Neurology for the Small Animal Practitioner PDF

Preface

This book is the culmination of the authors' 65 years of combined experience practicing clinical veterinary neurology and neurosurgery, teaching neurology to veterinary students, and providing general practitioners with hundreds of hours of phone consultations and continuing education in neurology. All the authors have been in general small animal practice at some time in their careers, and this book was designed as a practical, quick reference handbook of common neurologic problems for the busy small animal practitioner.

The first section is a review of the clinical approach to patients, the neurologic examination, and an overview of lesion localization. The following sections begin with a chief complaint, definitions related to the problem, the location of the lesion, and the differential diagnosis. The frequency of occurrence of each disorder is indicated, and the focus of the text is on common and occasional disorders. Rare disorders are usually listed in a table or presented in a brief paragraph at the end of the section for completeness. For each problem, important historical questions, abnormal physical and neurologic examination findings and applicable diagnostic tests are initially reviewed. Finally, the important diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic features of each disorder are presented.

Many sections have quick–reference, emergency treatment tables with specific drugs and doses. Charts of lesion localization, common treatment approaches, and nursing care and physical therapy are also included. Other treatments are bolded in the discussion for repeated quick reference. Warning boxes are placed throughout the text, emphasizing problems in specific situations that occur in practice. Advice to owners for special situations can be found in other tables. A companion CD is available. Please see "Some Helpful Hints" on page 3.

As in other specialties, all neurologists may not agree on diagnostic criteria, treatments, and prognoses for various disorders, and the information in this book is based on the scientific literature as well as our combined clinical experience. It was our intent to have this book live up to its name "Neurology Made Easy" for the small animal practitioner. It is our wish that this handbook will be a useful practical guide to help veterinarians deal more effectively with small animal neurologic patients and clients and be an educated part of the team when assistance from a specialist is required.