General practical exam

Question 1

3. External examination of the mammals’ carcass: procedure steps

Answer 1

1. Stage of development
2. State of nourishment
3. Rigor mortis and other PM changes
4. Skin and hair
5. Feet
6. Eyeballs
7. Body orifices

Question 2

4. Preparation of the mammal’s carcasses (small and large) for dissection

Answer 2

Position
• Stand on right side of the carcass. The dog has now its head in your left hand.
• Expose both hip-joints by cutting lig. teres major.
• After examining the outside of the carcass, split the subcutaneous tissue with a sharp knife. In the male, cut around the penis and reflect caudally to expose the linea alba.
• Strip the skin off. Begin from the perineum and up to the point of the chin. Reflect all the way to the vertebral column.
• Bend FL´s outwards by cutting pectorals.

Question 3

5. Internal examination of the mammals’ till opening the abdominal cavity

Answer 3

1. Subcutaneous connective tissue:
   - Fat; lot, medium, little
   - Discolourations, hemorrhages, edema, Hgb imhibition (homogenous discolouration), bubbles, parasites, proliferation, inflammation
   - Pharyngeal region (pharyngeal anthrax)
2. Blood: Quality; cutting of jugular vein and check colour, degree of clotting, covering ability and its lipemic state.
3. Lymph nodes: Lymph nodes; mandibular, supf. cervical, supf. inguinal and iliac (not in dogs) and popliteal. S/S/C/C (size, shape, colour and consistency), cut surface, structure and degree of attachment.
4. Skeletal muscles
   - Examined in different parts of the body
   - Colour, tearability, structure and fluid content.
5. Abdomen: State; tight, medium, tense or flaccid.

Question 4

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity: steps

Answer 4

1. Open the abd. cavity
2. Abdominal content
3. State of peritoneum
4. Position of the abdominal organs
5. Remove a part of the omentum (not pancreas!)
6. Remove stomach, intestines and liver together.
7. Check the bilary duct
8. Remove liver from stomach and intestines and examine
9. Stomach: cut from intestines and examine
10. Intestines: remove mesentery and cut open

Question 5

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity:

Opening abd. cavity, examination of the cavity

Answer 5

1. Open the abd. cavity (pierce under sternum, lift with two fingers, cut down along linea alba (except young animals with belly button), then along the sides)
2. Abdominal content
   -Free content:
   o Liquids: quantity, quality, colour, transparency, consistency and odour
   o Solids: Shape, size, colour, consistency, distribution and odor
   o If the intestinal content is spread evenly in the abdomen, the rupture happened before death. If it is placed on one side, the rupture occurred after death.
3. State of peritoneum: Intact peritoneum is smooth, shiny and transparent.
4. Position of the abdominal organs
   • Stomach and one part of liver is in epigastric region
   • Spleen is in left epigastric region
   • Loops of small intestines in right side
   • The cone shaped mass of large intestines in left side.

Question 6

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity:

carnivores

Answer 6

Esp. in Carnivores
- A lot of serous exudates can be found in the abdomen of the cats, due to FIP. (feline
infectious peritonitis)
- Check for stomach torsions; last part of esophagus is twisted and duodenum is fixed.
- Foreign bodies can frequently be found in the stomach or intestines.
- Liver is normally reddish-brown with sharp edges. Frequently swollen and discoloured,
with fatty infiltrations. (fatty liver)

Question 7

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity: spleen

Answer 7

1. Remove spleen: Start with the far end. Place on table with visceral surface down.
2. Examine:
   - Describe S/S/C/C and capsule.
   - Shape: Triangular. Edges are round.
   - Size: Small/large.
   - Colour: light red.
   - Consistency: Flaccid, usually rigid due to post mortal changes.
   - Capsule: Normal/wrinkled/tense.
   - Cut lengthways; check colour, moisture content, cut surface and pulp. The pulp should be scratched out with normal effort.

Question 8

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity: peritoneum

Answer 8

Intact peritoneum is smooth, shiny and transparent.

Question 9

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity: removal of organs except spleen

Answer 9

Remove stomach, intestines and liver together.

• Hold the mass from behind the liver and cut down along the diaphragm, then cut attachements from under.
  triangulare. Cut rectum and take out the organs.

Question 10

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity: gall bladder

Answer 10

1. Check the bilary duct: track the duct from the gallbladder to duodenum, cut open the duodenum where the papilla is, then sqeeze the gallbladder to see it´s content.
2. Examine gall bladder: Shape, fullness, colour, consistency, thickness of wall should be like a newspaper.

Question 11

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity: liver

Answer 11

1. Remove the liver from stomach and intestines.
2. Place the phrenic surface upwards.
3. Examine the liver:
   - S/S/C/C
   - structure, moisture content, friability (tearability).
   - Normally light brownish-red. Slightly gritty.
   - Cut surface – moist.
   - Hepatic lymph nodes.
   - Newborns; umbilical vein, going through the liver.

Question 12

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity:

stomach

Answer 12

1. Cut from intestines, but leave a small piece of duodenum.
2. Open the stomach: cut along the greater curvature, starting from the duodenum. Do not cut through the cardia.
3. After examination of the content, wash.
4. Examine:
   - Shape
   - Fullness; empty/medium/totally full
   - Quality, quantity, consistency and smell of the content
   - Any possible abnormal content - non-food objects and pseudoconcretion
   - Mucous membranes; colour, thickness, state of folds
   - Non-glandular part of the stomach – quadrangle shape, fine mucous membrane folds.
   - Fundus
   - Pyloric part – pyloric lymph nodes (S/S/C/C, easy to remove, moisture content, cut surface)

Question 13

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity: Pancreas

Answer 13

Normally: Fork-shaped, greyish-yellow, Interwoven with fat, Loose structure.

Question 14

6. Dissection and examination of the abdominal cavity: intestines

Answer 14

1. Strip of the mesentery and straighten out the loops.
2. Cut open the loops by starting from duodenum/colon.
3. Examine:
   - Intestinal content; colour, smell, consistency
   - Mesenteric lymph nodes
   - Mucous membranes

Question 15

7. Dissection and examination of the urogenital tract (males)

Answer 15

1. Testis
   o Shape, size and position
   o Normally found in scrotum, or the scar from castration should be seen
   o Hold the testis, and open the cavity of the scrotum:
   - Look for free content
   - Take them out, don’t cut the deferent duct.
   - Cut the lig. cauda epididymis.
   - Pull the deferent duct carefully towards you, cut through the ing. Ring, and pull the testis into the cavity.
2. Cutting the pelvis
   o Cut the muscles and soft tissue around the pelvic symphysis and the obturator foramen.
   o Cut through the foramen, parallel to the symphysis, at both sides.
   o Take out the loose part of the bone.
3. Anus: cut soft tissue around anus, and reflect.
4. Take out the urogenital tract from the abdomen.
   o By first cutting the ligaments of the urinary bladder, kidneys, ureters. Keep intact.
   o Place it all on the table.
5. Cutting of prepuce: cut the urethra from the external orifice, to the apex of the bladder.
6. Examine the mm of penis, look for exudates, smegma and tumours.
7. Bladder:
   o Q/Q of urine in bladder.
   o Look for haematuria and stones.
   o Cut along the curve and look at the mm inside the bladder.
8. Look at the muscle, orifice of the ureter, open up to renal pelvis.
9. Section: Testis, deferent duct, seminal vesicle. S/S/C/C and cut surface.
10. Prostate gland: Cut and check cut surface
11. Rectum: Cut and describe S/S/C/C and mm.

Question 16

7. Dissection and examination of the urogenital tract (females)

Answer 16

Examine:
• Labia, vulva:
o Look for enlargement, wounds, discharge, prolapse of vagina.
o Position of the uterus (torsion).
2. Pelvis = like in the male
3. Uterus and ovary: Cut loose the uterus, oviducts and ovaries.
4. Place the whole apparatus on the table. Separate the rectum and the vagina.
5. Vagina:
o Incise the vagina to the external uterine orifice
o Continue and open the cervix, to the horns and the tubes.
o Mm is normally yellowish white and shiny.
6. Uterus:
o Size, varies depending on its physiological state
o Esterus gives mm that are red and swollen, make sure to separate this from pathological finding.
7. Ovaries:
o Bisect, describe size and shape.
o Examine the follicles and corpus luteum
o Cyst can be found, both normal and pathological
8. Urinary bladder: Open by beginning wih the apex, cut ureters and kidneys.
9. Kidneys:
o Remove capsule (easy or not)
o Cut longitudinal, inspect the cortex and the medulla, cutsurface and the hilus.

Question 17

8. Dissection of the oral, cervical and thoracic organs in mammals

Answer 17

1. Before opening the thoracic cavity, examine the position and state of diaphragm. Normally concave and bright red.
2. Cut through the muscles of the upper third of the thorax and then cut the ribs.
3. Lift sternum up, remove attachment of diaphragm on left side and separate the pericardium from the sternum.
4. Examine:
   • The pleura and the position of the thoracic organs. Should be smooth, shiny and transparent.
   • Fluid in the cavity. Determine the amount and state.
5. Remove the thoracic organs with the tongue, esophagus and larynx:
   o Cut the muscles attaching and lifting the tongue by cutting along the inside of the mandible, up to the symphysis.
   o Pull the organs backwards, cut the muscular part, disarticulate the hyoid bone.
   o Dissect the thyroid and parathyroid glands. – located left on the trachea.
   o Make an incision btw the soft and the hard palate, strip it of together with the larynx and esophagus.
   o Take out the organs with the lungs and the heart.

Question 18

9. Dissection and examination of the oro-pharingeal cavity and esophagus

Answer 18

1. Dissect as described in previous topic, the thoracic cavity.
2. Strip back oral and cervical organs.
3. Tongue; S/S/C/C, normally greyish red, soft and flaccid.
   o Longitudinal section
4. Pharynx:
   o Cut soft palate in dorsal aspect
   o Examine the muscles, palatine tonsils, orifice of esophagus and larynx.
   o Palatoglosseal and palatopharyngeal arches
   o Mm; normally smooth, greyish-pink and moist.
5. Esophagus:
   o Look for stomach contents in the opening
   o Open with scissor
   o Follow the left arythenoid cartilage to the thoracic inlet. Mm, should be smooth, shiny, longitudinally folded.

Question 19

10. Dissection and examination of the respiratory tract in mammals

Answer 19

1. Larynx and trachea: After opening the esophagus into the thoracic cavity; examine:
   o Laryngeal vestibule, epiglottis, plica glossoepglottica
   o Muscles and vocal ligaments
   o Cut the larynx on the dorsal surface towards the trachea.
   o Normal trachea appears empty
   - Ca: make an incision, cut through the trachea to see if it is normal. (collapse or hyperplasia). Should be nice and round.
2. Peripharyngeal and cervical lymph nodes
3. Thyroid and parathyroid glands
   o Located dorsocranially on the trachea.
   o Normally dark brownish-red, granular and moist.
   o S/S/C/C and cut surface
4. Lungs: S/S/C/C/ and surface.
   - Normally, smooth, pale brick-red, soft spongy texture
   - Cut the lobes, check for air-bubbles, fluid content and cut-surface.
   - Plane pieces in water to see if they sink or float. (float)
   o Peribronchal and mediastinal ln
5. Bronchi:
   o Open with scissor, from trachea to parabronchi.
   o Look for blood, foreign bodies, wall/mm etc.

Question 20

11. Dissection and examination of the heart in mammals

Answer 20

Can be dissected still attached to the lungs or alone. If it is examined alone, as much as possible of the vena cavas, pulm. trunk and aorta should be left intact.
1. Pericardium:
o Examine transparency, fat infiltration etc.
o Lift up a fold and cut it. Through this opening, the content of the pericardium can be examined.
o Remove the pericardium from the heart, cut all adhesions.
2. Heart
o Shape: Cardiac dilation/hypertrophy
o Longitudinal measurements from the coronary groove to the apex and breadth following the coronary groove.
o External membrane: smooth, skinny and transparent. Normal with haemorrhages
3. Opening of the heart
a) Hold it in your left hand, with left ventricle to the left, auricles down.
b) Make two deep incisions in both ventricles, on each side of the septum. From coronary groove to apex. Remove the clotted blood.
c) Turn the heart.
Right side:
- Cut the right ventricle, enter the pulm trunk and cut it.
-Examine semilunar valves, thickness, intact edges.
- Cusps; of the right atrioventricular valve
- Cut coronary groove
- Right atrium, btw cran&caud VC. Cut their trunks. Inspect; tricuspid valve (membranes and intact), papp.mucles, cordae tendinae and the cavity.
o Left side:
- Continue the incision and cut through the apex.
- Put the scissor underneath the bicuspid valve and look for the aorta. Cut and open. Examine the aortic valves.
- Left atrium, cut through the left ventricle.
- Left atrioventricular valve (muscles, tendinae, intact, liftable)
- Endocardium – smooth shiny and transparent.
- For. Ovale – in the interventricular septum.
- Heart muscle
- Make incisions, cut surface is brown-red with moist appearance.
- Scars, colour, structure, strength.
- Try to tear the tissue, should be hard to tear.
- Volume of the chambers.

Question 21

12. Dissection and examination of the skull and brain: dissection

Answer 21

1. Cut of the head by cutting btw the occipital bone and the atlas.
2. Skin the head all the way to the nose.
3. Strip the muscles from the occipital and temporal bones. (calvaria)
4. Remove the eyeballs
5. Saw transversely and deep into the calvaria, 1,5 ca above the eye sockets, from one eye to the other.
6. Connect the front-cut with two lateral ones, from the eye to the for. Magnum. (triangular)
7. Remove the calvaria with a chisel.

Question 22

12. Dissection and examination of the skull and brain

examination

Answer 22

1. Calvaria:
   o Size and shape, thickness and structure of the bone.
   o Dura mater, If it remains on the brain, take it off. Examine the state.
   o Periosteum: Should adhere tight to the bone.
2. Brain:
   Take it out:
   a) Either at the olfactory bulb, with nose pointed upwards
   b) Or from the direction of medulla oblongata, head is placed on incisors.
   o Examine if there is any exudates or adhesions btw the arachnoid and the dura mater.
3. Cranial nerves: Cut them so as much as possible remains on the brain.
4. Pineal gland: Usually remains in the skull, take it out.
5. Brain continues:
   o Examine the height of the gyri and depth of the sulci
   o Leptomeninges (arachnoid and pia mater): should be intact, transparent and shiny with vessels of medium size.
6. Morphological changes:
   o Ventricles: pull the hemispheres apart, make a 2 cm long incision in the midpoint of the longitudinal groove above the corpus callosum. Check the fluid content, Q/Q.
   o Brain mantle: Continule the cut, upwards at 45 degrees.
   o Ependyma: The lining of the ventricles is normally greyish white, smooth and shiny.
   o Right ventricle: Turn the head, expose the R.ventricle, compare size.
   - Lift corpus callosum, push the knife from the left ventricle to the foramen Manroi and cut the
   arches.
   -Bisect the corpora quadrigemina, then the cerebellum as far up as the pons Varoli and medulla oblongata. The fourth ventricle is opened, as well as the mesencephalic aquaduct. (connection btw 3rd and 4th ventricle.
   -Cut the cerebellum, cerebrum, pons and medulla into slices and look for hemorrhages and malacic focus.

Question 23

12. Dissection and examination of the skull and brain: differences between species

Answer 23

-Dog/cat/pig as previously described
- Rabbit: Have to halve the skull.
1. Place the head on the table on its mandible, halve the skull with a knife and a hammer, making a
1-2 mm cut into one of the sides of the medial line.
2. One half of the skull will now contain the nasal septum. Look for discharge, foreign particles etc.

Question 24

13. Dissection and examination of the nasal cavity in mammals

Answer 24

1. Useful to separate the head from the body, at the atlanto-occipital joint.
2. Saw the bones of the hard palate and the splanchnocranium. (At the height of the pre-molars)
3. Nasal choanae; size, mm, colour, with of cavity, foreign bodies, blood. Whether they have the same width or are asymmetric.
4. Saw one passage parallel with the nasal septum, so the septa and the choanaes can be examined.
5. Cut septum with knife, and investigate the nasal chambers.

Question 25

14. Dissection and examination of the ear and the eyeballs in mammals: ear in pigs/carnivores

Answer 25

1. External ear: Examine cartilage, mm, skin etc.
2. Cut of cartilage and look inside. Smelly sebaceous discharge may be present. Dark brown, black colour. Look for puss, wax and parasites.
3. Middle and internal ear: You need a knife or a chisel. Enter the tympanic cavity.

Question 26

14. Dissection and examination of the ear and the eyeballs in mammals: ear in rabbit

Answer 26

-Middle ear: Take out the brain and expose the internal, middle ear, and the tympanic cavity with a hammer
and knife.
-External ear: Cut the ear off, examine the external ear, its cavity, look for sebaceous, discharge etc.

Question 27

14. Dissection and examination of the ear and the eyeballs in mammals: eyeballs

Answer 27

• Remove the eyeball with a pair of scissors.
• Determine the volume with a measuring cylinder containing water.
• Weigh them
• Examine the tension; medium, very tense or soft.
• Transparency of cornea, normally convex, shiny and transparent.
• Cut right behind the iris, transversally, with a sharp knife.
• Inject formaldehyde into the optic nerve and the white tissue, then place the eyeball into
  formaldehyde solution.

Question 28

15. Dissection and examination of the locomotor system in mammals: skeletal system

Answer 28

1. Strip the muscles of the bones you want to examine.
   - Periosteum: Examine the outer surface of the bones.
2. The long bones are then sawn longitudinally.
3. Bone marrow; examine the compact and spongy parts.
   - Intact bone marrow is pale yellowish white (white bone marrow) and red (red bone marrow).
4. Epiphysis of femur; normal end-plate is greyish white, half a mm thick and its boundary is sharp.
5. Subchondral tissue and its layers.

Question 29

15. Dissection and examination of the locomotor system in mammals: joints, tendons and bursae

Answer 29

1. First investigate the joints from the outside. Inspect and palpate. Compare it to another, if only a single joint is changed.
2. Try to bend the joint, if there is no RM, to investigate the movement.
3. If the joint is swollen, palpate carefully, describe if it is tense, soft, gritty etc.
4. Open the joint capsule, and describe the fluid inside.
   The Q/Q, viscosity, transparency, consistency. In a healthy joint, a small amount of fluid comes out, to make the surfaces slippery. The layer is greyish-white with fine villi.
5. Tendons; position, strength, tension, feel and structure of their cut surface.

Question 30

16. Dissection and examination of the vertebral canal and spinal cord in mammals

Answer 30

1. Remove all the organs from the abdominal and thoracic cavity, cut the ribs close to the spinal column.
2. Lay the carcass flat on its ventral surface.
3. Strip the muscles on the dorsal surface, “clean” and expose the spinal processes and the vertebral arches.
4. Use a chisel and a hammer to remove the upper arch of the last lumbar vertebra, and as far up as needed. The cord is now exposed.
5. Cut the nerves that branches out in the for. vertebrale, take the spinal cord out of the column.
6. Examine the bony base of the vertebral column. (narrowings or outbulgings)
7. Split the dura mater and examine the Q/Q of the subdural fluid.

Question 31

17. Examination of endocrine organs

Answer 31

-Pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, pancreas, adrenal and gonads (testis and ovaries).
-Thyroid gland: shape, size, CS dark brown, CS: gently granular, shiny
- Pancreas: shape, size, colour, lobules, consistency, CS: colour, moist content, sus: fork-shaped, greyishyellow, infiltrated well with fat, loose structure
-Adrenal gland: shape, size, colour, consistency, CS: colour, structure normal shape and size, CS structure well
recognizable, cortex and medulla well separated.
-Testis: normal shape and size, tight elastic, smooth and shiny surface, CS: bulging, gently uneven, shiny, structure recognizable
-Ovaries: shape, size, follicules, corpora lutea

Question 32

3. External examination of the mammals’ carcass: development and nourishment

Answer 32

1. Stage of development
   - Related to age and breed
   - Well-/medium-/under - developed
2. State of nourishment
   - Depends on the quantity of the subcut. CT.
   - Overfed/medium/underfed

Question 33

3. External examination of the mammals’ carcass: Rigor mortis and other PM changes

Answer 33

Rigor mortis:

• Check the jaw, FLs/HLs
• Begins rost., resolution in the same order.
• Starts 2-4h after death.
• Generalized: 5-8h after.
• Resolution: 24-48h after.

Question 34

3. External examination of the mammals’ carcass: Skin and hair

Answer 34

Wounds, scaly crusts, alopecia, hyperkeratosis, thickenings, beaks, lesions, ulcers, discolourations, necrotic areas, eruptions, outbulgings and markings.

• Shape, extent, quality
• Hair: smooth/shiny/matt/alopecia (baldness)
• Ectoparasites

Question 35

3. External examination of the mammals’ carcass: feet

Answer 35

Wounds, breaks, ulcerations, discolourations, necrotic areas, outbuldings.
Developmental disorders, missing digits.
Vesicles in the skin.

Question 36

3. External examination of the mammals’ carcass: Eyeballs

Answer 36

• Ppalpebra and palpebral fissure.
• Closing/opening.
• Conjuctiva; normally pale, rose-red, finely wrinkled and smooth.
• Position of the eye (sunken or standing out).
• Cornea; normally convex, smooth and transparent.
• Sclera; normally white.
• Shape and size of pupil.
• Colour of iris.

Question 37

3. External examination of the mammals’ carcass: Body orifices

Answer 37

• Mouth: Mucous membranes; normally pale, greyish-red, smooth and shiny. Teeth.
• Nostrils: colour, smoothness, discharge
• Ears: Smell, discharge, crusts.
• Rectal region: position; inwards/outwards. Content; empty/filled. Anus; faecal substance. Penetrability in newborns.
• External genital organs: Development and intact.
• Male: opening of prepuce and its muscles. Pull back skin of prepuce, look for inflammation, haemorrhages, adhesions.
• Female: vulva; colour, swelling, discharge, tumor. Mucous membranes; pull lips apart, examine the quality of the mm.
• Navel: Important in newborns. Should be closed.

Question 38

2. Identification of a carcass

Answer 38

1. Check time of death: PM changes - RM
2. Identify the corpus:
   - Gender
   - Age
   - ID nr/artificial ID
   - Species
   - Breed
   - Body weight
   - Colour
   - Pores in fur

Question 39

It is forbidden to skin the animal if it died from…?

Answer 39

Anthrax, CBP, glanders, foot and mouth disease, African swine fever or rabies.