VMD 511: Animal Welfare, Ethics and Jurisprudence (2+0)

PROCEDURE FOR PM EXAMINATION

External examination

• Note the general condition of the carcass.
• Note the species age, bread and sex of the animal.
• Examine the body surface for injuries, burns, swellings etc.
• Look for the discharge form the natural orifices.
• Examine the visible mucous membranes.
• Examine the external genitalia.
• All bone for fracture and joint dislocation.

Internal Examination

• Necropsy procedure: Equine
• Place the horse on the right side down.
• Make an incision through skin in the ventral medicine line form chin to anus dorsolaterally around the mammary glands or penis.
• Skin of the left side of neck, thorax and abdomen is reflected.
• Left fore and hind limbs are severed by cutting all muscles and attachments
• Finish skinning thorax and abdomen to the top of the spinous process of the vertebrae
• Incise midline form xiphoid to pubis and pubis to lumbar region through abdominal wall.
• Pull upward and forward the large flab of abdominal wall and cut diaphragm dorso-ventrally close to its attachments
• Abdominal viscera are removed in the following order.
  • Great colon and caecum.
  • Left kidney
  • Left adrenal
  • The small colon
  • The small intestines
  • Liver
  • Right kidney
  • Right adrenal
  • The stomach
• Thoracic cavity – by cutting ribs along their ventral ends form thoracic inlet to last rib.
• Remove the thoracic organs by cutting oesophagus, trachea and other attachments lift the heart and lungs out.
• Cut the symphysis of pubis. Examine - genital organs, rectum and urinary bladder.