CHAPTER VI 



Making a Post Mortem Examination 



Even on the best-managed stock farms some 

 animals do get sick and die. Good care and good 

 nursing may be given, but the sick animal fre- 

 quently does not recover — death often follows very 

 quickly, before you have an opportunity to observe 

 the development of the disease or to secure the 

 services of a veterinarian. Then, again, after a 

 lingering sickness an animal dies, the disease being 

 known or unknown as the case may be. 



In any event, a post-mortem examination is 

 usually desirable, if for no other reason than that it 

 serves to familiarize you with the organs of the 

 body. With a little experience you can become 

 quite proficient in examining a dead animal, and 

 you can soon learn the difference between healthy 

 and unhealthy organs, between diseased and 

 normal tissues and the relation of the internal parts 

 to the whole body. A post-mortem examination 

 thus enables you to know the cause of the disease — 

 where it is located or whether death is the result 

 of accident or of some fatal disturbance of the 

 system. 



This examination should be made as soon after 

 death as possible ; the longer the delay the greater 

 the changes due to decomposition of the body and 

 its decay back to the original elements from which it 

 has come. Soon after death the stiffening process 

 takes place. This is known as rigor mortis. It 

 may occur within an hour after death and again it 

 may not be complete until twenty-five or thirty 



