‘Jimothy’ the raccoon has short spine syndrome – but this condition can affect dogs, too

Kiana Hall/Instagram via Wikimedia If you’ve been anywhere near the internet in recent days, you will likely have seen the viral footage of “Jimothy”: an unusually round raccoon in Seattle that hops and skips along in video filmed by local resident Kiana Hall. This animal has a very rare congenital deformity called short spine syndrome, where the spine fails to develop properly in utero. In fact, the condition can affect dogs, calves and other mammals – but is so vanishingly rare that in my…