Incidence, etiology and types of spinal lesions associated with traumatic posterior paralysis in dogs

A total of 14,442 dogs were presented to the College Hospital during the study period of two years of which 47 (0.33%) were cases of traumatic posterior paralysis. The highest occurrence was seen in non-descript dogs (46.81%). Younger dogs were more prone to traumatic spinal cord injury than older ones. The occurrence of the condition was higher in males (68.09%) than females. Out of 47 cases, 25 (53.19%) were involved in automobile accidents, nine (19.15%) got injured after falling from height and one (2.13%) each got injured after being attacked by man and dogs. The remaining 11(23.40%) dogs had sudden onset of paraplegia, but did not have a clear history of external trauma. Of these, four (8.51%) were found to be suffering from intervertebral disc disease on myelography. Vertebral subluxations (25.64%), vertebral body fractures (22.24%), healing vertebral body fracture (5.55%), fracture-subluxations (16.67%), fracture-luxation (5.55%), bilateral cranial articular process fracture (2.13%) and intervertebral disc disease (22.22%) were the types of spinal lesions identified. The highest occurrence of spinal lesions (76.60%) was found in the region between T₁₁ and L₃ vertebrae.