West Midlands Veterinary Referrals Neuro Case Studies

A 5 year old female Labrador retriever presented “off her back legs” after a road traffic accident.

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.

A 7 year old female Jack Russell terrier, who lives on a farm and loves nothing more than to catch rats, was riding on the front seat of a car when it was involved in a road traffic accident.

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!

A young pomeranian was referred to us unable to stand. The referring vet had already made the diagnosis of atlantoaxial subluxation from xrays of the head and neck, viewing the neck from the side with the head in various degrees of flexion. 

A 10 year old dalmation 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”. He had obvious neck pain.

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.

Rosie, a 9 month old 7kg Cavalier pup broke her back playing in the garden. Her 5th lumber vertebra fractured and the 5th and 6th lumbar vertbrae dislocated. The resulting nerve root entrapment resulted in severe pain and hind limb paresis. She was seen by the PDSA who diagnosed the problem with xrays.

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.