>but in regards to the necropsy...i can not say what he had going on at
>that time...he had to be elsewhere when Char was put to sleep, so he did
>not even get to the autopsy till the next day..and i have no idea what
>else he had on his plate that day...it may have been a case of bad
>timing...i don't know how soon a necropsy needs to be performed to be
>useful...
>
> kat
 
Dear Kat -
 
Bad timing hits us all at one time or another.  For some reason, ferrets
always seem to go to the Rainbow Bridge on a Saturday - they must have
great parties up there on the weekends.
 
Regarding timing of autopsies - different tissues decompose at different
rates.  The gallbladder, which is filled with bile, a digestive juice,
tends to go the fastest - but that's okay, because there generally isn't
a lot of disease there.  Now the intestine goes bad pretty quickly, with
the digestive juices and a live-in bacterial flora there.  This can be a
problem, because after about 6 hours, you start to lose valuable diagnostic
info.  I generally say in cases of ECE, if you haven't posted in 12 hours,
don't bother.  The lining of the intestine at that point is pretty much
gone.
 
The rest f the organs go at various rates, but most are still in diagnostic
condition at 24 hours or even longer.
 
Now, here is the key - refrigeration slows down the process of
decomposition - so until an autopsy is performed, the body should be put
in the fridge.  When the tissues are put in formalin, all degenerative
processes are immediately frozen, proteins are cross-linked, and the tissue
is "fixed."
 
Most important point - NEVER PUT TISSUES IN THE FREEZER!  This renders them
undiagnoseable by the pathologist.  When frozen, all of the water in cells
becomes ice crystals.  When the crystals form, the cell membranes are
disrupted and they are pulled all out of shape - they literally become
unreadable under the scope.  I can't tell you haw many times I have had to
report back to owners desperate for answers that the vet or tech had frozen
the tissues and there was literally nothing I could do with them.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams
[Posted in FML issue 3200]