2 year old Fox Terrier

Discussion

There is a comminuted fracture of the L3 vertebra as well as a luxation of L3-L4. This instability resulted in severe spinal myelomalacia that was found at post mortem. It is contraindicated to position the animal in dorsal recumbency in an unstable spine because of the risk of further spinal cord trauma. Orthogonal views can sometimes be obtained with a cross-table technique.