Re: Abnormal Gait in Rottweiler - Videos

Luciano Nebiante PGCertSAS — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:18:58 GMT

Hi Mark,

many thanks for the reply. Speaking with colleagues, seems that the onset was insidious and the signs were progressive, but now pretty much stable.

The plan is referal at this point for advanced imaging. But interesting to go through all the differentials you mentioned, Mark.

About the videos, sorry guys, but I can't check what format they are from the computers in the practice, and they don't seem to work here either. I could easily watch them at home yesterday. Would you be able to download them, and watch them with your own video player? My VLC open them without problem at home.

Re: Abnormal Gait in Rottweiler - Videos

Mark Lowrie — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:33:57 GMT

I got them to work. Must have the right software.

The videos show hind limb ataxia. However, the fact you have delayed paw positioning in the forelimbs would suggest a cervical lesion is causing these symptoms (not an uncommon finding whereby the forelimbs appear normal on gait analysis but actually appear affected on neurological examination). The resentment to manipulation of the neck would suggest this is a painful condition.

You don’t mention if the signs occurred acutely or insidiously and whether they appear progressive or not. If the signs are slowly progressive then congenital malformations and degenerative disease would be top of my list. The more likely things to consider would be cervical spondylomyelopathy, discospondylitis, myelitis or neoplasia. Arachnoid cysts occur in Rotties but they don’t commonly cause pain. However, I would have this on my list of possibilities.

There are a number of weird degenerative conditions that Rottweiler can get though I emphasise these are very rare. Neuroaxonal dystrophy is the only one that may fit the current symptoms as it occurs in dogs <1yr though typically you get hypermetria of the forelimbs and potentially vestibular signs (nystagmus etc). The intermittent tremors reported by the owner are a feature of neuroaxonal dystrophy but they usually only involve the head. Leucoencephalomalacia is another consideration but this is rapidly progressive over 6 months and tends to occur later in life (from 18 months onwards) so it would seem far less likely here. Neither disease has a treatment though dogs can live relatively long periods of time with the former condition as it is slowly progressive.

Disc disease is also extremely unlikely as the dog is very young (<1yr) and we would usually expect to see this in dogs >2y.

My plan of action would be to push for advanced imaging (+/- CSF) as the only way this dog is likely to get better is with a diagnosis and the correct treatment. I cannot see this getting better spontaneously if the signs are progressive. By doing the MRI it will give some form of diagnosis as a normal MRI scan (of the correct area) would suggest a degenerative condition such as neuroaxonal dystrophy. Unfortunately if MRI is not an option I think monitoring the condition is all you can do (though cervical radiographs may be sensible first) – if a degenerative condition is the cause the symptoms will become more advanced and new signs will develop.

Re: Abnormal Gait in Rottweiler - Videos

Utlendigur — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:14:52 GMT

Ditto - it say's the format is "Quick time" when I try to run them - but I don't want to install that again as it seems to crash my computer

Re: Abnormal Gait in Rottweiler - Videos

james herriot lied — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 23:47:25 GMT

Sorry, Luciano

They don't seem to run on my computer. What format are they in?