Nervous System

17.0 Nervous System Introduction:

Nervous system problems are challenging to diagnose and treat because different problems may have similar symptoms. In addition, a certain nervous system problem may have different symptoms in different animals! This book divides nervous system problems into the five main groups below, even though there is overlap among the groups.

For all nervous problems, taking a history is very important. For instance, it’s useful to know that an animal may have first acted aggressively or abnormally excited, even though by the time you are examining it, it is paralyzed. Or, a history may provide critical information such as exposure to poisons, or being bitten by an aggressive dog. Also important is an examination of the animal’s environment (including where it was in the past month) as well as a thorough physical exam.

601. Strange, aggressive, excited or crazy behavior, see page 250.

These animals often develop convulsions, coma or paralysis later.

-Rabies Page 251.

-Poisons Page 83.

-Object caught in throat Page 184.

-Liver problem/ failure (horse) Page 197.

-Low blood sugar/ ketosis (cow) Page 253.

-Salt poisoning (pigs) Page 269.

-Milk fever Page 270.

-Grass tetany Page 271.

-Vitamin A deficiency Page 311.

-Pseudo-rabies Page 252.

Five GROUPS OF Nervous System Problems 2. Walking in circles, blindness, or pushing head against objects, see page 256.

-Listeriosis Page 280.

-Parasites (in brain) Page 338.

-Vitamin A deficiency Page 311.

615. Paralysis, see page 259.

-Injury or trauma Page 288.

-Parasites (in spinal cord) Page 121.

623. Tilted head, see page 257.

-Ear infection Page 257.

-Parasite (in brain) Page 338.

4. Stiffness, trembling, convulsions and coma, see page 83.

The following problems often end like this:

-Poisons Page 83.

-Tetanus Page 258.

-Rabies Page 251.

-Pseudo-rabies Page 249.

-Milk fever Page 270.

-Grass-tetany Page 272.

-Salt-poisoning Page 313.