CT diagnosis of occipital condyle fracture in a dog presented for severe cervical hyperesthesia

A 9-month-old male entire Doberman Pinscher presented with acute onset of severe cervical hyperesthesia after a fall. Neurological examination revealed a normal gait with low head carriage and severe cervical hyperesthesia. A CT scan of the cervical vertebral column revealed the presence of a comminuted fracture at the dorsomedial aspect of the right occipital condyle and sclerosis of the underlying bone. Medical management was initiated consisting of an external bandage, strict rest, and pain medication. Due to the lack of clinical improvement, the dog was euthanized 2 months after diagnosis. Histopathology of the lesion was compatible with a healing fracture.

The gut-brain axis: effect of antibiotics on canine drug-resistant idiopathic epilepsy

Approximately thirty percent of the dogs with idiopathic epilepsy develop multidrug resistance. Therefore, the search for new non-drug treatment alternatives is important. There is a growing interest in the gut-brain axis and its role in the pathogenesis of epilepsy. The gut microbiota can influence brain function by different neural, endocrine, immune and metabolic pathways, but this process is not yet fully understood. In this study, five client-owned dogs with drug-resistant, idiopathic epilepsy received amoxicillin-clavulanic acid as add-on orally (mean duration 32 days (range 21-64 days)). The mean isolated epileptic seizure frequency of these five dogs was 3.3/ week (range 2.5-6.5) with a mean cluster seizure frequency of 0.9/week (range 0.4-1.5). During the amoxicillin-clavulanic acid treatment, three dogs showed complete seizure freedom, one dog showed an 80% decrease of both isolated epileptic seizure and cluster seizure frequency, and one dog showed an increase in isolated epileptic seizure and cluster seizure frequency of 54% and 38%, respectively. In the two-month follow-up period after cessation of the antibiotic administration, the mean isolated epileptic seizure and cluster seizure frequency increased again to 1.5 seizures/week (range 0.9-2.8) and 0.4 clusters/week (range 0.4-0.6), respectively. The preliminary results in this study highlight the need for future research into the role of the canine gut-brain axis in idiopathic epilepsy.