Cat Sacral Vertebrae

Freak accident puts things into perspective for jockey Clinton Potts

BY LLOYD REIGEL
FOR THE PATRIOT-NEWS

On one hand, Penn National jockey Clinton Potts says he is happy to be alive. On the other, he’s had to endure the most painful two months of his life.

And that’s saying something. During a 21-year race riding career that saw him win more than 3,000 races, Potts suffered 17 broken bones, including three fractured vertebrae in his neck that he got in 2005 at Delaware Park.

He has a metal plate in his right arm and has survived two near-death experiences.

Add to that total six more broken bones and a third near-death experience, this time coming after a freak accident at his home.

What’s more, Potts ended up risking his life to save a domestic cat that was stranded up a tree.

“It all started Easter Sunday,” said Potts. “[Jockey] Chris Baker came by for a cookout. Somebody dropped off a cat here that we were going to take to the vet and hoping they would be able to find it a home.

“It was an indoor cat who wasn’t used to being outdoors. He climbed up into the tree and spent the whole afternoon up there. He wouldn’t come down.”

Potts said just before bedtime, he took his American bulldog, Boone, out for a walk.

“I looked up and he was still up there,” he said. “He was cold and wet. It had rained that day. I tried everything I knew to get him to come down. I was afraid he was going to get hypothermia outside all night.”

Potts climbed on the swing next to the tree and went up after the cat. Just as he got close to him, he’s not sure what happened, but thinks he slipped on some wet moss and fell.

The fall from approximately 20 feet knocked him out. The next thing he knew, Boone was licking his face, which woke him up.

“I couldn’t move. I was in shock,” he said. “But I had my cell phone in my back pocket. So I called into the house to have my girlfriend, Clare, come out and get me.”

After taking a brief inventory, the two chose not to wait for a 911 call and paramedics. They took off to Hershey Medical Center in Potts’ car.

“I was in a lot of pain and sweating profusely,” he said. “Clare kept yelling at me to keep me awake. I kept wanting to fall asleep. She was afraid I had a head injury.

Cat Skeleton | Cat Anatomy | 123catworld.com

Skeleton and muscles form the important anatomical structures in cat’s body. The cat owners should know the basic anatomical facts on these structures. Nuchal crest is well developed in cats, unlike man and similarly, at the point of symphysis; the mandibular structures are easily separable.

Thirty five to forty separate skull bones are present in cats. The skeleton and muscles comprise the main body regions in cat anatomy.

Cats have seven cervical vertebrae like almost all mammals, thirteen thoracic vertebrae (humans have twelve), seven lumbar vertebrae (humans have five), three sacral vertebrae (humans have five because of their bipedal posture), and, except for Manx cats, twenty-two or twenty-three caudal vertebrae (humans have three to five, fused into an internal coccyx). The extra lumbar and thoracic vertebrae account for the cat's enhanced spinal mobility and flexibility, compared to humans. The caudal vertebrae form the tail, used by the cat as a counterbalance to the body during quick movements. Cats also have free-floating clavicle bones, which allows them to pass their body through any space into which they can fit their heads.

Cats have a loosely jointed wrist (carpus) which can rotate inward (supinate). This comes in handy when swatting at prey or scampering up a tree. There are two major bone types: compact bone and spongy bone. Compact bone is sturdy but slow growing; spongy bone grows more quickly. Bone marrow comes in two main varieties: red marrow lies in the end of the bone and produces blood cells; yellow marrow resides in the center of the bone and stores fat.

The bones in the feline back (thoracic and lumbar vertebrae) have slightly looser joints than those of many other animals, which enables cats to twist around completely while falling...and land with all four feet on the ground.

Cats, on average, have 244 bones (about 40 more than we do). Many of the extras are in the cat's tail which has 19-28 vertebrae while our tailbone only has 4. The number of tail bones (caudal vertebrae) varies from cat to cat. The tailless Manx has fewer than 5. The cat also has 3 more vertebrae in its back than we do. That's why your cat is so good at stretching, twisting and curling into impossible positions and small spaces.

Cats are fortunate that their bones rarely suffer from congenital malformations or disease and they seldom break a bone except when they are hit by a car.

 

This page gives you information about cats bones, skeleton, parts, names and anatomy.

Anatomy of the cat

At the caudal margin of the ventral surface there is a notch between the lateral mass and the centrum (g). When the caudal vertebrae are articulated, ...

Transactions, Zoology

The sacral vertebrae in Birds may be defined, then, as " vertebrce ... Yet no one would dream of calling the last lumbar vertebra of the Cat " sacral " on ...

Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology

The sacral vertebrae in Birds may be defined, then, as " vertebra having one of ... would dream of calling the last lumbar vertebra of the Cat " sacral " on ...

A study of the cat, with reference to man

The cat has traces of such bones on the first several caudal vertebrae, but they are usually lost in a mounted skeleton. However, the points of articulation ...

The cat, an introduction to the study of backboned animals, especially mammals

The last part of the cat's spine is formed by the caudal vertebrae (see Fig. 23) , usually about eighteen or nineteen in number, but sometimes as many as ...

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