Neurological disorders in dogs and cats and their physiotherapy: incidence, genetic predisposition, recovery

The present work aimed to present the incidence of some neurological diseases in dogs and cats, identifying cases of genetic predisposition in some breeds, and their recovering by physiotherapy. Investigations were conducted on 2765 dogs and cats. Of these, 89 individuals were diagnosed with neurological disorders which required physiotherapy. Considering the specie and sex of individuals who showed neurological disorders that required physiotherapy, 70 of them were dogs (78.65%) and 19, cats (21.35%). In the case of dogs, 41 were males (58.57%) and 29 females (41.43%), and for cats, 6 were males (31.58%) and 13 females (68.42%). Neurological disorders (that required physiotherapy) diagnosed during this study were spinal disorders and nerve root disorders. Two categories of spinal diseases were found in our study, traumatic and degenerative. Among the nerve root disorders, brachial plexus avulsion was the only found. Their incidence varied among specie, sex, and breed, according to the nature of the produced event or as a genetic predisposition. In many cases the prognosis of such cases is reserved in terms of total recovery, physiotherapy procedures finding their usefulness when they are started early and the animal owners work with the physiotherapist to perform daily sessions.