Why should I perform a necropsy?

Sometimes you may know why an animal has died, for example, there may be evidence of severe trauma. In other cases the clinical signs of a disease may indicate what happened to the animal. Most times, however, the nature and extent of the disease process may be unknown, or the symptoms could have been caused by one of several different diseases. In these cases it may be of great benefit to examine the animal more closely.

Reasons to necropsy an animal:

• Identification of disease.
  
• Indicate appropriate treatment of disease in a herd.
  
• Limit future losses.
  
• Improve understanding of disease effects on your animals.
  
• Enhance discussion of health maintenance programs with animal health specialists.
  

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