When we collected our 8 week old retriever we noticed slight quivers in her head. We visited the vet and she said that they were called 'intention tremors' and caused by damage to the cerebelum. These quivers are now shakes and she sometimes falls over. Apparently another sympton of this damage is an abnormal gait (goose-stepping). We have been referred to Bristol and undergone loads of tests. The only postive result is a raised CK enzyme in the liver. This condition is extremely rare and we are in the awful position of not knowing the prognosis or what to do. She is extremely clumsy and falls over a lot, but we don't know if this is 'puppy' or her brain damage.
Has anyone any experience of brain damage in dogs and whether things get worse. How much should puppies fall over, sit down in a run, etc.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you

Hi Gillian

Sorry to hear about your pup.

Puppies should not fall over when sitting (unless they are scratching their ears when they sometimes loose their balance) or when running (unless the ground is slippery and they corner too fast).

Have you contacted your breeder and told them about this (in case any other pups are affected, or if the insurance that came with the pup (I hope) does not cover her - when she should give you a refund as it sounds as though the problem has always been present)

I have known a pup that when it first got to its feet it shook - this was very obvious and when taken to the vets they said that it was because the nerve endings had not formed properly (similar to Parkinsons but in that they degenerate) and it was pts because it would never have been able to stand or move around without a lot of effort and falling. Hope your pup does not have this

Christine

Poor pup :(
Do hope you get this resolved happily !!
You say you noticed this when you picked your puppy up - did you or the breeder not mention anything at the time ?
Please keep us informed
Fingers crossed
Lel

Hi Gillian

I'm sorry to hear about your puppy. We have a new condition, well it's not new but has been very rare in the past and a DNA test is now available, in schipperkes which causes atrophy of the cerebellum called MPS IIIB a storage disorder, with similar symptoms developing at age 3 - 5yrs. So you can imagine how much research I've been doing whilst waiting for my American line dogs results to come back, need to know what signs to look out for as this is a fatal condition with a recessive mode of inheritance.

There are 2 rare hereditary conditions that produce these sort of symptoms they are cerebellar hypoplasia which has a better prognosis in that if mildy affected your puppy can go on to live a relatively normal life. There is evidence of this condition from birth upto 2 wks of age, with the puppy not getting any worse, you need to talk with your breeder to see if there were any signs of tremors etc earlier in life.

The 2nd is cerebellar abiotrophy, which can be divided into 2 groups ie neonatal and post natal with neonatal victims suffering degeneration before birth and post natals after birth, the latter form is recorded in retrievers. Symptoms can appear from 6 - 12 wks old with rapid worsening over a few wks for retreivers, border collies and Australian Kelpies, other forms have different rates of degeneration and appearance of clinical signs within the breeds affected.

Thank you for all your responses - we don't feel quite so lonely! The breeders didn't notice the tremors and neither did we on the 3 times we visited before collecting her - but there were 8 in the litter + the adults.
I don't know if all of Schip's message was there. What is the prognosis for Cerebellar Abiotrophy please? Will she be able to walk and run without falling over? She is now 11 weeks old & we are worried that when she is adult she'll injure herself. Is a degenerative condition?
Thanks again Gillian

I'm sorry Gillian but if she has cerebellar abiotrophy she will continue to deteriorate and at some point you will have to make the decision to euthanise her. Yes it is a degeneratvie condition unlike cerebellar hypoplasia, which causes damage over a short period then stops so that the affected dog doesn't get any worse and in good health except for those problems caused by the brain damage.

As the mode of inheritance is recessive her litter mates could be unaffected, carriers or affected, if I was her breeder and she was found to have either of these conditions then I would not be breeding from either parent unless I could be sure that their mates were clear of the gene.

I am at present waiting on my own dogs results for MPS IIIb hoping that he is not a carrier, it is unlikely he is affected as his father is 8 with no clinical signs and his mother is English and as yet we haven't had any English dogs test positive for the gene. Email me and I will send you links to a couple of sites covering these sorts of problems, sorry don't know how to do it on here.