SDCA2 is a form of spongy degeneration with cerebellar ataxia affecting the Belgian Shepherd Dog. Age of onset 4 weeks of age. Symptoms include generalized ataxic gait, seizures, and pacing as well as circling and central blindness - with rapid progression. Seizures may cause death. Histopathological examination revealed vacuolation of the neuropil, and neuronal necrosis and severe gliosis in the spinal cord. In the hippocampus, neuronal necrosis and presence of hypertrophic astrocytes with vesicular nuclei are present, similar as in Alzheimer type II cells.