wow - you convey the horrors of animal experimentation without being didactic or pounding the message too hard, and you prove that "less is more" - showing vs telling - you write well, and with attention to detail, and a surprise twist. Well done!
You bring to mind a book I read and love-hate-love (horrible to know it has a basis in truth!): Doctor Rat by William Kotzwinkle - "A bloodcurdling novel in the spirit of ANIMAL FARM and 1984, DOCTOR RAT is a trip through a laboratory worthy of a Nazi mad doctor, except this doctor is a wisecracking rodent who could have been played by Groucho Marx. The London Times called DOCTOR RAT, "a splendidly nutty animal Magnificat with echoes of William Blake."
--The New York Times