LATE-ONSET PROGRESSIVE SPINOCEREBELLAR DEGENERATION IN BRITTANY SPANIEL DOGS

Eight Brittany Spaniel dogs, seven females and one male, between 7 and 14 years old presented with clinical neurological signs of spinocereb ellar disease of about 6 months to 4 years duration. Clinically the do gs had a dramatic forward ''saluting'' movement of the thoracic Limbs, hypermetria of the pelvic limbs, cerebellar ataxia and intention trem ors. Terminally, dogs crawled in a crouched thoracic posture with neck extension. Lesions were confined to cerebellum medulla oblongata and spinal cord. The most severe lesion was diffuse Purkinje cell loss wit h massive neurofilament accumulation in degenerating cells. There was some bilateral neuronal degeneration in the dorsal horns of the spinal cord and in the gracilis and cuneate nuclei. There was bilateral spor adic axonal degeneration in the dorsal columns and lateral and ventrom edial areas of the spinal cord. The etiology of this syndrome was not determined.