Canine Discospondylitis Signs

• Clinical signs of discospondylitis include intense spinal pain and neurological weakness that reveals itself as a slowly progressing decrease in limb coordination. Swelling, inflammation, bony proliferation and spinal compression cause extreme pain in the affected dog. Larger breed dogs appear more likely to contract discospondylitis than smaller breeds. Regardless of breed type or infection mechanism, this disease most often affects the thoracolumbar, or mid-back, region.
  
  

Canine MRSA Signs

• MRSA will manifest as a painful, red and swollen pimple or boil that drains pus or other fluids. Surgical or skin wound sites are the most common MRSA locations, but MRSA will also appear as a generalized skin infection or take the form of pneumonia. If MRSA is suspected, a veterinarian will conduct tests to confirm whether the animal is actually infected or simply a carrier of the infectious agent.
  
  

Blood Borne Canine Discospondylitis and MRSA

• Bacteria and fungi generally enter the blood stream through abscessed teeth, wounds, immune disorders and debilitating diseases. The MRSA bacteria may enter a dog's blood stream through cuts and abrasions or contact with infected surfaces and wounds caused by an infected animal and settle in the soft tissue adjacent to the vertebrae. Small abscesses and reactive bone spurs can develop and spread to the spinal discs. If the MRSA infection is allowed to progress unchecked, the dog's body may kill the bacteria and fuse the vertebrae together. However, discospondylitis signs generally present themselves and treatment is sought well before this point.
  
  

Secondary Canine Discospondylitis and MRSA

• Foreign bodies that have infected adjacent soft tissue most frequently cause cases of secondary discospondylitis. The pathological process is, for all intents and purposes, identical to that for blood-borne discospondylitis. MRSA spreads from soft tissue surrounding the vertebrae to the adjacent bony structures and into the disc space to cause discospondylitis.
  
  

Canine Discospondylitis Treatment

• Combined antibiotic and surgical treatment has proven successful in treating MRSA-mediated discospondylitis. Four to six weeks of antibiotic therapy combats the underlying MRSA infection; surgery corrects the severe neurological problems associated with spinal cord pressure. The ultimate objective is to attain joint fusion by either antibiotic therapy alone or in combination with surgery to promote healing by immobilization and bony consolidation. The soft tissue reaction to the MRSA infection subsides and vertebrae and disks return to normal.