Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook

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Chapter 15: Veterinary Medicine

Vet Medicine Procedure: Antemortem Exam

MAJ Joseph Williamson, VC, USA

When: Antemortem exam is the inspection of a live animal prior to slaughtering it for food purposes. Accept
only those animals that are healthy, free of harmful diseases and chemicals and capable of being converted
into wholesome products for consumption. This screening process only removes obviously diseased animals.
A postmortem exam should be conducted prior to consuming any tissue or organ system (see section on
Postmortem Exam).

What You Need: Gloves and a stethoscope

What To Do: Observe the animal at rest and in motion. You may see lameness, pain, neuromuscular
deficits and/or systemic disease states in a moving animal that are not apparent in an animal at rest. Look for
abnormal conditions such as continuous scratching/rubbing, emaciation or depression.

Examination Specics:
Lameness: Reject if limbs are deformed or have gross swelling around joints. Do not use a limb if it is
damaged or broken. You may consume the rest of the carcass if it is normal.
Emaciation: Reject animal if in poor state of nutrition, as evidenced by extreme thinness.

Organ Systems Analysis:
Respiratory: Reject if animal has difficulty breathing, severe coughing or excessive muco-purulent
discharges.
Digestive: Reject if animal fails to eat, drink or defecate.
Urinary: Reject if posture is abnormal when urinating, if animal strains to urinate or if urine has an unnatural
color (hematuria).
Reproductive: Reject animals with foul discharges from vulva, mammaries or prepuce; or with retained
placentas/fetal membranes.
CNS: Reject all animals that show depression or disinterest in environment, are “downer” animals (prefer
to stay down on the ground), that will not respond to stimuli, have abnormal gaits or movements, or are
hypersensitive to normal stimuli.
Mucous Membranes: Reject if mucous membranes are pale, “muddy” or yellow-colored.
Skin and Hair coat: Reject if skin is yellow-colored or has diffuse discolorations (red or black) or lesions.
Consider rejecting animals that have obvious hair loss indicative of systemic disease.

What Not To Do:

1. Do not accept animal if diffuse lesions are found. If lesions are localized they may be trimmed and the
   carcass retained for consumption.


2. Do not consume an animal from an unknown source unless the carcass passes the antemortem and
   postmortem examinations and is cleared for consumption.

Vet Medicine Procedure:

Humane Slaughter and Field Dressing

MAJ Joseph Williamson, VC, USA

When: It may become necessary to capture, dress, and slaughter game in order to eat and continue
the mission. The following guide is one of many ways to humanely slaughter and dress animals in a field
environment. Perform an antemortem exam prior to slaughtering the animal, and a post mortem exam after.
See Food Preservation section to process meat that is not immediately consumed.