2022 Volume 31 Issue 3 Pages 97-101
A 7-year-old, castrated male domestic short-haired cat was referred to the Maizuru Animal Medical Center with dysuria which was difficult to express, and a flaccid tail. Computed tomography (CT) revealed a cystic structure in the spinal canal between L5 and L6 vertebrae. The structure contained hyperattenuated spots scattered in heterogeneously hypoattenuated areas. The structure compressing the spinal cord dorsally was found by performing hemilaminectomy between L5 and L6 vertebrae. An attempt to remove it resulted in rupture of the capsule, and spinal canal became filled with bloody fluid. After suctioning the fluid, disc materials were also removed from the same site. These surgical findings suggested that epidural hematoma associated with disc extrusion had occurred. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first feline case of epidural hematoma caused by intervertebral disc extrusion, and distinctive CT findings different from previously reported in dogs were noted. In this case, the site of spinal cord lesion estimated by dysuria not easily expressed differed from the actual site, which may occasionally occur, especially in feline spinal diseases.
