Feline Neuro Flashcards
Postural reactions in cat (3)
hopping, wheelbarrowing, extensor postural thrust
How to test cutaneous trunci in cat?
fluff hair up & gently pull a single strand
Which cranial nerve test is unreliable in the cat?
Menace due to their whiskers (CN 2&7)
- (can come from behind but 20% still don’t respond even if healthy)
Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome
1. Clinical signs
2. Age of onset
3. Tx
- Tail-swishing, head-shaking, “hallucinations” (lick/bite at base of tail)
- ~1 years old
- Gabapentin (2/3 respond); clomipramine
Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome - possible pathophysiology
Vacuolar myopathy or seizure
Feline Idiopathic Epilepsy
1. Characteristics
2. Age of onset
3. Side effects of phenobarb vs keppra
- Rapid running around, normal interictal states, seizure during “resting” conditions
- Onset < 7y/o
- Phenobarb: sedation, polyphagia, ataxia, elevated ALP (concern)
Keppra: sedation, anorexia, hypersalivation from drug formula
Why should KBr NEVER be used in cats?
Risk of developing life-threatening pneumonitis
Why should Diazepam NEVER be used in cats?
Causes hepatic failure (accumulation of bile acids in hepatocytes- cats cannot break them down properly)
Audiogenic Reflex Seizures
1. Stimulus
2. Common signalment
3. Tx
- Consistently triggered by high-pitched sounds (crinkling of foil, plastic bag, tapping of glass)
- 15 y/o Birmans (10-19 y/o)
- Tx = eliminiating/avoiding the noise works in 75% of cases; keppra
Hippocampal Necrosis (Feline Temporal Lobe Epilepsy)
1. How is it dx
2. Signalment/Clinical Signs
3. Tx
- MRI T2 Flair - hippocampus
- Young cat with focal-generalized seizures ; hyper-salivation, lip-smacking, aggressive episodes, vocalization
- Phenobarb; refractory to conventional ASDs
A cat has a hx of uncontrollable diabetes mellitus. What is a possible cause unique to cats?
A tumor of the anterior pituitary gland that is secreting excessive growth hormone (Feline Acromegaly)
Why can 1º neuro disease manifest as ophthalmic disease?
The optic nerve is not a true nerve. It is an extension of brain tissue.
Feline Infectious Peritonitis - Neuro form (dry)
1. Pathophysiology of CNS Dz
2. Dx
3. Tx
- Viremia causes severe vasculitis (brain is highly vascularized) -> dementia, seizures, cerebellar-vestibular signs
- Pathognomic dx = MRI showing lateral ventricular dilation (pus-filled) + periventricular hyperintensity
- Tx = antiviral adenosine nucleoside analogue; invariably fatal w/out tx
pyogranulomatous perivascular inflammation
Toxoplasmosis
1. Pathophysiology of CNS Dz
2. What two ways can it manifest as CNS dz
3. Tx
- Reactivation of latent infection in immunocompromised cat: the latent bradyzoites reactivate into tachyzoites, which then rapidly multiply in CNS tissue
- Brain (encephalitis, granulomatous inflammation) or Spinal Cord (segmental myelitis)
- Clindamycin for ≥1 or ≤6 months
Cryptococcus
1. Pathophysiology of CNS Dz
2. Clinical signs
3. Dx
4. Tx
- Inhalation of spores from environment -> nasal (URI) cryptococcosis extends into CNS via cribiform plate
- Roman nose, seizures, gait abnormalities, abnormal cranial nerve exam; severe = obtunded
- Fungal culture (narrow-based budding); serology, CSF
- Fluconazole + amphotericin B + flucystosine