Clinical findings and outcome in feline tetanus: a multicentric retrospective study of 27 cases and review of the literature.

Tetanus is a toxigenic illness caused by the action of neurotoxin (TeNT), which results in partial or generalized muscle stiffness in infected mammals and birds. The disease is rarely reported in cats due to their innate resistance to the toxin. This multicentric retrospective study aimed to describe a significant population of cats with a diagnosis of tetanus and report their signalment, clinical and neurological signs, diagnostic findings, treatment, and outcome.

Use of video-electroencephalography as a first-line examination in veterinary neurology: development and standardization of electroencephalography in unsedated dogs and cats.

Objective: To assess the feasibility and validate the use of video-electroencephalography (EEG) in conscious dogs and cats and to propose guidelines of routine EEG in veterinary clinical practice.

Design: Prospective clinical study.

Data: One hundred and fifty EEG recordings were carried out to validate the clinical adding-value, reproducibility, and guidelines on 140 owned animals.

A PNPLA8 frameshift variant in Australian shepherd dogs with hereditary ataxia.

Hereditary ataxias are common among canine breeds with various molecular etiology. We identified a hereditary ataxia in young-adult Australian Shepherd dogs characterized by uncoordinated movements and spasticity, worsening progressively and leading to inability to walk. Pedigree analysis suggested an autosomal recessive transmission.

Juvenile-onset polyneuropathy in American Staffordshire Terriers.

Background: The only hereditary neurologic disorder described so far in American Staffordshire Terriers is adult-onset cerebellar degeneration secondary to ceroid lipofuscinosis. We have seen several dogs with a newly recognized neurological disease characterized by locomotor weakness with or without respiratory signs and juvenile onset consistent with degenerative polyneuropathy of genetic origin.

Objectives: To characterize a novel polyneuropathy in juvenile American Staffordshire Terriers.

Evaluation of coexisting polymyositis in feline myasthenia gravis: A case series.

Acquired myasthenia gravis (MG) is relatively uncommon in cats. In humans, MG may be associated with other immune-mediated disorders, in particular polymyositis (PM). In this study, we described in-depth electrodiagnostic findings and pathological changes in muscles of cats diagnosed with MG, and assessed the presence of concurrent PM.

C8 cross transfer for the treatment of caudal brachial plexus avulsion in three dogs.

Objective: To evaluate the cervical nerve 8 cross-transfer technique (C8CT) as a part of surgical treatment of caudal brachial plexus avulsion (BPA) in the dog.

Study Design: Case series.

Animals: Client-owned dogs suspected to have caudal BPA based on neurological examination and electrophysiological testing (n = 3).

Supratentorial arachnoid cyst management by cystoperitoneal shunt in a 1-year-old European cat.

Arachnoid cysts are defined as an accumulation of fluid within the arachnoid membrane. Feline intracranial arachnoid cysts are seldom reported, with only three cases in the veterinary literature. A 1-year-old male neutered European cat with a 24 h history of seizures was presented to the small animal neurology department at Vetagro Sup, Lyon.

Spinal neurenteric cyst in a dog.

A 2-year-old female crossbreed dog was presented with progressive ataxia and paraparesis. A T3-L3 spinal lesion was determined by neurological examination. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed an ovoid-shaped, well-circumscribed mass affecting the spinal cord at the level of the T9 vertebra.

Original surgical treatment of thoracolumbar subarachnoid cysts in six chondrodystrophic dogs.

Background: Subarachnoid cysts are rare conditions in veterinary medicine, associated with spinal cord dysfunction. Most of the 100 cases of subarachnoid cysts described since the first report in 1968 were apparently not true cysts. Reported cysts are usually situated in the cervical area and occur in predisposed breeds such as the Rottweiler.

Environmental effects on compulsive tail chasing in dogs.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a neuropsychiatric disorder observed both in humans and animals. Examples of Canine Compulsive Disorder (CD) include excessive tail chasing (TC), light/shadow chasing and flank sucking. We performed a questionnaire survey to investigate the characteristics of compulsive (TC) and its possible associations with environmental correlates and personality in a pet population of 368 dogs from four dog breeds.

Restoration of elbow flexion by performing contralateral lateral thoracic and thoracodorsal nerve transfers after experimental musculocutaneous nerve transection.

Object: The immediate transfer of the right lateral thoracic nerve (LTN) and the thoracodorsal nerve (TDN) to the transected left musculocutaneous nerve (MCN), leading to nerve cross-neurotization, was performed in cats to evaluate reinnervation of the biceps brachii muscle (BBM).

Methods: Surgery to produce cross-neurotization of the MCN was performed in 12 cats (treatment group). Transection of the MCN was performed without attempts at neurotization in three cats (control group).

Diagnostic potential of natriuretic peptides in the occult phase of golden retriever muscular dystrophy cardiomyopathy.

The objective of the study was to determine whether the plasma concentrations of atrial and brain natriuretic peptides (ANP and BNP, respectively) could be reliable markers of cardiac alterations during occult cardiomyopathy in Golden Retriever Muscular Dystrophy (GRMD). Fifty Golden Retrievers without any clinical or radiographic sign of heart disease were included in this study (21 GRMD dogs and 29 controls). Controls and GRMD dogs were divided into 2 subgroups according to age (< and > or =12 months old, respectively).

Tissue Doppler assessment of diastolic and systolic alterations of radial and longitudinal left ventricular motions in Golden Retrievers during the preclinical phase of cardiomyopathy associated with muscular dystrophy.

Objective: To quantify radial and longitudinal left ventricular free wall (LVFW) velocities in dogs during the preclinical phase of Golden Retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD)-associated cardiomyopathy by use of tissue Doppler imaging (TDI).

Animals: 9 dogs with GRMD and 6 healthy control dogs.

Procedure: All dogs (< 3 years old) were examined via conventional echocardiography and 2-dimensional color TDI.

Tissue Doppler imaging detects early asymptomatic myocardial abnormalities in a dog model of Duchenne's cardiomyopathy.

Aims: Early diagnosis of Duchenne's dilated cardiomyopathy remains a challenge for conventional echocardiography. We sought to determine whether tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) could detect early alteration in myocardial function in a dog model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, i.e.