Sudden Head Trembling - What Is This

[Rickiesmom]

I am sure I've seen threads about this in the past, but wasn't successful finding them via search in H&M.

 

A few moments ago, Arlie, who is resting on the couch, raised her head and it was trembling fairly strongly sort of side to side (vs up and down). She was fully alert and didn't seem to be in any distress, it was as if her head was acting independently. It seemed to stop after not too long and then started again, not as hard as before, but it went on longer (I was too busy watching her to time it but we're talking maybe a minute to a few minutes).

 

She's completely still now, and has returned to her snooze. I've never seen her do this before, and don't know what to make of it.

 

Arlie is 8.5 years old.

 

Please post if you have experienced this in one of your hounds, or otherwise have some idea of what is going on. Thank you!

 

Coincidentally we have a vet appointment at 5PM today (anal gland check) so I will definitely mention this to the vet, but your thoughts on this would be very much appreciated in the meantime!

Edited March 12, 2010 by Rickiesmom

[macoduck]

Search for "vestibular disorder". If her eyes also dart back and forth, that's nystigmus (sp.?).

[RobinM]

Does it look like this? Chloe suffers from head tremors. Give Arlie a cookie when this happens. See if it stops.

 

They are head tremors.

 

 

 

ETA - when I showed this to my vet, she said , yup- those are head tremors. Keep an eye on it. Chloe does take soloxine for hypothryoid. They tend to happen in early spring, change of season and high stress.

Edited March 12, 2010 by RobinM

[grey14me]

Has she eaten any grass that may have been fertilized?

[LBass]

I have seen a similar phenomenon in Piper, my epileptic 8 year old. With him, I am reasonably certain it is a minor type of seizure--a partial or a focal seizure. With Piper, if I call his name and he engages and looks over at me the shaking stops. Sometimes is starts again and sometimes it doesn't.

 

A good plan would be to record the dates/times/symptoms of the episodes in a log--you may be glad of the history later--though these don't seem to be serious spells for Piper. How nice too that you can speak to your vet about the episodes.

 

--Lucy

[Rickiesmom]

Robin, thank you for the clips - what Arlie did was very much like that.

 

Very unlikely to be fertilized grass - it's still too early in the spring here for people to be applying fertilizer (we still have a bit of snow) and we don't use it at all in our yard because of the dogs. Very happy to be able to rule this out!!

 

The log is a good idea - this is the first time I've seen this behaviour, but perhaps not the last.

 

No nystagmus involved and I am confident about this because a (human) friend of mine has this condition so I know exactly what it looks like.

[CaliforniaGreys]

Please let us know what the vet has to say Mary

[Guest Energy11]

Sounds like a small focal seizure to me.

 

Glad you have the vet appt. this afternoon, and you know, it might never happen again! Hard to say with "incidents" like that.

 

Sending love, prayers and good luck! Dee and The Five

[seeh2o]

It sounds like what Carl does from time to time. I notice it more when I've used flea preventative on him, especially Frontline Plus, which I never use anymore. It is clearly not a seizure, he follows directions, tracks me with his eyes, can even jump off the couch and walk around the house with it happening and displays no facial tics, twitching or unusual eye movements or blinking. It almost always goes away if I hold a piece of food between my fingers and make him work at getting it. I've told my vet about it, we're not to concerned about it. From what I've found on the internet it sounds like it fits the description of "idiopathic head bobbing". It also seems to be tied to Carl needing a light ear cleaning. If I clean his ears afterward it usually doesn't happen again. He's not a dog who's ears get dirty inside easily.

 

I understand that it is more common in bulldogs, boxers, dobermans and some other breeds.

 

Here are some interesting articles:

 

Head Tremors in the Bulldog (this one is really interesting)

 

Head Tremoring in Dogs

[Rickiesmom]

Thank you for this information - I have written down a few things to take with me to the vet this afternoon.

[seeh2o]

Thank you for this information - I have written down a few things to take with me to the vet this afternoon.

 

Good luck and please let us know what the vet says.

[Guest houndog990]

OMG! my 'nez does this.

i did chart hers for a few years and found:

she has them in clusters of three, third usually the worst. occasionally they will knock her off balance and she will fall over. one time they were full body and i had to hold her so she didn’t bang her head off the floor.

they happen in the spring and fall or when she is under extreme stress.

we have been living with these for about 5years with her with no ill effects.

peace,

amy

[Rickiesmom]

Back from the vet. She watched Robin's videos (thank you again for posting) and thought they looked like a focal seizure like Dee said. I talked to her about ideopathic head bobbing, and she pointed out ideopathic just means the cause is unknown. That said, she also said that unless this happens more than once within 24h, or again within 6 - 8 weeks, not to worry. (In retrospect I may have missed something about that last bit.)

 

Based on everything you have all posted, I am not concerned for now - thank you so much for your help!

[Guest mountain4greys]

That is good news! I hope Arlie will be ok now.

[Guest Energy11]

Good news for now, for sure! :-)

 

I'd keep a close eye on her, and maybe start a journal, so you can relate any "episodes," to the vet in the future, and their timetables.

 

Sending love, hugs, lots of good luck and prayers!

[RobinM]

Glad to hear no major concerns. As my vet said, just keep on eye on them. For us, someone on GT mentioned to give her a cookie. As soon as she starts chewing, they stop. We've had Chloe for almost 4 years and they started about a week into her thyrid meds.

 

How is Arlie's T4? and T levels?

[Rickiesmom]

Robin, a few years ago Arlie had the full gamut of thyroid tests done at MSU including fT4 by equilibrium dialysis. They and OSU concurred she was normal for a greyhound. We're due for her annual check-up in May and I will definitely ask about a possible connection, but based on past results, that may not be the issue.

[CaliforniaGreys]

I'm glad you're feeling relieved Mary, Dee really does know her stuff!

 

Arlie, be well pretty girl

[Guest LindsaySF]

A small focal seizure. Chances are it was a one-time thing.

 

Clancy has these from time to time, always as he's just waking up. They are few and far between (a few times a year) so we don't worry about it.

 

Sophie has had these also, she has epilepsy and is on meds. I call her name and offer her some kibble and that seems to snap her out of it. I don't become concerned unless they last for longer than 4 minutes. Her focals usually only last about 30 seconds, but she did have one that lasted 15 minutes and she needed 2 doses of rectal valium to stop it. That's pretty rare though, usually focal seizures are pretty short.

 

Good luck!