What is Cerebellar Abiotrophy?
Cerebellar Abiotrophy (CA) is a neurological disease recently described in the Scottish Terrier. The term defines progressive, premature cell death in the cerebellum, an area of the brain that controls smooth, coordinated motor skills such as walking. If the cerebellum is damaged or begins to degenerate, fine tuned, precise movement is affected and smooth, voluntary movements become coarse, jerky and uncoordinated. Simply put, a dog affected with CA becomes ataxic, or wobbly. What are the symptoms of CA? Dogs affected with CA will slowly lose their well-defined motor skills and may exhibit subtle incoordination or clumsiness. An owner might observe an unsteady gait, a loose and wobbly rear end or noticeable rolling of the hips. Affected dogs can trip occasionally, bang their chin, fall down, or have trouble negotiating stairs. Eventually, they may begin using the nose to aid in balance and develop a wide-based stance in the rear legs. Irregularities in the front legs can also be presen
