The Rural Voice, 1982-10, Page 7larger percentage of graduates than in the
past are employed in research hospitals,
working at meat inspection plants or
other institutions like zoos."
When Chris started at University
Hospital, there were only about four
other AHT graduates on staff. Now there
are 15 technicians, several from Centralia
College, working with the research ani-
mals.
Chris believes this change is for the
better.
"An AHT has a greater knowledge of
the physical, emotional and physiological
needs of the animal. We're more in a
position to know if an animal isn't
comfortable."
Since many animals sold to research
Tabs are obtained from pounds, they often
require some degree of nursing care
before they are ready to be used
in experimental procedures. They may be
under -nourished, have parasitic infections
or be showing other signs of ill-treatment.
Also, research institutions always make
a point of purchasing animals from
outside their area, so the public won't
assume their missing pets may turn up at
the laboratories.
Although dogs are Chris's favorite
research animals, she also work with rats
and pigs.
"Pigs are physiologically very similar
to people," she notes. "We especially use
them in the liver studies that we do here."
But dogs are still used more often,
simply because of their size, which makes
for easy handling, and the fact they are
readily available at a fairly inexpensive
price.
When the Rural Voice visited the
lab, Chris spent part of her morning
giving the part -collie Guyana a barium
enema, while the dog's under anaesthetic,
and then x-raying the small intestine to see
how the anastomosis procedure has
worked.
If you're wondering about the dog's
rather exotic name, it's because techni-
cians and surgeons pick a different theme
for each experiment. The bowel experi-
ment theme is countries of the world, so
the dogs carry titles like Sicily, Bolivia
and Ecuador, a more personal touch than
the numbers often assigned to research
animals.
Guyana is so delighted to see Chris that
even after the dog has been sedated, he
never leaves the technician's heels, fol-
lowing Chris down the hall until his legs
slide out from under him, and his eyelids
droop.
After the x-ray's been taken, and the
prints viewed, Chris gently carries the
unconscious dog back to his pen.
During surgical procedures themselves,
Chris Lipohar, 1975 graduate of the CCAT animal health technician program, is
employed at the University of Western Ontario in the animal research labs.
(Photos by Gibb)
Chris co-ordinates activities in the opera-
ting room, from preparing surgical packs,
sterilizing instruments and scheduling the
operations. All surgical procedures used
on the research animals are drawn up
before any experiments are started and
THE RURAL VOICE / OCTOBER 1982 PG. 7