What is Narrowing of Vertebral Canal in Cats?
The cat 's spine is composed of seven cervical vertebrae in the neck, thirteen thoracic vertebrae in the upper back, seven lumbar vertebrae in the lower back and three sacral/coccygeal vertebrae in the pelvis and tail region. Each of the 30 vertebrae has discs in-between one another, which absorb shock, hold the spine together and act as a joint in order to help the spine move. The spinal or vertebral canal is located in the vertebra, protecting the cord from injury. When this vertebral canal narrows, a neurological condition known as lumbosacral stenosis or cauda equina syndrome results.
Lumbosacral stenosis puts pressure on the nerves in the spinal canal between the lumbar and sacral vertebrae, damaging them. The condition is rare in cats but can cause pain and lameness in cats who are affected.
Symptoms of Narrowing of Vertebral Canal in Cats
Symptoms typically develop slowly as the vertebral canal narrows. These symptoms include:
Tail weakness
Tail paralysis (tail drags on ground behind cat and is no longer able to be lifted)
Abnormal tail carriage
Hind lumb lameness
Pain in the lower back in the lumbar and sacral spinal regions
Pelvic limb weakness
Muscle atrophy
Ligament hypertrophy
Urinary incontinence
Fecal elimnation problems
Reluctance to jump or climb
There are two types of lumbosacral stenosis:
Acquired, where the condition develops on its own
Congenital, where the condition develops during fetal development
Lumbar radiculopathy (sciatica)and other types of back pain is one of the most frequent and essential spinal condition that a physical therapist commonly treats. Lumbar radiculopathy is a sciatic nerve root irritation or compression at the lower spine (Fuller & Goodman, 2015). A person with sciatica experiences a sudden pain, tingling sensation and weakness from the lower back radiating through the buttocks, groin and all the way own to the leg and feet depending on the affected nerve root irritation, usually from L1 to S1 ( Ropper & Zafonte, 2015).
Nerves from each segment of the spinal cord connect to specific regions of the body. The cervical region or neck are referred to as C1 through C8; they control signals to the neck, arms, and hands. The segments in thoracic or upper back region T1 through T12 relay signals to the torso and some parts of the arms. The segments in the upper lumbar or mid-back region just below the ribs, L1 through L5, control signals to the hips and legs. Last, the sacral segments S1 through S5 lie just below the lumbar segments in the mid-back and control signals to the groin, toes, and some parts of the legs. The effects of spinal cord injury at different segments reflect this organization.(SC-Basic Anatomy of Spine-http://www.goes.com/billr/html/_anatomy_of_a_spinal_cord.html)
Wobbler syndrome is a disease of dogs that affects their spine in the neck region and is a very important and common cause of neurologic disability in large breed dogs. Wobblers disease is classified under a degenerative or idiopathic disease. Wobbler syndrome or wobblers is the most common name used but Veterinary literature has used multiple different names to describe this condition, this is in part due to the confusion regarding the mechanisms causing it. The name most commonly used in veterinary articles is cervical spondylomyelopathy (which means a disease of the neck vertebrae affecting the spinal cord). Other common names are CVI – cervical vertebral instability, CVM – cervical vertebral malformation, CVMM – cervical vertebral malformation-malarticulation,
Your vertebrae are individual little bones that make up the spinal column, these are connected together by joints which are supported by ligaments that are connected to the bone.
The back is made up of the spine or vertebral column which is formed from a number of different groups of bones. It protects the spinal cord and allows flexibility of the upper body. The bones are held together by ligaments and small muscles which stretch from one bone to the next to give protection and keep the joint aligned. Between each bone and the next is a disc which is a shock absorber. Each disc consists of a soft semi fluid centre part, the nucleus, which is surrounded by a tough and fibrous outer coating, the
MRI of the lumbar spine obtained on 05/19/15 revealed at L2-3, endplate osteophyte formation and disc bulge contribute to a mild degree of spinal canal stenosis and a mild degree of bilateral neural foraminal compromise. At L3-4, a disc bulge eccentric leftward and endplate osteophytes formation are responsible for a mild degree of spinal canal stenosis, a mild degree of right neural foraminal encroachment, and a moderate degree of left neural foraminal encroachment. At L4-5, there is a diffuse disc bulge and endplate osteophyte formation which effaces the ventral aspects of the thecal sac and are responsible for a moderate-to-severe degree of spinal canal stenosis, a mild degree of right neural foraminal encroachment, and a severe degree of left neural foraminal encroachment. At L5-S1, a shallow disc bulge and endplate osteophyte formation contribute to a mild degree of left neural foraminal encroachment, without compromise of the spinal
MRI of the lumbar spine obtained on 12/21/11 showed at L4-5 level, there is some mild loss of normal hydration of this nucleus pulposus representing early dessication changes, with a minor 2-3 mm subligamentous posterior disk bulge/protrusion slightly elevating the posterior longitudinal ligament indenting the thecal sac without spinal stenosis and neuroforaminal narrowing.
This thickening causes bone spurs to develop. These bone spurs could begin to encroach on the nerves on the spine, causing a narrowing of the foramen. This narrowing of foramen is call spinal stenosis. However, if the body spurs start to place pressure on the spinal canal, cervical myelopathy can begin to take place (Cervical Spinal Stenosis, 2013).
Andreas Vesalius is regarded as the father of modern human anatomy and the reason for this is evident in his work in De Fabrica. Before Vesalius, the teachings of Galen were considered to be the standard of medical knowledge in the Western and Arabic world. Dissections were typically performed by a barber surgeon under the direction of a physician, who considered themselves to be above manual labor, and human dissections were still viewed as a very taboo practice. Vesalius changed the face of anatomy by challenging Galen’s doctrine, performing human dissections before an audience, and by being the one to actually do the “dirty work” of dissections himself. Vesalius forged a relationship between the audience and the corpse, bridged the gap between the living and the dead body, and with the help of the printing press made knowledge of the human body much more accessible for all.
In a similar vein to which I have mentioned in an article on the piriformis muscle ("Low Back Pain & Sciatica - The Role of the Piriformis Muscle") tight hamstring muscles can also have an influence over the lower back, sacro-iliac joint and sciatic nerve.
MRI scan of the lumbar spine with contrast dated 7/17/2015 showed compression of the descending left L5 nerve root at L5-S1 on the basis of a 6.1mm left paracentral disc extrusion and compression of the descending left L4 nerve root at L3-L4 on the basis of a 6mm left-sided pre-foraminal and foraminal disc extrusion.
On examination of the lumbar spine, there is tenderness and guarding of the paraspinal musculature. Range of motion is decreased secondary to pain.
Cats should be scanned by an echocardiogram and should not be bread if they have this condition. Spinal Muscular Atrophy is another common disease known to Maine Coons. This is a condition where the spinal cord neurons are dying and that leads to muscle weakness. Kittens diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy walked with their back ends swaying and may find it difficult to jump. Cats can live with this condition and it is not painful to them. It is possible to have a Veterinarian do a DNA test on a kitten to see if they are carriers of the disease or to see if they could possibly have the disease. Another disease common in Maine Coons is Polycystic Kidney Disease. This is a disease where cysts grow on the kidneys of the cat. The growing number of cysts cannot be stopped but slowed down. This disease is
What is lumbosacral neuritis? These are nerves that are in the lower spine, specifically In the lumbar region. The nerves become inflamed and irritated, from picking up heavy objects and also twisting. The (5) vertebra affected are L1 throughL5 and the large bone at the base of the spine is the sacrum which connects the spinal column to the pelvis.
Firstly, when we got to our table, we removed our cat, which was a black and white spotted cat, and its number was 4. From head to tail, the length of our cat was 71 cm. I noticed the cat was very stiff, and this was because of Vigor Mortis, which is when the cat died, myosin and actin no longer detach. There was an incision right under the neck of the cat, which is where the