Cerebellar Abiotrophy (CA, TOE1/MUTYH)

Veterinary care required

This condition belongs in veterinary diagnosis and treatment. Compounds are at most supportive.

Priority · vet & management

A neurological work-up belongs in veterinary hands (delimitation from, among others, wobbler syndrome/EPM); the gene test secures the genetic classification. CA is not causally treatable, the symptoms persist — safety in handling and management is important, as ataxia increases the risk of falls/injury.

Possible causes

• · autosomal-recessive marker defect (TOE1 gene, regulation of MUTYH) with loss of cerebellar Purkinje cells
• · only homozygous animals affected; carriers clinically unremarkable
• · occurrence in the Arabian and Arabian crosses
• · relatively high carrier rate in the population described

Supportive compounds · supplementary feed, not medication

Prevention

Gene testing of Arabian breeding animals and avoidance of carrier-x-carrier matings prevent affected foals.

Equiterna's take

Equiterna classifies CA clearly as a hereditary, permanent trait: veterinary work-up, gene test and safe handling are in the foreground — a predisposition of the line is not a finding on the individual animal.