FEMORAL-NECK METAPHYSEAL OSTEOPATHY IN THE CAT

This paper describes 17 cats that developed an idiopathic necrosis of the femoral neck, In four cats the lesions were bilateral when they me re first examined and five hts developed lesions in the other limb wit hin five months, They were all male cats, two years old or younger, an d 15 had been neutered, The initial sign was a vague lameness which ty pically progressed, often acutely, to a more severe lameness, Radiogra phy demonstrated radiolucency and loss of definition within the proxim al femoral metaphysis, the femoral neck, In 12 cases there was a compl ete radiolucent line across the femoral neck, An excision arthroplasty was carried out on all the affected hips and the lameness resolved in all cases, The clinical and radiological signs suggest a primary bone resorption with secondary fracture of the femoral neck, The lesions h ave some similarities with Legg-Calve-Perthes' disease, traumatic frac ture of the femoral neck, canine metaphyseal osteopathy, bacterial ost eomyelitis and experimental feline herpes virus osteomyelitis.