SENSORY NEUROPATHY

 

Sensory neuropathy is a severe recessively inherited neurologic disease caused by degeneration of sensory and, to a lesser extent, motor nerve cells.

Affected dogs start to show symptoms from 2 to 7 months of age and signs include progressive loss of coordination, joint laxity and extreme stretching of limb muscles. The affected dogs are not able to feel the stretching of individual muscles and ligaments . That means that the affected dogs are not able to perceive its position and consequently the motor abilities are markedly worsened. Moreover, the affected dogs loose sensation of pain which lead to self-mutilation of paws. Hind limbs are usually more affected than front limbs. In some case,  symptoms such as urinary incontinence and regurgitation can also occur. As the quality of life is severely affected, the dogs are after some time euthanized.

This disease can be genetically tested through blood or cheek swab samples!

Autosomal recessive heredity

Parent 1 genotype

Parent 2 genotype

Normal

Carrier

Affected

Normal

All Normal

½ Normal
½ Carrier

All Carriers

Carrier

½ Normal
½ Carriers

¼ Normal
½ Carriers
¼ Affected

½ Carriers
½ Affected

Affected

All Carriers

½ Carriers
½ Affected

All Affected