{"id":577,"date":"2011-06-12T13:38:46","date_gmt":"2011-06-12T20:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/?page_id=577"},"modified":"2011-06-13T10:51:33","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T17:51:33","slug":"cat-virtual-dissection-muscles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/virtual-cat-dissection\/cat-virtual-dissection-muscles\/","title":{"rendered":"VCD – Muscles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The muscles of the cat are organized into major groups. \u00a0For the purpose of a basic anatomy class, only the easily visible superficial muscles will be looked at. \u00a0 Muscles are held together by connective tissue called fascia, which appears white in color on the specimens. \u00a0 The fascia also serves as a boundary marker between muscles.<\/p>\n

At this point, dissecting equipment is not really necessary. The goal is to massage and separate the muscles so that you can identify each one. \u00a0A probe or forces may be useful, but you definitely do not want to be cutting anything at this point.<\/p>\n

Starting with the chest, using a probe or just your fingers push the muscles around until the divisions become apparent. \u00a0There are four main muscles of the chest visible in the cat:<\/p>\n

Pectoantebrachialis<\/strong> – this muscle forms almost a straight line across the top of the chest.
\nPectoralis major <\/strong>– forms a triangle just under the pectoantebrachialis.
\nPectoralis minor<\/strong> – a secondary triangle just below the pectoralis major.
\nXiphihumeralis<\/strong> – extends from the armpit of the cat to the center of the chest where the xiphoid process of the sternum rests.<\/p>\n

In the photo below, the divisions have been marked for easier viewing.<\/p>\n

\"chest<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"pectoantebrachialis\"<\/p>\n

Next, lets focus on the muscles of the cat’s forearm. \u00a0The biceps brachii and the triceps brachii are the two main muscles of the forearm, but the fascia of the arm makes it difficult to distinguish where one stops and the other starts. \u00a0By using your fingers, you can gently pull apart the two muscles. \u00a0Also, the names of these muscles relate to the number of “heads” or attachment points. \u00a0Biceps have two attachment points, and the triceps have three attachment points, two of which are easy to identify by just separating the muscle. Shown below is the long head of the triceps and the lateral head of the triceps.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The biceps brachii are on the other side of the foream, and lie underneath the cat’s shoulder muscle, the clavobrachialis (in humans, we usually refer to this muscle as the deltoid, due to its triangular shape).<\/p>\n

\"shoulder<\/p>\n

Located at the neck of the cat is the \u00a0sternomastoid. \u00a0This name reflects \u00a0the associated attached bones for the muscle – sternum and mastoid process of the skull.<\/p>\n

\"sternomastoid\"<\/p>\n

The muscles of the lower forearm can be separated and observed. \u00a0 There are many of these flexors and exensors that operate the cat’s ankle and paws (claws). \u00a0For our purposes, we will not be identifying them individually.<\/p>\n

\"forearm\"<\/p>\n

More photos and images can be viewed by clicking on the Cat Muscle Gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Next section: \u00a0Muscles of the back and Legs<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The muscles of the cat are organized into major groups. \u00a0For the purpose of a basic anatomy class, only the easily visible superficial muscles will be looked at. \u00a0 Muscles are held together by connective tissue called fascia, which appears white in color on the specimens. \u00a0 The fascia also serves as a boundary marker between muscles. At this point, dissecting equipment is not really necessary. The goal is to massage and separate the muscles so that you can identify each one. \u00a0A probe or forces may be useful, but you definitely do not want to be cutting anything at <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":509,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-577","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605,"href":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/577\/revisions\/605"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/anatomycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}