Ailments of the nervous system

Continued from last week

Paralysis

Usually parlayses are associated with problems of the spinal cord. The spinal cord is that thick bundle of nerve tissue which in vertebrates (animals with backbones) extends longitudinally from the brain to the tail. This bundle of nerves (like biological electric wires) gives off, at intervals, nerve groups to various parts of the trunk and limbs. It serves therefore as a pathway for nervous impulses to and from the brain and the extremities (legs, tail).

So, if these nerves are damaged (for whatever reason) then the impulses going to and from the limbs are compromised, and the animal would exhibit an inability to move around comfortably. The damage to the nerves going to the legs could be due to congenital (birth) defects, degenerative and/ or infectious diseases, inflammatory processes, growths (neoplasias) in the nerves or the growth pressing on the nerves, nutritional problems, traumas (hits), toxic (poison) conditions, and vascular (blood vessel) damage.

These are conditions which result in weakness of the legs (usually the hind legs) causing even total immobility, yet the