Anatomy of the Cat

Although the cat has long been in common use for the practical study of mammalian anatomy, a clear, correct, not too voluminous account of its structure, such as should be in the hands of students in the laboratory, has remained a desideratum. A number of works have been published on the cat, some of them of much value, yet there is none which fulfils exactly the conditions mentioned. The skeleton of the cat consists of 230 to 247 bones exclusive of the sesamoid bones (44) and the chevron bones (8). These are divided as follows: head 35-40, vertebral column 52-53, ribs 26, sternum 1-8, pelvis 2-8, upper extremities 62, lower extremities 54-56. The number of bones varies with the age of the individual, being fewer in the old than in the young animal, owing to the fact that in an old animal some bones that were originally separate have united.  The book is limited to a description of the normal anatomy of the cat. The direct linear action of each muscle taken alone has been given in the description of muscles; other matters belonging to the realm of physiology, as well as all histological matter, have been excluded. It was felt that the monumental work of Jayne on the anatomy of the cat, now in course of publication, forms the best repository for a description of variations and abnormalities, so that these have been mentioned in the present volume only when they are so frequent as to be of much practical importance.