Stenosis of the cervical vertebral canal in a yearling ram.

Stenosis of the cervical vertebral canal in a 10 1/2-month-old Suffolk ram is described. The vertebral canal was narrowed in a dorsoventral direction at the anterior and posterior ends of the cervical vertebral C3 and C4, at the posterior end of C2 and the anterior end of C5. The body of C3 was wedge-shaped in a longitudinal plane. The vertebral abnormalities are believed to have resulted from instability, perhaps exacerbated by fighting. There was a region of necrosis of the spinal cord at junction of C1-2. The animal showed sudden onset of quadriplegia from which it gradually recovered. The rams in the group were on a high plane of nutrition and two others were probably affected.