OSSEOUS CHANGES IN THE SPINE COMPATIBLE WITH DIFFUSE IDIOPATHIC SKELETAL HYPEROSTOSIS (DISH) IN THE CAT: A CASE REPORT

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a disease of the vertebral column with unknown etiology, commonly reported in humans and dogs. It is characterized by ossification of the soft tissues, like the longitudinal ventral ligament. A sixteen-year-old female European shorthair cat with apathy, inappetence, kyphosis, and paraparesis was brought to the clinic for evaluation. The neurological assessment revealed a lesion localized in the T3-L3 spinal segment and the radiographic evaluation revealed smooth and continuous new bone formation on the ventral margin of the vertebral bodies in the T5-T8 and T10-L7 segments, osseous changes compatible with DISH. Additionally, the radiographs showed the presence of spondylosis deformans in the T1-T4, T8-T10, and L7-S1 segments, following the presence of osteophytes of variable sizes on the edge of the cranial and caudal facets of the affected vertebral bodies. To our know-ledge, this report represents the second case of feline DISH described in the literature.