Neurology

It is recommended to fast your pet for 12 hours prior to your scheduled appointment time. Your pet may have water during this time, but no food. Fasting will help expedite some laboratory tests that may need to be done and, if necessary, allow us to potentially perform surgery or other tests requiring anesthesia the same day as your appointment.

Please be aware that most anesthetic and surgical procedures are not performed the same day as your pet’s appointment, unless deemed an emergency. If your pet is presenting for a seizure disorder and is older than four years of age, please try to fast your pet for 24 hours. However, if your pet has a seizure during the 24-hour fast, please feed you pet.

Because we have a busy schedule, we may not be able to see you if you arrive late for your appointment. If you know you are going to be late, please call 617- 541-5140 to find out if we can still accommodate you. Please be aware that we may need to see other patients prior to seeing your pet.

On occasion, after prior consultation with your referring veterinarian, and if you pet has not been fed for 12 hours before your appointment, special arrangements may be made to do an MRI or CT scan the same day as your appointment.

However, general anesthesia is required for an MRI or CT scan to be done. The procedure requires careful pre-anesthesia evaluation by our Anesthesiology team, as well as careful monitoring during anesthesia. Your pet’s neurologist also needs to be present to help interpret the scan and help guide the selection of images to be done. A thorough scan of the brain or spinal cord takes one to two hours to complete.

It is difficult for your neurologist to see outpatient appointments, in addition to properly supervising and interpreting your pet’s scan during the same day. If the urgency of your pet’s problem requires a scan to be done the same day, then the appointment will need to be scheduled as early in the morning as possible, and special arrangements will need to be made in advance of the appointment day.

In some cases, when we can identify a specific issue that’s causing a pet’s seizures — such as low blood sugar, low blood calcium, lead poisoning, or encephalitis — we can completely eliminate seizure occurrence by treating that underlying cause.

Additionally, anticonvulsant drugs can completely stop seizures from occurring in some epileptic dogs and most epileptic cats. However, for most dogs suffering from epileptic seizures, these medications can only make their seizures less frequent and less severe — not completely eliminate them. For many dogs, reducing seizure occurrence to once or twice a month is the best that can be accomplished, even after many dose adjustments to their medications. Some dogs’ epileptic seizures are very difficult to control, even with high doses of medication, and several seizures may still occur monthly.

Being able to walk again after paralysis all depends on the cause and duration of the paralysis, and each case is different. However, in most cases where paralysis has only been present for a very short period of time (i.e., hours to days), regaining the ability to walk again is possible with proper therapy. Dogs and cats do have a remarkable ability to recover from a paralyzed state — much better than humans’ — so the prognosis for walking again is far better for pets than for people.

However, not all pets do recover. A complete neurological exam of each pet needs to be done to give an accurate estimate of his or her specific chances of recovery.

Yes. In most cases where we have an accurate diagnosis, a complete recovery is possible if aggressive therapy is started and maintained for an adequate period of time. Remission in most cases is life-long, leading to a pet who is cured. However, a small percentage of cases do not survive or relapse each time therapy is withdrawn.

Unlike humans, most brain tumors of dogs and cats grow from the tissue lining that surrounds the brain — not from the brain itself. Therefore, these tumors can generally be removed without causing any brain injury. Brain surgery also causes almost no pain since the brain itself does not have any pain-sensitive nerve endings.

Most dogs and cats who have brain surgery are awake, standing, walking, and eating within a few hours after surgery and go home the next day. Brain surgery is far less painful and bothers your dog and cat much less than chest, abdominal, or fracture repair surgery would. Most dogs and cats generally recover completely within one to two weeks after the surgery, and recovery lasts for at least 1.5 to 2.5 years.

At Angell, a ventral (underneath the neck) surgical approach is used to stabilize all Wobblers. This approach causes very little postoperative discomfort and does not involve direct spinal cord manipulation, unlike the more common dorsal (top-side) approach to this condition. As a result, our patients do not experience a setback in neurological function following this surgery, and they are very comfortable the following day. Almost all dogs are able to go home the day after the surgery, feeling the same or better than they were before surgery.

Dogs commonly have a fine body tremor when they are emotionally upset about something. They can be emotionally upset because they are worried, feel uncomfortable because of their illness, or are anxious about their illness. The key to resolving the tremor is to resolve the underlying disease that is making them upset.

These symptoms are common adverse effects of prednisone therapy, especially at the initial high doses needed to treat some neurological conditions. These symptoms occur because the medication makes your dog feel warm, thirsty, and hungry all the time, even if they are in a cool place and just ate or drank. In some case, the precise amount of water your dog needs a day can be calculated by his or her neurologist. This way, water can be limited to the right amount and offered evenly throughout the day to prevent excessive drinking and urinating, as well as accidents in the house.

The panting generally cannot be stopped.

In severe cases, sometimes switching to a slightly more expensive steroid drug called methylprednisolone will reduce these adverse effects in some dogs, but not all.

None of the above is true in cats. Cats should not have any adverse effects on steroid (generally triamcinolone) therapy. If your cat is drinking or urinating more on triamcinolone, it may be because they are developing diabetes due to the strain that this medication puts on the pancreas. You should notify your neurologist immediately if your cat starts to drink or urinate more while taking triamcinolone.

No. Only very rarely is crate confinement necessary. Most dogs and cats recovering from neurosurgery should be allowed to get up and walk as much as they want. They should not be pushed to do more than they want to, but they should be allowed the freedom to walk around normally.

Some forms of activity should be restricted post-op. They should not engage in any rough or athletic play with other dogs, or be thrown toys to catch or retrieve. They should not be allowed to jump on or down from anything.

However, it is ok to take them outside on a leash for short walks on level ground. Around the house, they can move around (also on level ground) as much as they feel comfortable. They can also exercise off leash in a small, fenced-in yard, if they are well observed.

Your neurologist will let you know when your pet can resume normal activity following surgery.