Below is a photo showing the thin but strong abdominal muscles that help contain and protect the internal organs.

Here we can see an overview of the abdominal cavity after moving back the muscle tissue. You can see the locations of the intestional tract as well as some of the other organs such as the liver. You can see how they ribs are very small, in life they are smaller than a tooth pick and flexible to a point although they are fairly brittle and will break easily. This flexibility allows rodents to fit into small area and the ability of the ribcage to move and shift, it's not stationary like a humans, it is called a floating rib cage.

Here we can see the trachea and the esphogus. The throat is seperated by a tissue called the epiglottis which helps prevent food and water from entering the lungs. It is pressed down by incoming food or water to cover the trachea which leads into the lungs. You can see the white stripes on the trachea, these are a C shaped cartlidge that helps prevent the trachea from collapsing. They are C shaped to also allow food and water to move down the esphogus easily as the espohogus sits directly behing the trachea and is lined up with the open section of the C shaped cartlidge. When eating the food is moved down the espohogus by a movement of muscles that work in a wave like motion, this is called peristolic motion and is used in many places in the body.

Directly above and to the right of the stomach is the liver which helps in detoxifying chemicals both naturally created by the body and ingested such as medicines. Below and partially behind the stomach is the spleen. The spleen is part of the lymphatic system and works by filtering blood through very fine sections of tissue which help catch and break down old blood cells allowing the iron to be reused for red blood cell production and also storing extra blood. One of the most important features about the spleen is that is produces large amounts of anitbodies to help fight and prevent infections, as well as storing up to half of the bodies monocytes which are cells used to help promote the healing of damaged or injured tissues.

In this photo with the stomach removed we can see a clear view of the liver. The liver is a very busy organ in the body working not only in detoxification, but also storing glycogen for energy, producing bile which aids in the emulsification ( break down) of fats and oils, producing hormones, and breaking down dead red blood cells. It also works in synthesising proteins, including a large amount of amino acids,for use in the body. The liver is required for life function because it performs so many functions, the liver is usually the largest visecral organ. Hidden under the large right lobe of the liver you can see the gallbladder, the gallbladder is a storage place for bile produced by the liver until it is needed for digestion when it is then moved into the duodenum, part of the small intestine, through the bile ducts.

After the food matter is moved through the intestines it is then formed into pellets which are moved through the colon by peristolic motion and eventually to the anus where they are released.