SAEVA Congress 2018 Proceedings | 12-15 February 2018 | ATKV Goudini Spa
thus, usually have a distended bladder that eventually “spills over.” Manipulating
such animals to assist them to stand, or violent attempts by such animals to
stand up can result in a ruptured bladder.
An animal that is ambulatory and has non-obstructive distention of the bladder
with urinary incontinence probably has a lesion affecting the sacral spinal cord
segments or the pelvic nerves. In such cases there will usually be excessive
feces in the rectum, but this will usually not result in overt constipation unless
there is dense, diffuse, sacral lower motor neuron lesion.
Paraplegic horses frequently contuse their perineum and tail while dog sitting and
in their attempts to stand. Also, tail ropes and various forms of sling support
frequently result in damage to these areas. An assessment of the neurologic
function must be made as soon as possible because perineal and tail contusion
results in edema, quickly followed by hypotonia, hyporeflexia and hypalgesia.
V. Tactile and Deep Pain Perception
The neck should be manipulated to assess normal range of movement.
Evidence of a stiff neck, such as reluctance to flex the neck, or pain on flexing the
neck, needs careful assessment before any conclusions are drawn, as horses
with fractured cervical vertebrae often demonstrate such reluctance.
When the skin of the lateral neck of a horse above the jugular groove is tapped
lightly with a pin, there is a contraction of the cutaneous muscle that results in a
flicking of the skin. The brachiocephalicus muscle often contracts also,
causing the shoulder to be pulled cranially. In many horses there is also a
flicking of the ear rostrally when the test is performed on the skin of the cranial
neck (C 1 -C 2 ). These are termed the cervical responses. The anatomic
pathways are not known, although they must involve several cervical segments
and probably the facial nucleus in the medulla. Severe focal cervical lesions that
involve gray and white matter can result in depressed or absent cervical
responses.
An assessment of sensory perception from the neck and forelimbs must be
made. This can be observed by a cerebral response or reaction at the time of
observing the cervical responses and continuing the skin pricking over the
shoulders and down the limbs.
In order for deep pain and light touch (tactile) to be perceived, the sensory
impulses must be carried from the peripheral receptors, or end organs, to higher
centers for conscious recognition. DO NOT MISINTERPRET INVOLUNTARY
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