Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Young Belgian Tervueren dog with sudden severe brain inflammation
By Pahl, Sabrina et al.·Published in Tierarztliche Praxis. Ausgabe K, Kleintiere/Heimtiere·2025·Institut fü, Germany·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: [Idiopathic eosinophilic meningoencephalomyelitis in a young Belgian Tervueren-shepherd dog].
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A young female Belgian Tervueren shepherd dog was brought to the emergency vet with sudden severe lethargy, which quickly progressed to stupor and loss of movement. Despite immediate treatment, her condition worsened, leading to a coma, and sadly, she was euthanized just seven hours after arriving at the clinic. A post-mortem examination revealed serious inflammation in her brain and adrenal glands, but the exact cause of her condition was unknown. Unfortunately, this rare neurological disorder can be very serious and difficult to treat.
People also search for: dog sudden lethargy · Belgian Tervuren neurological disorder · eosinophilic meningoencephalitis treatment
Abstract
Eosinophilic meningoencephalitis is a rare neurological disorder, affecting mainly young, male and medium-sized to large breed dogs. This case report describes the clinical signs of a grave and peracute clinical course and pathomorphological findings of a young, female Belgian Tervueren shepherd dog with eosinophilic meningoencephalomyelitis. The dog was presented to emergency service with acute onset of progressive apathy, developing into stupor and lateral recumbency. Despite immediate symptomatic treatment deteriorating consciousness with tetraparesis was noted and finally the dog went into coma associated with decerebrate rigidity. The dog was humanly euthanized on request of the owner 7 hours after presentation in the clinic. Gross pathological examination revealed circumscribed lesions particularly in the white matter of the cerebral cortex. Histologically, a multifocal severe, eosinophilic and granulomatous to necrotizing and lymphohistiocytic meningoencephalomyelitis was observed. In both adrenal glands, a severe eosinophilic and granulomatous inflammation was detected in the medulla. The etiopathogenesis remained undefined and the encephalitis was categorized as "meningoencephalomyelitis of unknown origin" (MUO).
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40897184/