📝 STANDARD DESCRIPTION:
Palpable Bony Prominences (Ox):
• Withers — dorsal scapular cartilages.
• Tuber coxae (Hook bone) — body condition score.
• Tuber sacrale — top of croup.
• Tuber ischiadicum (Pin bone).
• Olecranon — point of elbow.
• Calcaneus — point of hock.
• Spinous processes of lumbar vertebrae.
• Mandible, zygomatic arch, frontal bone, horn cores.
Palpable Lymph Nodes:
• Parotid — caudal to mandible.
• Mandibular — under jaw.
• Retropharyngeal — deep, behind pharynx (palpable internally).
• Superficial cervical (Prescapular) — cranial to shoulder.
• Subiliac (Prefemoral) — fold of flank (cranial to thigh).
• Supramammary (Mammary) — dorsocaudal udder.
• Popliteal — caudal to stifle.
Palpable Arteries:
• Facial artery — over mandibular notch (horse, pulse).
• Common carotid — jugular furrow (large animals).
• Femoral artery — medial thigh (dog, cat — pulse).
• Median (caudal) coccygeal artery — ventral tail base (cattle pulse).
📚 DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
PALPATION LANDMARKS — THE LIVE-ANIMAL EXAM
Veterinary clinical examination begins with palpation of the standing animal. The student must locate each of the following without hesitation:
I. PALPABLE BONY POINTS (Ox):
Head: Frontal bones, horn cores, supraorbital process, zygomatic arch, mandible body & ramus, mandibular angle, mental foramen.
Neck: Wing of atlas (1st cervical vertebra) — sticks out laterally just behind ear.
Trunk: Spinous processes of T1-T5 = withers; spinous processes of lumbar vertebrae; tips of lumbar transverse processes (1-2 fingers below the loin); tuber sacrale (highest point of croup); tuber coxae (hook); tuber ischiadicum (pin); base of tail.
Forelimb: Spine of scapula, acromion (in ox), greater tubercle of humerus (= 'point of shoulder'), lateral epicondyle, olecranon (= point of elbow), styloid process of radius/ulna, accessory carpal bone, metacarpal cannon, fetlock, pastern, coronary band.
Hindlimb: Greater trochanter of femur, patella + medial trochlear ridge, tibial tuberosity, tip of fibula (head, in cattle), medial malleolus, calcaneus (= point of hock), metatarsus, fetlock.
II. PALPABLE LYMPH NODES (key clinical exam):
• Parotid LN — at caudal border of ramus of mandible.
• Mandibular LN — at angle of jaw.
• Retropharyngeal LN — deep; palpate per oral or per nasal in big animals.
• Superficial Cervical (Prescapular) LN — on cranial border of supraspinatus.
• Subiliac (Prefemoral) LN — on cranial border of tensor fasciae latae, just cranial to stifle.
• Popliteal LN — between biceps femoris + semitendinosus, behind stifle.
• Supramammary (Mammary) LN — dorsocaudal to udder, in fat.
• Inguinal/Scrotal LN — male.
Bovine Lymphosarcoma (BLV): Persistent enlargement of these LNs is the cardinal sign.
III. PALPABLE ARTERIES (Pulse Sites):
• Cattle: Median coccygeal artery on the ventral midline of the tail at Cy3-Cy4 — easiest pulse to feel; also used for tail blood collection.
• Horse: Facial artery as it crosses the ventral border of the mandible at the mandibular notch — classic equine pulse site.
• Dog/Cat: Femoral artery in the medial thigh, just behind & below the inguinal area — standard pulse during anaesthesia.
• Other accessible: median artery (medial elbow), great auricular (behind ear), digital arteries (fetlock palmar/plantar — feel for laminitis-bounding pulse).
// COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
| OX |
Coccygeal pulse + jugular venepuncture = standard. |
| HORSE |
Facial artery pulse + jugular vein. Digital pulse at fetlock — increased = laminitis. |
| DOG |
Femoral pulse + cephalic vein — primary clinical sites. |
CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Daily clinical exam = 'TPR' (Temperature, Pulse, Respiration) + LN palpation + body condition score using palpable bony points.
