Acknowledgements

This NCSU CVM Pressbooks Anatomy Lab Dissection Guide is the culmination of the work of many contributors.  The book authors wish to acknowledge the sources of much of the text provided in this digital manual, and two mentors who, over their decades of service, have had a tremendous impact on the Veterinary Anatomy program at NCSU.

Canine content has been primarily adapted from the Guide to the Dissection of the Dog, Evans and de Lahunta.  We call this book “Little Miller’s” as it is a dissection manual that complements the very thick volume Miller and Evans’ Anatomy of the Dog.  For many years the print copy of Little Miller’s was the small animal course dissection guide (with modifications and cat inclusions) before we transitioned to creating a digital guide for our own in-house use that best accommodated our course needs. We brought much of Little Miller’s content into that first edition of the in-house guide and still today, now using Pressbooks, most of the text and canine diagrams in this current guide come from Little Miller’s.

Feline content is mostly sourced from contributions made by Dr. Lola Hudson over the years and indeed directly adapted from the Atlas of Feline Anatomy for Veterinarians, coauthored by Dr. Hudson and William Hamilton.  Dr. Hudson is Professor Emerita of Anatomy at NCSU, after a career spanning in excess of 30 years.  Dr. Hudson has instructed, trained, and mentored, not only thousands of veterinary and research graduate students, but also numerous junior teaching colleagues joining the anatomy group at NCSU.  Dr. Hudson’s anatomy intellect is vast, and her passion for learning and teaching and continually exploring better ways to help students understand anatomy is inspiring to those around her.

For the large animal comparative anatomy content, dissection notes have been developed by primarily editing the work of A Guided Tour of Veterinary Anatomy, 2010 edition, James E. Smallwood.  Dr. Smallwood is also Professor Emeritus of Anatomy at NCSU, after a career spanning well beyond 30 years, and his textbook formed the foundation of large animal veterinary comparative anatomy for many years, here, and at additional colleges of veterinary medicine. Dr. Smallwood’s textbook is known for its valuable anecdotes and ‘Smallwood’s humor’.  Dr. Smallwood’s knowledge of comparative anatomy is enormous, and he taught with passion and genuine interest in the success of the thousands of veterinary students who passed through the anatomy lab.

Both Dr. Hudson and Dr. Smallwood are talented illustrators and developed the ability to distill the complex into the readily understandable – skills that many of us following in their footsteps would like to emulate.

Independent of this Pressbooks laboratory manual, any student contemplating a career in mixed small animal/feline only practice or large animal veterinary medicine will be well served by having their own copy of Hudson’s feline anatomy text or Smallwood’s large animal comparative anatomy text, respectively, on their office book shelf.  Smallwood’s text (and his Avian Anatomy text) is also freely available as a digital copy through NCSU Libraries.

The current day anatomy instruction team is indebted to Drs. Hudson and Smallwood, for their mentorship and collegiality, their sage advice, and their generosity in sharing their time and expertise, as the foundation for the continued instruction of anatomy at NCSU.