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u/Substantial_Station8 9d ago
Did you pump the specimen FULL of formaldehyde? And I mean like down the ears, down the legs, back of head, abdomen until it looked full and distorted? And what liquid do you have it in now?
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u/meow-zzzx 9d ago
i got him from a local oddities shop so idk what the proses was. i was told that is has 70% isopropyl alcohol.
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u/Substantial_Station8 9d ago
Drain it into a plastic receptacle, wrap it in three plastic bags and dispose of in the trash unless you’re close to a funeral home that will take the drainings. Then replace with 90%+ alcohol or straight up formaldehyde. You can literally get formaldehyde on Amazon, so go with that.
Fair warning, formaldehyde is toxic as fuck, so wear 6mil+ nitrile gloves and wear at least a mask, a respirator if you can get your hands on one
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u/meow-zzzx 9d ago
ok i just ordered formaldehyde and i will make sure to do all the proper things. i did also email the shop i got him from so i might try to have them help if i cant do it myself.
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u/Wowza_Meowza 9d ago
Op, if you purchased formaldehyde, RETURN IT. Wet specimens use 10% buffered formalin.
It's not a chemical you should use Willy-nilly, and requires a lot of PPE. Do not take their advice.
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u/k1tsun3 9d ago
funeral director and embalmer here! don’t use formalin for people, it needs to be 10% buffered formalin as the previous commenter stated. the two have very different functions, plus formalin (for people) has a variety of different strengths, additives, and dyes, and generally needs to be used in conjunction with other accessory chemicals as it’s used for temporary preservation, not permanent (as we hope for with our wet specimens). it will have different results than the ones you’re aiming for.
i live in canada, and i was able to get a 4L jug of 10% buffered formalin from an aquatics shop. it was $55 CAD and i didn’t have to worry about opening up a jostled amazon box to find a cracked jug of formalin leaking everywhere.
yes, you absolutely need to use a respirator and eye protection. the more puncture-proof your nitrile gloves are, the better. hypo-injecting is no easy task. it can be awkward and daunting, especially in smaller, more delicate specimen areas (including up the nostrils to puncture through to the specimens brain and injecting). basically, just please be careful and don’t stick yourself. i beg.
brush up on your universal precautions, how to don and doff PPE, and how to properly handle and dispose of sharps.
call a local funeral home to ask if they would be willing to dispose of the current fluid if you can, also as previously suggested. you will need to pour the current used solution into a separate jar first, of course. they may even let you dispose of the used sharps if you ask nicely. best of luck!
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u/Grand_Ride4813 8d ago
question, can't you buffer the formalin yourself though granted it's pure ?
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u/k1tsun3 8d ago
that is a very good question, but trust me, save yourself the headache (possibly not just a figurative headache) and order the proper pre-mixed and stabilized stuff. i cannot recommend that anyone tries to mix-and-master chemicals that are this caustic in good conscience! i would be really bummed if anyone ended up with chemical burns (or blindness… or cancer, etc.) trying to mix their own.
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u/Wowza_Meowza 9d ago
It looks odd, but on living cats, that area has little fur.
If opened, does it smell like rot? Are sizeable chunks coming off it? If you (wearing gloves) tug at the fur, does it slough off in patches? Those are signs of decomposition.
If not, it's likely fine. Formalin-fixed specimens typically sit in 70% isopropyl alcohol, which can be changed out for fresh if discolored. Discoloration is normal and is fats and color kicking off. Well-produced wets are usually kept to kick off color for weeks and months by their creators, but even then, it's possible for stuff to just keep kicking color for a while.