There is a paucity of information on feline discospondylitis. This study aimed to describe the signalment, clinical and laboratory findings, aetiological agents, treatment and outcome in cats affected by discospondylitis.
This was a retrospective review of the medical records of cats diagnosed with discospondylitis at four referral institutions.
A total of 17 cats were identified. Most were domestic shorthair cats (76.5%) and male (58.8%), with a median age of 9 years (range 0.9-14) and a median duration of clinical signs of 3 weeks (range 0.3-16). All cats presented with spinal hyperaesthesia; 3/17 had pyrexia. Neurological dysfunction was found in 64.7% of cats, which was indicative of a T3-L3 or L4-S2 spinal segment, associated nerve root or associated nerve neurolocalisation. Haematology, serum biochemistry and urinalysis revealed occasional inconsistent non-specific changes. All cats underwent urine culture; 9/17 cats also had a distinct tissue cultured. Positive bacterial cultures were obtained in two cats (11.8%) for Staphylococcus species (urine, blood and intradiscal fine-needle aspirate) and Escherichia coli (urine); both presented with multifocal discospondylitis. Treatment was non-surgical in all cats, with sustained antibiotic therapy for a median of 3 months (range 1-9). Analgesia provided included non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, alone or in combination with gabapentin. Restricted exercise was advised for a minimum of 4 weeks. Outcome information available in 12 cats was excellent in terms of pain control and neurological function in 10 cats (83.3%) at the time of stopping antibiotics. Recurrence occurred in one case, which had received a single antibiotic for 6 weeks, and relapsed 4 months after presentation. One other case failed to improve and was euthanased during the course of hospitalisation.
Feline discospondylitis is uncommon and no obvious signalment predisposition was found in this study. Spinal hyperaesthesia was universally present, with neurological dysfunction also highly prevalent. Bacterial culture was unrewarding in most cases. Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid or cephalosporins are reasonable choices for first-line antibiotics. Prognosis was favourable, with no long-term evidence of recurrence in cats on sustained antibiotic therapy, for a mean duration of 3 months.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 20. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 July 2023.
All research outputs
#1,681,714
of 24,068,839 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery
#122
of 1,865 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#43,036
of 435,086 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery
#6
of 41 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,068,839 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,865 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.5. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 41 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.
