ESTUDO RETROSPECTIVO DAS DOENÇAS, RAÇAS E IDADES DE CÃES E GATOS COM DIFICULDADE DE DEAMBULAÇÃO

Abstract

Impaired locomotion is a common disorder in dogs and cats, which is manifested by ataxia, paresis or paralysis, associated with a dysfunction of the central or peripheral nervous and / or musculoskeletal system. Considering that treatment is difficult and the need for information of the causes of these changes, the aim of this retrospective study was to delineate the demographic and clinical profile of the animals that used an veterinary physiotherapy  apparatus, due to problems of locomotion, to supply epidemiological information and facilitate diagnosis and conduct of veterinarians in routine clinical care. A total of 1203 dogs and 47 cats were registered in evaluation sheets filled out by veterinarians, which filled out the clinical and physical profiles of the animals. The animals were affected mainly by paresis, 54% partial and 46% total. The main cause was spinal cord injury in both species.
Nonspecific spinal injuries caused greater incidence of impaired locomotion in dogs than medullary affections caused by intervertebral disc disease, and both showed a greater incidence that the other injuries. Teckel dogs showed a higher incidence of spinal cord and intervertebral disc diseases compared to others. The mean age of occurrence of impaired locomotion in Teckel and German Shepherd dogs was between 3 and 9 years. Hip dysplasia was the main cause of impaired locomotion in Shepherd dogs ranging from 9 to 12 years old (36.11%), which was different from other disease categories. Dogs are more affected by impaired locomotion than cats; the main cause was the spinal cord lesions, which was predominant from 3 to 9 years of age in crossbreed animals, followed by the Teckel dogs.