Well today on neurology we had a very interesting case! A dog with tetanus...unfortunately the patient may not do well. As you may know from humans and tetanus, animals end up very stiff, have very painful muscle spasms, have a "locked jaw", and have the "Sardonic grin" which refers to the facial expression dogs can get with their facial muscles pulled and contorted. Unfortunately, they can die of respiratory paralysis...it can be very, very serious. The other day a friend of mine on ER took in a Dachshund that had back surgery, and then chewed its own back leg off---yes, in its entirety. As in when we saw it, it literally was missing its back leg and all you saw was bone, blood, and muscle. It was likely due to tingling sensations or lack of sensation to the leg that caused the dog to do so. The worst part was that the owner couldn't find the leg in question so we had to take an x-ray of the dog and we found that the dog had actually eaten its own leg...talk about the power of endorphin release...
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