be part of “sight deprivation” tests to investigate the visual cortex.

I did not know what a stroke or visual cortex is. All I knew was that suddenly I was crippled and could not move at all. There was an excruciating pain all over,  yet I could not control any part of my body, it felt numb and dead. They were all content and scribbling things on their little pads.

One man hurried another to put me to sleep. I have a couple of seconds left. I am just a cat in animal testing. My life is worth nothing. 

 

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Learn more about Animal Testing on BBC Ethics Guide

Check out our articles on When Man and Nature Collide, Amazing Conservation Photography, Powerful Animal Ad Campaigns