Anatomy of the Persian Cat's Skull and its Clinical Value During Regional Anesthesia
The head of Persian cats is characterized by a short face and open orbits. Also, the phenotypic appearance of the cat head depends on the shape of the skull and is strongly related to breed specific skeletal properties. Since, there is a lack of information on anatomical measurements of the skulls of Persian cats and its clinical value during regional anesthesia; the present work was taken. The investigation was carried out on sixteen mandibles and upper jaws from cats older than one year without any apparent skeletal disorders. Then, a total of seventeen skull measurements and indices were recorded. The skull length, cranial length, nasal length and cranial width of the adult cats were 10.58 cm, 7.38 cm, 3.32 cm and 4.1 cm respectively. Also, the cranial index was 55.55. In addition, the distances from the root of premolar tooth to infra orbital canal and from the latter to the root of the canine tooth were 0.94 cm and 2.3 cm, respectively. The length and height of the mandibles of the adult cats were 8.3 cm and 3.7 cm, respectively. Furthermore, the distances from the lateral alveolar root to mental foramen and from the mental foramen to caudal mandibular border were 1.4 cm and 6.9 cm, respectively. In the current work, the distances from mandibular foramen to the base of mandible as well as from caudal border of mandible to below of the mandibular foramen were 0.8 cm and 1.04 cm, respectively. Also, the distances from the base of mandible to condyloid fossa and from the latter to the maximum height of mandible were 3.07 cm and 0.76 cm, respectively. Finally, the distance from caudal border of mandible to mandibular foramen and from the latter to mandibular angle were 0.65 cm and 0.83 cm, respectively. These data as important landmarks are discussed with regard to their application to clinical maneuvers around the head of the Persian cats such as regional anesthesia during treating head injury and dental extraction.