In Practice 23: 118-130 (2001)
© 2001 British Veterinary Association

Neurological examination of dogs 1. Techniques

¹ Cambridge

THE purpose of a neurological examination is to detect neurological disease and to define its location ithin the nervous system. It is the single most important step in the diagnosis of neurological disorders and may also be useful in the investigation of conditions that primarily affect different body systems but which can have secondary effects on the nervous system. After localising a lesion to a specific region or regions within the nervous system, a differential diagnosis can be formulated using information gained from the history and physical examination, thereby allowing diagnostic effort to be appropriately irected. Unfortunately, neurological examination is often perceived to be rather complicated and this has discouraged its more common application in clinical practice. However, with a little experience the procedure can be carried out rapidly (in 10 minutes or so) and with confidence in the results obtained. In this article, the examination procedure is described; the interpretation of findings with a view to formulating a differential diagnosis will be discussed in an article in the next issue.

Note:

The author is grateful to Matt Gopal, MRCVS, and Liz Watts, of Citivet Barkingside, for their assistance with the photography and discussion of the manuscript.