CH Kitties (Cerebellar Hypoplasia) >

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info on dogs with CH please

   
Godric- Griffindor

godric the- wobbler		 
 
Purred: Sun Feb 17, '08 2:05pm PST 
We recently adopted a nine month old brussels griffon names Godric who has CH.He does not have an extreme case but it still affects everything he does. I have found alot about this concerning cats but pretty much nothing about dogs with it. I adore him and want to provide the best life I can for him. He is otherwise very healthy and is the happiest dog I know. If anyone has info on dogs with CH or knows someone with a dog with CH I would like to learn more.

CH is: "Cerebellar hypoplasia is a disorder found in cats and dogs in which the cerebellum is not completely mature at birth.

Usually symptoms of cerebellar hypoplasia can be seen immediately at birth in cats, but sometimes can take two months or so to become apparent in dogs. Cerebellar hypoplasia causes jerky movements, tremors and generally uncoordinated motion. The animal often falls down and has trouble walking. Tremors increase when the animal is excited and subside when at ease....The disease does not get better or worse with age, but the cat or dog can usually learn to somewhat compensate for it and should have a normal lifespan. Most afflicted animals can lead a fairly normal life if special considerations for the animal's disability are taken by the pet's owner."

A great video showing a cat with CH can be seen at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dJQG6V1MOVY
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Moki

I will- survive!!!		 
 
Purred: Wed Jul 23, '08 11:32am PST 
Hi Godric- Griffindor,

I am going to asume that you haven't yet had an MRI done to confirm the diagnoses. You are most likely finding limited information on Cerebellar Hypoplasia in dogs, since the condition usually occurs in felines who where exposed to the Panleukopenia virus (feline version of the Parvo virus) in utero. With that said, Cerebellar Hypoplasia can also be caused from, malnutrition, poisoning, injury or general accidents during development in the fetus.

Now a dog can get Cerebellar Hypoplasia, but there is a similar disease called Cerebellar Abiotrophy, which is more commonly documented in dogs and horses. Now the symptoms of these two disease appear very, very, similar but their causes are quite different. In Cerebellar Abiotrophy, the neurons known as Purkinje cells, located in the cerebellum of the brain, begin to die off. In Cerebellar Hypoplasia, the coordination and balance problems are caused from an underdevloped cerebellum, in Cerebellar Abiotrophy, the coordination and balance problems are caused by the purkinje cells being killed off. Cerebeller Hypoplasia is non-progressive. Cerebellar Abiotrophy, can be a progressive disease, but is not always. In milder forms of Cerebellar Abiotrophy, just vulnerable cells are killed off, and once they're gone that's all that dies. In milder cases an animal with Cerebellar Abiotrophy can be expected to live out a normal life span.

With that said, Cerebellar Abiotrophy has rarely been documented in cats, just as Cerebellar Hypoplasia is less likely to be seen in dogs. I hope this helps some. If not feel free to send me an email at questions@savemoki.com
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