Clinical Occurrences in the Neurorehabilitation of Dogs with Severe Spinal Cord Injury

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Patients with a severe spinal cord injury are highly predisposed to clinical occurrences such as pressure ulcers and urinary tract infections. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of clinical occurrences in dogs with neurological conditions submitted to intensive inpatient neurorehabilitation, in order to develop preventive measures. From a total of 488 dogs, 79.5% had at least one clinical occurrence—the most frequent being neurogenic bladder (58%), followed by diarrhea (35.5%), urinary incontinence (21.3%), and fecal incontinence (20.5%). Preventive measures such as point-of-care ultrasound monitoring, positioning strategies, kinesiotherapy exercises, and early implementation of neurorehabilitation can help prevent some of the clinical occurrences frequently described in the literature. ABSTRACT: This prospective observational clinical study in a population of tetraplegic and paraplegic dogs (n = 488) with or without deep pain sensation, similar to humans ASIA A and B, investigated the prevalence of clinical occurrences in a rehabilitation center with a hospitalization regime between 15 days and 9 months. A checklist of occurrences was used for easy identification and monitoring, resulting in a total of 79.5% occurrences. There were 58% of dogs with neurogenic bladder, 35.5% with diarrhea, 21.3% with urinary incontinence, and 20.5% with fecal incontinence. A low incidence of respiratory problems (e.g., pneumonia) and urinary tract infections may suggest the efficacy of some applied measures in this study, such as thoracic and abdominal POCUS evaluation, positioning strategies, physical exercises, respiratory kinesiotherapy, and early implementation of a functional neurorehabilitation protocol. These can be essential measures to prevent clinical occurrences, mainly in breeds such as the French Bulldog and the Dachshund.