Nodding

[Hordicant]

Ok, I have never seen this before, and I've worked for a Petstore and vet.

My boy Argus jumped off the bed sometime last week nodding his head. He could not stop nodding it up and down, though he had complete control of his body. Would look you in the eyes when called, and even walk without showing any signs of dizzyness. His pupil dialation looked normal and he showed no outward signs of distress. Simply could not stop nodding for something like 30 seconds to a minute.

Well, He seemed perfectly happy afterwards with no ill effect so I figured it was a muscular spasm in his neck. Well, he did it again today. No signs of distress, just continuous nodding for like 30 seconds or more.

Has anyone heard of this?

 

[Jan]

There have been numerous posts about it here. A change of diet often seems to help. I have heard it suggested that it can be caused by low blood sugar. What are you feeding?

 

[Tuff Love]

do a search on here for "head tremors" or "focal seizures" and you'll get a wealth of info from others users (myself included) who have seen this in their dog.

some claim that a little treat helps them come out of it, but my tuff doesn't always, so i'm not sure of the legitimacy of that. vets don't seem to know what triggers them but they appear to be relatively harmless unless they occur too frequently (many in a matter of hours).

 

[Hordicant]

He's only done it once a week, and not regularly.

I';m feeding, Nature's Recipe: Lamb and Rice formula, which he loves.

 

[Kilby'sMum]

You can also search for "idiopathic tremors". Kilby gets these occasionally with the same symptoms as you mentioned - the shaking head but totally aware of where she is and what's going on, can eat, catch a ball etc. I noticed after a little while that they mostly occurred within a few days of giving her heartworm med (Sentinel) and after discussing it with the vet he did some research and switched her to HeartGuard (which apparently has some different 'ingredients' than other all-wormers). After switching the meds 2 yrs ago she has had less than a handful of these tremors compared to the few times a month previously. So maybe think whether the tremors coincide with anything else (like meds or a different food etc.). They can be pretty scary but so far have proven to be nothing to worry about for us.

 

[boxerrussell]

When he goes through these episodes of nodding his head, do his teeth chatter? Does it look like he's chewing on something?

It's definately worth having him checked out by your vet. Is there anyway you could get it on video so they can see what you're describing?