Matter of Time

摘要

A 4-year-old neutered greyhound presented for evaluation following 1 week of progressive ataxia, lethargy, pelvic limb weakness, and vomiting. He had been adopted 2 years previously as a rescue dog and was up to date on vaccines and heartworm prevention. There was no history of previous illness, toxin exposure, or interaction with other animals. A general physical examination was within normal limits. Abnormalities found on neurologic examination included dull mentation, a mild left head tilt, left ventral strabismus, intermittent intention tremors, and headeck pain. The remainder of the cranial nerves and seg-mcntal reflexes were within normal limits, but there were postural reaction deficits in the right thoracic and pelvic limbs. The gait was severely atactic; the dog was falling toward the right and had hypermetria in all four limbs. Multifoeal disease was suspected based on a neu-roanatomic diagnosis of the central vestibular system, cerebellum, and proseneephalon. Differentials included infectious disease (e.g., tick-borne, distemper, fungal, protosoal), inflammatory disease (e.g., granulomatous meningoencephalitis), and ncoplasia (e.g., lymphosarcoma). The dog was admitted to the hospital for a full diagnostic workup.