Table I.

Definitions for the examination of clinical signs score assignment

Clinical signs	Description	Weighted score
1. eating, drops feed	≥ 1/4 lb	1
	≤ 1/2 lb	2
	≥ 1/2 lb	3
2. tongue tone decreased	normal mastication	1
	abnormal mastication	2
	paresis	3
3. abnormal feed prehension	unable to chew	1
	bites food	2
4. head	drools when eating	1
	drools continuously	2
5. lip paresis	perceptible	1
	perceptible continuously	2
	lip hangs	3
6. facial nerve paresis	perceptible	1
	moderate	2
	severe	3
7. eyelid paresis	ventrally away from eye	1
	over 1/4 eye	2
	with corneal lesion	3
8. laryngoscope exam	displaced palate	1
	pharyngeal collapse	2
	laryngeal hemiplegia	3
9. muscle atrophy	just perceptible	1
	immediately noticeable	2
	severe atrophy	3
10. cauda equina	holds tail rigid	1
	with dribbling urine	2
	rectum paretic	3
11. attitude	depressed	1
	aggressive	2
	somnolent	3
12. weakness	mild	1
	parked out stance	2
	recumbent 30% of day	3
13. trips	sometimes	1
	often	2
	often falls to knees	3
14. lameness	just noticed at walk	1
	head bob or hip drop at walk	2
	reluctant to use limb	3
15. ataxia/paresis, Grade	normal gait	0
	ataxia detected at a walk	1
	ataxia easily detected at walk, exaggerated by backing, turning in a tight circle, and walking with the head elevated	2
	prominent ataxia at a normal gait	3
	stumbling, difficulty maintaing balance, falls or nearly falls at a normal gait	4
	recumbent, unable to rise	5