Tremor syndrome and hypomyelination in Lurcher pups

Two male Lurcher pups had continual tremor of the head, trunk and limbs when they began to walk. One pup recovered completely by 16 weeks of age while signs in the other remained static and it was destroyed at 8 weeks of age. Routine examination of haematoxylin and eosin stained, paraffin embedded nervous tissue failed to reveal obvious abnormality but hypomyelination of the spinal cord white matter was found on examination of plastic embedded material. The rôles played by genetic factors and in‐utero viral and toxic insults in the pathogenesis of hypomyelination and tremor syndromes in dogs are discussed and a plan is offered for evaluating future cases of these conditions.