It has been said by many dog owners that limber tail had been caused shortly (24 hours) after swimming in water that is too cold or on rare occasions too warm and indeed this has certainly produced this very condition. The actual cause is unknown but it may be caused by the narrowing of the space through which the spinal cord passes, typically due to degenerative change to the intervertebral disk spaces. These underlying changes may not lead to visible change until the problem is suddenly exacerbated, such as during physical activity, after trauma, etc. Occasionally other changes are seen prior to or in conjunction with limber tail disease, such as urinary or fecal incontinence, postural abnormalities in the pelvic limb, or pain in response to touching the lower back.

With rest, the tail returns to normal within a few days. Pain relief, such as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug may be administered. The symptoms may reoccur.

Feather duster budgerigars ("Melopsittacus undulatus"), sometimes called budgerigar mops, are budgerigars that have a condition characterised by overly long feathers that do not stop growing at usual periods, giving the bird the appearance of a feather duster. This condition is sometimes known as chrysanthemum feathering. The contour, tail and flight feathers do not stop growing, and they do not have the necessary barbs and barbules for the feather's structure to interlock. The shaft (calamus) is also curved, and so the feathers appear deformed and fluffed out. Individuals with this condition often appear less alert than nest mates. In addition, they are small and some have other defects such as microphthalmia. They lack vigour, often cannot fly and die within a year of hatching. There is no treatment for the condition; birds are often euthanized in the nest.

The condition may be a genetic disorder, caused by a herpesvirus, or perhaps caused by both.

Wet-tail is a disease in the animal's intestines caused by the bacteria, "Lawsonia intracellularis". Wet-tail is a stress related illness—such stress can be caused by a variety of factors, including:

- Too much handling

- Change in environment

- Change in diet

- Extremely unclean caging

- Being away from mother and/or siblings

- Illness or death of a pair-bond or mate

The cause of feline hyperesthesia syndrome is unknown. Some experts believe FHS to be a form of epilepsy, while others believe it is a behavioural disorder triggered by trauma. Noting that affected cats tend to be dominating rather than submissive, some research argues that FHS is conflict displacement in which the cat acts out thwarted territorial disputes on its own body.

Although any age, breed, or sex of cat can develop feline hyperesthesia syndrome, those most susceptible include the Siamese, Burmese, and Himalayan breeds.

Ringtail, also known as tail necrosis, is an epidermal disease that may occur in rats, mice, hamsters and other rodents.

In affected individuals, the tail swells as a consequence of annular constrictions along its length (hence the name "ringtail") and subsequent dehydration; in the most severe cases, the process may end up in the tail becoming gangrenous and dropping off. Feet may also swell and redden.

Ringtail is traditionally attributed to low environmental humidity and high temperature, although a number of other possible causes have been suggested, from dietary deficiencies (low levels of fatty acids) to genetic predisposition. For lab and pet rodents, poor bedding (i.e., overly absorbent bedding) or repeated blood draws from tail veins have also been identified as possible causes of ringtail.

One of the biggest risks factors faced by the affected foals is susceptibility to secondary infection. Within three to eight days after birth, the foal may die from infection or is euthanized for welfare reasons.

Little is currently known on brain dysfunction in feather-plucking. However, it may be hypothesized that abnormal brain function is involved, especially in those cases that appear sensitive to treatment with behavioural intervention and/or environmental changes. Psychotropic therapy for birds has been suggested as treatment for feather-plucking although responses seem variable.

Currently, there are no treatments available for JEB. However, the disorder can be prevented through good breeding management. Horses that are carriers of JEB should not be incorporated into breeding programs. Although, if breeders are insistent on breeding a carrier, precautions need to be taken to ensure that the other mate is not a carrier as well. Genetic testing for the disorder is highly recommended among breeding programs for the Draft horse and Saddlebred breeds to determine their carrier status.

In orange-winged amazon parrots, a heritability estimate of 1.14 ± 0.27 was found for feather-plucking, indicating that a genetic basis exists. This study, however, only involved analysis of full siblings and a small number of birds, explaining the heritability value of greater than 1. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis could provide more insight in possible genetic markers that are involved in feather-plucking.

Wet-tail or proliferative ileitis, is a disease of hamsters. It is precipitated by stress. Even with treatment, the animal can die within 48–72 hours. Baby hamsters are much more likely to get the disease than older hamsters. It commonly is found when the hamster is being weaned at about four weeks of age.

Sirenomelia, alternatively known as Mermaid syndrome, is a rare congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together, giving them the appearance of a mermaid's tail as the nickname suggests.

This condition is found in approximately one out of every 100,000 live births (about as rare as conjoined twins) and is usually fatal within a day or two of birth because of complications associated with abnormal kidney and urinary bladder development and function. More than half the cases of sirenomelia result in stillbirth and this condition is 100 times more likely to occur in identical twins than in single births or fraternal twins. It results from a failure of normal vascular supply from the lower aorta in utero. Maternal diabetes has been associated with caudal regression syndrome and sirenomelia, although a few sources question this association.

VACTERL-H is an expanded form of the VACTERL association that concludes that this diagnosis is a less severe form of sirenomelia. The disorder was formerly thought to be an extreme case of caudal regression syndrome; however, it was reclassified to be considered a separate condition.

Treatment includes anti-anxiety medication, anti-depressants such as SSRIs, or sedatives.

Only a few individuals who did not have fatal kidney and bladder complications are known to have survived beyond birth with this condition.

A remedy, which can work within hours, perhaps by countering constipation, is to feed green pea to affected fish. Fish surgeons can also adjust the buoyancy of the fish by placing a stone in the swim bladder or performing a partial removal of the bladder.

Fancy goldfish are among the fish most commonly affected by this disorder. The disease may be caused by intestinal parasites or by constipation induced by high nitrate levels from over feeding.

Many small mammals are able to induce degloving of their tails to escape capture; this is comparable to tail autotomy in reptiles.

Typically, degloving injuries affect the extremities and limbs. Any injury which would induce degloving of the head or torso is likely to be lethal. However, controlled facial degloving is often featured in plastic surgery.

Degloving injuries invariably require major surgical interventions. Treatment options include replantation or revascularization of the degloved skins, or when these are not possible, skin grafts or skin flaps. While the preservation of the extremities and limbs is normally preferred, in some cases amputations may be advised or required. Post-operative physiotherapy is of particular importance for degloving injuries involving the hand.

Lethal white syndrome (LWS), also called overo lethal white syndrome (OLWS), lethal white overo (LWO), and overo lethal white foal syndrome (OLWFS), is an autosomal genetic disorder most prevalent in the American Paint Horse. Affected foals are born after the full 11-month gestation and externally appear normal, though they have all-white or nearly all-white coats and blue eyes. However, internally, these foals have a nonfunctioning colon. Within a few hours, signs of colic appear; affected foals die within a few days. Because the death is often painful, such foals often are humanely euthanized once identified. The disease is particularly devastating because foals are born seemingly healthy after being carried to full term.

The disease has a similar cause to Hirschsprung's disease in humans. A mutation in the middle of the endothelin receptor type B (EDNRB) gene causes lethal white syndrome when homozygous. Carriers, which are heterozygous—that is, have one copy of the mutated allele, but themselves are healthy—can now be reliably identified with a DNA test. Both parents must be carriers of one copy of the LWS allele for an affected foal to be born.

Horses that are heterozygous for the gene that causes lethal white syndrome often exhibit a spotted coat color pattern commonly known as "frame" or "frame overo". Coat color alone does not always indicate the presence of LWS or carrier status, however. The frame pattern may be minimally expressed or masked by other spotting patterns. Also, different genetic mechanisms produce healthy white foals and have no connection to LWS, another reason for genetic testing of potential breeding stock. Some confusion also occurs because the term overo is used to describe a number of other non tobiano spotting patterns besides the frame pattern. Though no treatment or cure for LWS foals is known, a white foal without LWS that appears ill may have a treatable condition.

In medicine, heterotopia is the presence of a particular tissue type at a non-physiological site, but usually co-existing with original tissue in its correct anatomical location. In other words, it implies ectopic tissue, in addition to retention of the original tissue type. In neuropathology, for example, gray matter heterotopia is the presence of gray matter within the cerebral white matter or ventricles. Heterotopia within the brain is often divided into three groups: subependymal heterotopia, focal cortical heterotopia and band heterotopia. Another example is a Meckel's diverticulum, which may contain heterotopic gastric or pancreatic tissue.

In biology specifically, "heterotopy" refers to an altered location of trait expression. In her book "Developmental Plasticity and Evolution", Mary-Jane West Eberhard has a cover art of the sulphur crested cockatoo and comments on the back cover "Did long crest[head] feathers evolve by gradual modification of ancestral head feathers? Or are they descendants of wing feathers, developmentally transplanted onto the head". This idea sets the tone for the rest of her book which goes into depth about developmental novelties and their relation to evolution. Heterotopy is a somewhat obscure but well demonstrated example of how developmental change can lead to novel forms. The central concept is that a feature seen in one area of an organism has had its location changed in evolutionary lineages.

Heterotopy in molecular biology is the name given to the expression or placement of a gene product from what is typically found in one area to another area. It can also be further expanded to a subtle form of exaptation where a gene product used for one underlying purpose in a diverse group of organisms can re-emerge repeatedly to produce seemingly paraphyletic distributions of traits. But actual phylogenetic analysis supports a monophyletic model as does evolutionary theory. Heterotopy is used to explain this and there are so commonly cited examples.

An example is chitin a very durable structural protein used in surgical sutures as well as durable varnishes but is common to many animals especially crustaceans and insects. But is also found in the African clawed frog ("Xenopus laevis").

Wagner et al., suggest that chitin might have a microscopic function observed in cell to cell signaling and the manufacture of insect cuticle for example might represent a recurrent change in the location of expression chitin

Speculative, but however Chitin synthase is maintained in many lineages where it does not have an obvious macroscopic function.

It is thought that because so many organisms share such a profound degree of genetic and molecular similarity that shifts in the location of expression might be a regular occurrence throughout time.

Molecular analysis shows that proteins that seem to have a single specific function are instead found in many different tissue types. One example of this phenomenon is crystallin, a clear protein that makes up the lens of the eye; it is also has structural functions in the heart.

A study of 2000 cases of back pain referred to hospital found that 2.7% were diagnosed as coccydynia. This type of pain occurs five times more frequently in women than in men. It can occur at any age, the mean age of onset being around 40. There are no ethnicity or race associations with coccydnia.

Syringomas can be found in association with other symptoms as part of a syndrome. Hailey-Hailey disease also known as familial benign chronic pemphigus is a blistering disease that can also include syringomas.

Several systemic syndromes have also been associated with syringoma including diabetes mellitus, down syndrome, Brooke-Spiegler, and Nicolau-Balus. Specifically, diabetes mellitus is strongly associated with clear cell syringoma consisting of nests of clear cells containing glycogen. It is thought that phosphorylase deficiency, resulting from elevated glucose levels seen in diabetes leads to an accumulation of glycogen in the skin and within the clear cells. The incidence of syringomas has been reported in up to 40 percent of people with Down syndrome and can be associated with a condition calcinosis cutis which requires prompt medical attention. Brooke-Spiegler syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant syndrome with cutaneous manifestations including syringomas and trichoepitheliomas. Nicolau-Balus is a rare autosomal dominant disorder consisting of atrophoderma vermiculata and syringomas.

One recommended method of removal is using a fingernail or other flat, blunt object to break the seal of the oral sucker at the anterior end of the leech, repeating with the posterior end, then flicking the leech away. As the fingernail is pushed along the person's skin against the leech, the suction of the sucker's seal is broken, at which point the leech will detach its jaws.

Common, but medically inadvisable, techniques to remove a leech are to apply a flame, a lit cigarette, salt, soap, or a chemical such as alcohol, vinegar, lemon juice, insect repellent, heat rub, or certain carbonated drinks. These will cause the leech to quickly detach; however, it will also regurgitate its stomach contents into the wound. The vomit may carry disease, and thus increase the risk of infection.

An externally attached leech will detach and fall off on its own when it is satiated on blood, which may be anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours or more. After feeding, the leech will detach and depart. Internal attachments, such as inside the nasal passage or vaginal attachments, are more likely to require medical intervention.

After removal or detachment, the wound should be cleaned with soap and water, and bandaged. Bleeding may continue for some time, due to the leech's hirudin. Bleeding time will vary, with location, from a few hours to three days. This is a function of the hirudin and other compounds that reduce the surface tension of the blood. Anticlotting medications also affect the bleeding time. Applying pressure can reduce bleeding, although blood loss from a single bite is not dangerous. The wound normally itches as it heals, but should not be scratched, as this may complicate healing and introduce other infections. An antihistamine can reduce itching, and applying a cold pack can reduce pain or swelling.

Some people have severe allergic or anaphylactic reactions from leech bites and require urgent medical care. Symptoms include red blotches or an itchy rash over the body, swelling around the lips or eyes, feeling faint or dizzy, and difficulty breathing.

The coronavirus which causes ECE has a counterpart strain that has more systemic effects with a higher mortality rate. This systemic syndrome has been compared to Feline infectious peritonitis in cats.