Mobile MRI on the Isle of Wight and a cocker spaniel called Bear! 

The Burgess team was delighted to hear the story of 'Bear', who had an unusual issue affecting his spinal cord, and how our visiting MRI unit was instrumental in his diagnosis and subsequent recovery.

Bear was a normal, 5-year-old cocker spaniel, full of life and mischief. Unfortunately, one day, he became less keen to walk and started to drag his back left leg. After seeing his vet at Carisbrooke Vets on the Isle of Wight, he was referred to one of our mobile imaging clients, Island Referrals, for assessment with their RCVS-recognised Specialist Small Animal Veterinary Surgeon, Ian Nicholson.

It became clear that Bear had an unusual problem affecting his spinal cord and needed an MRI scan to investigate further. The Burgess mobile MRI unit visits Island Referrals in Ryde once a month, and in Bear’s case, allowed detailed inspection of the spinal cord itself and the surrounding disks and bones.

To help with such a complex case, Burgess also links in with VetCT (a group of RCVS-recognised Specialist vets), including Aste Sovik (a Veterinary Diagnostic Imager) who reviewed the MRI images, and Daniel Sanchez-Masian (a Veterinary Neurologist) who helped understand Bear as a whole.

The Burgess MRI images showed that Bear had bled into his spinal cord, and Daniel was able to recommend a whole series of extra tests to work out the underlying cause. The day after his scan Bear had further deteriorated and sadly could no longer walk.

Extra tests were then carried out by Carisbrooke Vets and quickly showed that he had tested positive for lungworm, which can cause bleeding anywhere in the body. The vets treated this immediately, and his recovery since then has been nothing short of miraculous! He could walk again within a couple of days, and is now back to his old self!