Victory! Cats Can Now Breathe Easier

Have you ever had a breathing tube inserted during a hospital stay only to have a painful sore throat for days afterward? Imagine having that same breathing tube shoved down your throat 10 times in a row—by untrained hands—every few months for up to three years! That was the fate of dozens of cats used in archaic intubation training exercises at the Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

After NMCSD heard from PETA and Nationwide heard from PETA and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, both hospitals have agreed to scrap the cruel exercises on cats and instead use only advanced human-patient simulators that replicate human anatomy and better prepare trainees to accurately perform the procedure on human patients.

Unfortunately, cats are still suffering bleeding, swelling, pain, and scarring from intubation training exercises at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Please e-mail hospital officials and urge them follow the lead of NMCSD, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Texas Tech, Heartland Regional Medical Center, Primary Children’s Medical Center, and hundreds of other facilities and replace animals with superior and humane non-animal training methods.
Written by Michelle Sherrow