 Verifying the diagnosis in a laboratory setting is possible only by examining the brain post-mortem to determine if there has been a loss of Purkinje cells.Most affected animals have normal intelligence and mildly affected animals can, in theory, live out a normal lifespan.However, affected animals are quite accident-prone, and for this reason many animals that develop cerebellar abiotrophy, particularly horses, are euthanized for humane reasons.