Presentation
Vocalizing when rising from sitting to standing, hunched posture.
Patient Data
There is marked osteolysis of the endplates with sclerosis of the adjacent bone and ventral periosteal proliferation at the L6-7 intervertebral disc space. There is mild subluxation of L7 ventrally relative to L6, and the intervertebral foramen is narrowed.
Discospondylitis.
Case Discussion
The aggressive lesion and subluxation of the spinal segment correlates to the signs of pain in the history. The dog was treated with antibiotics over several months, as no organisms were found on urine or blood cultures. There was good response initially, however more sites developed and she was eventually euthanized. Fungal hyphae of Aspergillus spp. were found on histopathology. German shepherds, especially females, are predisposed to systemic fungal infections.
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