1Department of Companion Animal Health, Tongmyong University, Busan, 48520, Korea
224h Time Animal Medical Center, Daejeon, 35233, Korea
3Department of Companion Animal Industry, Daegu University, Gyeongbuk, 38453, Korea
4Institute of Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 52828, Republic of Korea
*Corresponding Author: Jae-Hyeon Cho, Institute of Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 52828, Republic of Korea, Email: jaehcho@gnu.ac.kr, Orcids: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0450-0048; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1344-2145; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1344-2145, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1126-9809
Online published on 25 June, 2025.
A 6-year-old, male neutered, domestic short hair cat presented to the hospital with shifting leg lameness and gait abnormalities. There was a weak response to deep pain in the physical examination and no reaction to the sensory response test. The cat had a strong pain response during thoracolumbar palpation. It was confirmed that the substance was compressing the spinal cord at the thirteenth thoracic vertebrae and the first lumbar vertebrae and hyperintense changes were observed in the surrounding soft tissue.
Six months later, the patient presented to the hospital again due to severe lameness and back pain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that more than 70% of the substances that were compressing the spinal were the contents of an epidural abscess. The patient underwent decompression with hemilaminectomy and routine suturing.
Nine days after surgery, there were no abnormalities in urination, defecation, or movement. This is a rare case of epidural empyema in a cat. The clinical symptoms, diagnosis and surgical intervention were described six months after the cat was diagnosed as having a spinal abscess.
Cat, Hemilaminectomy, Lumbar spine, Spinal epidural empyema
