It is most prevalent in the northeastern and Midwestern states of the U.S., with about 96% of reported cases occurring in 14 states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
In some cases, the dog will not be able to move its legs at all, a condition of total paralysis, and in other cases, there may still be some communication between the brain and spine and the dog will only appear to be weak, or will have difficulty moving its legs, a condition called paresis â partial paralysis.here are also cases where a dog may be paralyzed in all four legs (tetraplegia), and in others, the dog may be able to control the movement in some of its legs but not all.
Less common causes of paralysis of the rear limbs include bleeding disorders (like hemophilia) leading to bleeding and problems similar to traumatic bleeding problems, fibrocartilagenous infarcts (rare in cats), cancer (lymphoma is possible in a young cat) and infections (bacterial or parasitic) that involve the spinal cord.