Gross out-- Not for the faint of heart

[hermanne]

Okay, this just happened today....

I was driving down the highway when I noticed a sort of oblong dark reddish thing by the side of the road. Then I saw the flattened deer carcass a little way up the road. The reddish thing had come from there. I think it was the deer's stomach. No, it wasn't flattened like the rest of the deer.

[FluteOfDoom]

On the topic of rats in the freezer, my dad had an owl in ours for years. I have no idea why it was there in the first place, but my mother finally threw it away because she was sick of grabbing it instead of the meat she'd put in there. Yes, it took years to get to that point - they're pretty well matched.  She gave him a dead otter for Valentine's day once.

Anyway, my father is a biologist, and while he was in grad school, the science department had a large freezer  for the animal specimens they used for studies. Whenever the professor cleaned it out, he'd take the specimens he wanted to move to a more permanent collection, and let the grad students deal with the rest.

Let's just say that if you're not squeamish, you can live for quite a while on what's left of a bear.

--

My nana had a dead bat once... she found it mummified in her attic.

So she had it made into a rear-view-window dangly, because she loves bats.

[vorbau]

FluteofDoom, I think I love your nana! And your mom and dad!

I have my own collection of animal skeletons because I'm always getting handed random bones to ID, and I don't want to bother one of the state anthropologists if I don't have to. I have a few bones and skulls that were given to me by people who wanted to know what they were and DEFINITELY didn't want them back.

But to "flesh out" my collection, so to speak, I adopted a tip from a colleague in another state, which involves collecting various dead animals and burying them in my woods until the decomposition process is complete, then excavating the bones, washing and drying them - there are little stakes and flags all over my woods marking where things are "cooking."

Since most of my specimens are victims of motor vehicle accidents, I carry collection equipment in my car (gloves, shovel, garbage bags, duct tape). I will never forget the look on DH's face the first time I made a "score" when he was riding with me:

Luckily, he got over it and ten years later we're still together! And he not only doesn't bat an eye when I put the clean bones in the dishwasher, he's even used them to gross out a work buddy when they were unloading the clean dishes.

And he gave me a preserved rattlesnake for my office. 

Vorbau

[FluteOfDoom]

FluteofDoom, I think I love your nana! And your mom and dad!

I have my own collection of animal skeletons because I'm always getting handed random bones to ID, and I don't want to bother one of the state anthropologists if I don't have to. I have a few bones and skulls that were given to me by people who wanted to know what they were and DEFINITELY didn't want them back.

But to "flesh out" my collection, so to speak, I adopted a tip from a colleague in another state, which involves collecting various dead animals and burying them in my woods until the decomposition process is complete, then excavating the bones, washing and drying them - there are little stakes and flags all over my woods marking where things are "cooking."

Since most of my specimens are victims of motor vehicle accidents, I carry collection equipment in my car (gloves, shovel, garbage bags, duct tape). I will never forget the look on DH's face the first time I made a "score" when he was riding with me:

Luckily, he got over it and ten years later we're still together! And he not only doesn't bat an eye when I put the clean bones in the dishwasher, he's even used them to gross out a work buddy when they were unloading the clean dishes.

And he gave me a preserved rattlesnake for my office. 

Vorbau

If that's not true love, I don't know what is! 

[Starchasm]

1)  I once, as part of a summer program, was involved in digging up an elephant carcass.  There was an elephant reserve near my college and when one died they would bury it for several years, dig up the bones, and donate the skeleton to a school or museum.  Great charity work, right?

Lets just say that 3 years isn't NEARLY enough time for a full-grown elephant to decompose into bone.  I spent the day knee-deep in gray-green elephant-soup trying to dig out bones.  I had to throw out the shoes and even after THREE showers I had to peel elephant skin off of my legs and arms.  The smell took a full week to go away.

2)  When I was in law school I regularly helped my roommate walk her dog.  One day, before I took the dog out for a walk, I got a call on my cell phone.  It was my roommate asking me if I'd found a tampon.  I was confused until she explained that the dog had gotten into her trashcan and she KNEW there had been a used one in the can, but she didn't find it when she was cleaning up.     Yep.  Guess where I found it.  The worst part was, the string got caught in the dog's butt so he was scooting around with a tampon hanging out of his butt while I tried to catch him to pull it out.  So. Gross.

[vorbau]

Starchasm - My friend had to do something similar with her dog! What is it with these canines!

Yeah, 3 years isn't long enough to decomp something that large. If you ever have to do something like that again, lemon juice is great for getting rid of the smell. Vinegar works too, which is why there's a 1.25 gal jug of it in my laundry room! (And a bottle of lemon juice in the shower.)

[Nimblicity]

  Yep.  Guess where I found it.  The worst part was, the string got caught in the dog's butt so he was scooting around with a tampon hanging out of his butt while I tried to catch him to pull it out.  So. Gross.

Same idea here.  Walking my MIL's dog. Alina.  Alina likes to chew up sticks and twigs, but she doesn't chew them well.  She went into the tell-tale squat, but didn't come back up as soon as normal.  She tried again, and I went over with the poop bag to see what was going on.  She looks at me, kind of peeved, gets up and starts walking away... with a poop-covered twig still hanging out!   Well, what do you do?  I put the poop baggy over my hand and grabbed the twig, which came out wtith a small tug.  It was about 5 inches long and even though I have a strong stomach, I nearly couldn't hold it in.  Especially with the confused and slightly violated look the dog gave me.

Eww!

[dutifuldaughter]

Especially with the confused and slightly violated look the dog gave me.

There is hot tea all over my monitor from reading that.  Especially because I know EXACTLY what look Bienchen refers to!

My sister-in-law's cat was the same with Xmas tree tinsel (really it's awful for animals, it's a wonder the cat survived not one but multiple cases of tinsel-eating).  She said the effect the tinsel removal had on the cat was galvanizing, to say the least.

One of the women I work with had a golden retriever who ate EVERYTHING, including a box of tampons.  Unused in this case.

And only this morning I had to bodily restrain His Pugness from rolling in the thoroughly ripe and flattened remains of a dead rat.  He doesn't usually do such things, but I guess it was just too wonderful to resist.  He's getting a bath before we go to bed tonight, because even though I don't think he made actual contact I can't bear the thought of snuggling the pug if he's bringing dead rat atoms with him.

[bionelly]

My sister-in-law's cat was the same with Xmas tree tinsel (really it's awful for animals, it's a wonder the cat survived not one but multiple cases of tinsel-eating).  She said the effect the tinsel removal had on the cat was galvanizing, to say the least.

I used to have a cat that did that.  She also loved the plastic grass people put in Easter baskets.  I'm not sure how many times she ate it, but she lived to the ripe old age of 17, and the plastic eating wasn't what got her.

One of the women I work with had a golden retriever who ate EVERYTHING, including a box of tampons.  Unused in this case.

Our dog hasn't eaten tampons, but he has eaten maxi pads and diapers.  He also had what we now refer to as the "wicker poop", from when he ate a sizable portion of one of MIL's bushes.  It was shaped like a regular poop, but if you looked closely you could see the twigs all woven together like wicker.

The same thing happened with a plastic bag once, and also with another dog's collar.

Speaking of strange things in poop, one of my mom's favorite stories is when I was a baby, and she was changing my diaper, and she noticed something blue.  She pulled it out to take a closer look, and discovered it was a magazine page... from the Reader's Digest! 

[Paper Roses]

Speaking of strange things in poop, one of my mom's favorite stories is when I was a baby, and she was changing my diaper, and she noticed something blue.  She pulled it out to take a closer look, and discovered it was a magazine page... from the Reader's Digest! 

Wow!  You digested the Digest! 

[emeraldsage85]

When I was in high school my biology class did a fetal pig disection. We kept the pigs in covered pans in the fridge. At the end of it all the teacher was cleaning out the fridge and found a pig that had been in there for a entire year. He had missed it during the last year's cleaning session.

[Suze]

Grandma's dog ate our color crayons

techicolor poop

[hot_shaker]

Can anyone tell me why I thought it was a good idea to eat while reading this thread? 

[afbluebelle]

Note: there is a part on the A-10 named the antenna stab (AS).  It lives up to its name.

I was working on the gun the other day, and didn't duck low enough.  Ran right into the AS of the jet, and split my head open.  Supervisor grabs the truck, and drives me into the building to wash out my bleeding head wound, and to see if it needs stiches.  I am trying to slow down the blood flow with my hand, so it is bright red. 

I gave up and started pricess waving out of the window... blood and all.  It was awesome.

[Esther_bunny]

Grandma's dog ate our color crayons

techicolor poop

My dog at some glitter once...she had disco poop.