Head tilt as a clinical sign of cervical spinal or paraspinal disease in dogs: 15 cases (2000‐2021)

Abstract

ObjectivesTo characterise head tilt as a rare clinical sign of cervical spinal or paraspinal disease in dogs.Materials and MethodsRetrospective single‐centre case‐series study of dogs with head tilt and cervical spinal or paraspinal disease in the absence of intracranial abnormalities. Descriptive statistics were used.ResultsFifteen dogs met the inclusion criteria of this study. Median age at onset was 6 years (range 2.5 to 12 years). Onset of neurological signs was mainly chronic (9/15, 60%). Most common presenting complaints included head tilt (9/15, 60%) and cervical hyperaesthesia (8/15, 53%). Most common neurological findings included head tilt (15/15, 100%), generalised proprioceptive ataxia and tetraparesis (6/15, 40%) and cervical hyperaesthesia (8/15, 53%). Diagnoses included post‐operative complication of C2 spinal nerve root mass removal (2/15, 13%), C3‐C4 intervertebral disc extrusion (2/15, 13%), cervical paraspinal myositis (2/15, 13%) and one of each: C2 vertebral malformation, C2 spinal nerve root mass, C1‐C2 meningioma, C2 vertebral fracture, C4‐C5 intervertebral disc extrusion, C4 vertebral body mass, C5‐C7 osseous‐associated cervical spondylomyelopathy, and concurrent C5‐C6 and C6‐C7 intervertebral disc protrusions. Two dogs were euthanased shortly after diagnosis and two of 15 were dogs lost to follow‐up. No post‐mortem examination was performed for these cases. For the 11 of 15 remaining dogs, head tilt resolved in eight of 15 (53%) dogs after treatment of the underlying condition and in three of 15 (20%) dogs, it remained static.Clinical SignificanceHead tilt can be a rare clinical sign of cervical spinal or paraspinal disease in dogs.