Hereditary Ataxia in Fox Terriers

Abstract

Over the past 17 years in Sweden some litters of certain families of smooth haired fox terriers have developped ataxia, the onset being in puppyhood. Males and females are both affected. Björck, Dyrendahl and Olsson (1957) described the clinical course of the disease and determined its genetic origin basing their study on 91 puppies from 24 litters. Twenty-five of the puppies developped ataxia. The description of the disease by these workers is briefly as follows. It starts between 2½ and 4 months, progresses rapidly at first then there follows a period of slow progress with long intervals of stationary symptoms. The characteristic features of the disease is a pronounced general ataxia. Dysmetria is in some cases so developped that the dogs fall to the ground after the slightest change in position and then have a great deal of difficulty in rising to their feet. Eventually the animals are unable to walk.

This investigation was supported by a grant from the Swedish Medical Research Council.