Neuro

An 8 year old male border collie presented with ever worsening use of his back legs. This had progressed over a few weeks. A needle was inserted into the fluid sac that surrounded his spinal cord just in front of his pelvis.

Gizmo presented to us suffering from an acute paralysis of the hind limbs. He was completely off his back legs and the referring vet suspected that one of the intervertebral discs, the soft tissue spacers that sit between the bones of the spinal column, had ruptured. One of our nurses recognised this dog and its owners. She had actually been at his birth (by caesarean) five years before in a previous employment!

Rusty, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier presented to us “off his back legs”, with total loss of sensation of his hind feet. An intervertebral disc had ruptured in his spine.

A 15 week old spaniel pup presented with progressive ataxia (wobbliness) affecting the hind limbs. The referring vets had spotted a transitional vertebra between the lumbar and the sacral vertebrae at the bottom of the back.

Flynn, a 5-year-old male Doberman was seen by us a year ago with modest ataxia (wobbliness) affecting his hind limbs. It was thought that given his breed, this was very likely to be “wobbler syndrome” relating to cervical (neck) vertebral canal issues.

A 10-year-old Dalmatian presented with mobility issues affecting the hind legs. These had progressed in the previous weeks and months, and at presentation to us the patient was knuckling on both back legs and looked “drunk”.

Disc disease occurs when pathology affects the intervertebral discs – the soft tissue spacers that are found between vertebrae of the spinal column. The intervertebral discs are a bit like donuts with a fibrous surround (the annulus fibrosus) and a gel centre (the nucleus pulposus).

A 9kg, Sealyham Terrier presented with acute paraplegia (paralysis of the hind limbs). The condition was painful, and there was still enough nerve connection between drain and feet to allow some response when the toes were pinched.