Five days before referral, a 12-year-old male neutered domestic shorthair had developed an acute onset of paraplegia. The cat lived strictly indoors and no known history of trauma or intoxication was reported by the owner. The cat had never displayed similar complaints before and he seemed to be in good general condition. The blood work and thoracic and abdominal radiographs showed no significant abnormalities, except for the narrowing of the intervertebral disk (IVD) space between T9T10 and T10T11. Treatment with dexamethasone (Rapidexon; Eurovet; 0,1 mg/kg, IM) was initiated. No improvement was observed, and in fact the condition even worsened somewhat. For this reason, the cat was referred to the Neurology Department of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Ghent University.No abnormalities were detected on general physical examination. During neurological examination, the cat appeared alert, but showed severe paraparesis. The cat was unable to stand up, but it was able to walk with the support of a sling, although it had an extremely ataxic, stilted gait in de pelvic limbs. Conscious proprioceptive deficits were noted in the pelvic limbs, with diminished hopping, which were worse on the left side than on the right side. The patellar reflexes were normal, while the withdrawal reflexes in the pelvic limbs were exaggerated. A crossed extensor reflex was found in the pelvic limbs. Nociception was normal in all four limbs. No neck or back pain could be elicited. The bladder function was doubtful, as the bladder was quite small but could easily be expressed manually and the cat had not urinated spontaneously. The clinical signs were ascribed to a thoracolumbar spinal cord lesion. Differential diagnoses included fibrocartilaginous embolism, myelitis caused by Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) virus, neoplasia (e.g. lymphoma) of the spinal cord, spinal trauma and disk herniation.Plain and contrast radiographs were performed under general anesthesia. The patient was preme dicated with methadone (Mephenon; Federa; 0,1 mg/kg, IV). After ten minutes, the induction of anesthesia was performed with midazolam (Dormicum; Roche; 0,2 mg/kg, IV), immediately followed by propofol (Propovet; Abbott Animal Health; 3 mg/kg, IV). The cat was intubated with a 3.5 mm internal diameter endotracheal tube after 0.2 ml of lidocaine (Xylocaine 2%; AstraZeneca) was sprayed on the laryngeal mucosa to prevent the occurrence of laryngeal spasms. Anesthesia was further maintained with isoflurane in 100 oxygen, delivered by a semi-closed anesthetic rebreathing circuit.Radiographic examination of the thoracolumbar Favorable outcome of conservative treatment in a cat with T9T10 intervertebral disk diseaseSuccesvolle conservatieve behandeling van discus hernia ter hoogte van T9T10 bij een kat
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