Today’s case is a 2 year old male neutered domestic short hair cat with an acute onset of lameness. Post your findings in the comments.
2 year old DSH cat
Teaching and learning about veterinary diagnostic imaging.
Fracture of the left femoral neck.
In adition to the previous comment I belive it is important to note the lack of bone fragments as well the possible intact transverse acetabular ligament. I unfortunately do not see digital radiography that often any more but I may think that the pelvic bones as well as the contralateral neck of the femur may be slightly osteopenic. Let me know if it is just effect from the good quality of the digital image?By the way have you guys seen any avascular necrosis of the femoral head in cats? Base on radiographs there was no clear evidence of the joint involved during physical exam was it? any tips in recognizing this prior to radiographs?
Good case thank you for submiting it
I recently see a young cat with fracture of the femoral neck (fiseal fracture – Salter Harris type I) with avascular necrosis.
Good interpretations and questions! This is a type of pathologic fracture where there is an underlying metaphyseal and physeal abnormality. Minor trauma, such as jumping from a low height, can stress the area enough to fracture. I wish the hip-extended v/d were better quality to evaluate the other hip, but it does appear to have some radiolucency as well. This disease tends to be bilateral so you should always check the contralateral limb.
I have not seen avascular necrosis of the femoral head in cats, but I think that when these physeal fractures are chronic, the femoral head tends to lose its normal shape. This cat was weight bearing on physical exam and had pain on hind limb extension.
this is the typical signalment (male, 2 years) of a cat that was neutered way too young and as a result got delayed closure of all physes. they reach two years old, get big enough, and fracture the femoral neck without much trauma. the ones i have also have faint physes that are still visible, like the endplates. perhaps the tibia is a bit delayed in this case too? it was mistakenly called metaphyseal osteopathy in some papers. i think a paper in JAVMA set things straight a few years ago. why males? probably because it is easy to neuter them real early (like 1-2 months) at the pound?
i have never seen avascular necrosis in a cat either.
Are we talking about the same thing? What do you mean with avascular necrosis? Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease? I’ve seen a young cat with avascular necrosis secondary to a fiseal trauma of femoral neck.
Thanks for your comments. Do you happen to remmember the title of the article in JAVMA?
The article is listed on the references tab in the case presentation.