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 hours have passed. Soon after the death stiffening has occurred the tissues soften and decomposition rapidly follows.
FIRST THINGS TO DO
In making a post-mortem examination, in case the animal has not been moved, the position of the body is to be observed. Look all about you. Is there any evidence of a struggle? Does either the body or the ground appear as if spasms have taken place? It may be a case of poisoning. If such be true, the outward appearance may be further substantiated by the internal condition. If inflammation and irritation of the stomach and bowels are observed, this evidence helps to confirm the first observation.
RICKETS IN PIGS
Rickets in pigs is due, as in man and other animals, to an improper development of the bone, the result of insufficient mineral matter in the food. The bones are weak and bend or break. It frequently appears after the pigs are weaned. An abundant supply of wood ashes, charcoal, lime and salt is always good for hogs.
The appearance of the struggle, however, is not enough to establish a case of poisoning; for struggling is a death characteristic of many diseases. Of course, in making this preliminary examination you will note if death could have been the result of some other reason. Has some obstruction had anything to do with the trouble? Maybe the animal has been caught in some way and not being able to move about has starved to death, or maybe some over-exertion has had something to do with the trouble.
Many animals choke, and, not being able to relieve themselves, die. Thousands of farm animals, especially in the West and Southwest, die annually from cold, and not a few from heat. All these things enter into the case and must be considered in reaching a reasonable conclusion.