The Cat Dissection – Digestive System Essay Example

or within the heart, lungs, urinary track, sex organs, the digestive system, mouths, ears, bones and much more. However, like the humans the cat digestion begins in the mouth, passing food through the esophageal track into the stomach, and after the food is broken down it goes to the small intestine, large intestine then the colon where excretion takes place. In practice, both the cat and human have a pancreas, liver, and two kidneys which play a significant role in the digestion and urination process.

In this regard, the role played by these organs in the cat is identical to their role in the human body. For instance, the cat’s pancreas secretes pancreatic juice which contains digestive enzymes that aid in the further breakdown of food after they have left the stomach. Despite the cat’s kidneys and ureters performing the same functions as the human kidneys and ureters, both cats and humans possess the same reproductive organs with the females ‘organs both having the fallopian tubes, uterus, ovaries, and vagina. Additionally, both the male organs have prostate glands, the testicles as well as the penis, making the cat model as specimen the one of the best in understanding the human anatomy of the digestive track.

Objective

1. To observe the digestive structures of the cat as compared to human digestive structures.
2. To examine the internal anatomy of the cat digestive organs

Material

The dissection toolkit used in the experiment contained the following tools:

1. Pointed tip scissors
2. Two dissecting needles (one straight end, one angled)
3. Scalpel
4. Small ruler
5. Dissecting probe
6. Pipette
7. Blunt tip scissors
8. Forceps

Other materials used involved the dissecting pan along with the appropriate laboratory safety equipment such as goggles,

apron, gloves and the dissection lab manual. Besides, the cats’ specimen was provided while stored in their bags in the boxes.

Methods

Procedure

The following is the procedure to observe the digestive structure of the cat and internal anatomy of the digestive organs.

1. To skin the head of the cat specimen, an incision was made from the left side of the lower lip through up to the top of the left eye and across to the top of the right eye, then down to the right side of the lower lip. The skin was removed from the head by cutting around the base of the ears.
2. Since at this stage, the aim was to examine the mouth digestive structure, using the right side of the cat’s head the following salivary glands were located. The glands include; submandibular gland, parotid gland, sublingual gland, infraorbital gland and molar gland. Caution was taken not to confuse then lymph nodes which are smooth with the salivary glands which have lobulated surfaces.
3. After opening the abdominal as well as the thoracic cavities with blunt tip scissors, this was by cutting through the body wall to the right midventral line starting from the clavicle to the anus; lateral incisions were made then deflecting the body wall to the right and therefore exposing the underlying structures.
4. The mylohyoid, digastric and geniohyoid muscles were transtected and also reflected to expose the esophagus.
5. The cat was carefully rinsed to remove the dried blood from the abdominal cavity for a clear observation or examination of the abdominal structures. The observed structures include the esophagus, peritoneum, lesser omentum, greater omentum, mesentery, liver, stomach, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, large intestine and
   

small intestine.

Results

Stomach

An important organ in the digestive track, it is Muscular, hollow and dilated part of the digestive system which is also involved in the second digestion phase.
It a sac-like structure of the stomach that allows contraction of the muscles while digesting the food and secreting enzymes.

Esophagus

Esophagus is a muscular tube that is usually 10-13 inches long and runs along the neck to the upper chest while also connecting the mouth to the stomach. Its main role is to allow food passage through peristalsis.
At the stomach opening, there is a ring-like muscle that has a one-way valve which allows food passage while also preventing chime from flowing back to the esophagus called the esophageal sphincter.

Liver

It’s responsible for regulating most chemical level in the blood while excreting bile, which assists in the breaking down of fats for digestion and absorption.

Pancreas

Shaped like a 6-inch banana, it lies under the

stomach. The pancreas plays both the digestive and endocrine functions that regulate blood sugar in the body.

Gall bladder

The tiny sac shape of the gallbladder permit the easy release of bile juice into the stomach to assist in digestion. Helps in the digestion of fats as well as concentrating the bile which is produced by the liver.

Small intestines

The tube-like structures found in the small intestine helps in forcing the processed food down to the digestive track. It’s responsible for both chemical and mechanical digestion as well as adoption.

The gender of the cat was male; while the stomach of the same cat was full, the organs were defined clearly in the cat. Enzymes play a vital role in the chemical breakdown of food in the stomach. Food is broken down in the stomach through hydrolysis. However, pepsin and amylase are the two main enzymes in the digestion process. Pepsin is produced by the gastric glands and activated by hydrochloric acid in the stomach; it is responsible for the digestion of protein. On the other hand, enzyme amylase found in both the mouth and the small intestine is responsible for the breakdown of starches into maltose (Sherwood, 2015).

These enzymes are affected by anything that is considered to change the shape of an active site such as PH and temperature which alter the enzyme activity in the stomach. When temperature increases the enzyme activity increases up to the optimum level where if the temperature continues to increase above the optimal level the enzymes denature, and the enzymatic activities start to reduce (Marieb, Wilhelm & Mallatt, 2014). When the PH level increases the enzymatic activity increases up to the optimal

level where the enzyme activity begins to decrease as the PH level continues to increase. Other enzymes produced by the bile were responsible for like the lipase were involved in the breakdown of fats in the body.

Conclusion

The upper digestive structure such as the salivary glands in both the humans and the cats occupy the similar locations while there is a slight difference in the lower digestive structure as compared to both the cat and human digestive system. Despite being a clear similarity of both the body organs and their functionality in cats and humans, the digestive systems have adapted differently to the different food diets and the surrounding climate between the humans and the cats. Since the experiment had minimal errors, it was an indication of what happens in the real world where people lives are always at stake. Therefore the cat is a good model for the study of human anatomy as it exposed students to the internal digestive systems which enhanced their practical understanding.

References

• Marieb, E. N., Wilhelm, P. B., & Mallatt, J. (2014). Human anatomy. Pearson.
• Rizzo, D. C. (2015). Fundamentals of anatomy and physiology. Cengage Learning.
• Sherwood, L. (2015). Human physiology: from cells to systems. Cengage learning.