Polycystic kidney disease in a cat

Bilateral polycystic kidney disease was diagnosed in a 3-year-old female Persian cat. An elevation of blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine levels, and serum phosphorus were the only abnormalities found with serial serum chemical and urine analyses. Intravenous urography showed radiolucent areas in both kidneys. An attempted renal biopsy produced only fluid but no kidney tissue. Necropsy and histological findings confirmed a diagnosis of polycystic kidney disease.     

Acute idiopathic polyneuropathy in the dog

From among a large group of dogs with acute tetraparesis, we identified 10 dogs with a distinct peripheral nerve disorder. Prior to the onset of signs, all of the dogs had been healthy, and none was known to have been exposed to a neurotoxin or raccoon bite. Weakness, with hypoactive or absent segmental reflexes, became progressively worse for 1 to 21 days. Results of electromyography and nerve conduction studies invariably were compatible with a diagnosis of polyneuropathy that predominantly affected proximal nerve segments. Appearance of nerve biopsy specimens and the short time course for functional recovery suggested a demyelinative component to the disorder. The extent of recovery was variable but often rapid and complete in dogs that did not succumb to complications in the early period. Corticosteroid therapy did not demonstrably influence the outcome. This acute idiopathic polyneuropathy in the dog shares many clinical and pathologic features with idiopathic polyradiculoneuritis (Coonhound paralysis).     

METRIZAMIDE MYELOGRAPHY IN FIVE DOGS AND TWO CATS WITH SUSPECTED SPINAL CORD NEOPLASMS

Metrizamide myelography was used in five dogs and two cats with signs of spinal cord disease. The history, clinical signs, cerebrospinal fluid examination, and myelography supported a presumptive diagnosis of spinal cord neoplasia in all seven animals. Myelography demonstrated a deviation of the subarachnoid space in each of them. Five of the animals had an expansile intramedullary spinal cord lesion causing thinning and peripheral deviation of the subarachnoid space. Two had extramedullary lesions causing a central deviation of the subarachnoid space. Spinal cord tumors in six of the seven animals were confirmed by necropsy or surgical excision and histopathologic examination. In the seventh animal, a spinal cord fungal grapuloma was diagnosed by necropsy.