Head tremors

[jaczor]

  Manolito had them yesterday in the middle of the night for the first time ever (he's 1.5 y/o), needless to say, I was terrified because I had never seen anything like that. I got online immediately and found a lot of info about them which calmed me down a bit. He was fully alert and acting like nothing was happening the whole time.

  He had them on and off for at least a couple of hours, I gave him some peanut butter and cookies but that didn't seem to stop it permanently.

  He sleeps with me so I monitored him until I fell asleep, in the morning he woke up fine and he had no tremors at all during the day, but tonight a few minutes ago I noticed he had them again, this time it was very subtle and they went away quickly, but they might come back later, I don't know.

  My question is, I switched him from puppy food (Nutrience) that he had been eating for at least 5 months to adult food a few days ago(same brand), could this be the cause of the tremors??  what should I do if he has them again, just wait it out or should I give him something to eat?

Thanks.

[CAMERON & DUKE]

1st check the ears!!! sometimes when the ears are filthy the head will shake!!

[gigantor]

Tank just had them for the first time a few weeks ago, and it always seemed to happen when he was sleepy. From what our vet said, it is possible a change in food could cause it, but we didn't have a change in food.

They went away after about a week, we just kept giving him peanut butter each time he had them to distract them. Now he wants it all the time!

As long as your dog is alert and responding, our vet said it should be OK. She did give me some medicine to give him in case he had a full blown seizure.




Any update on how your dog's doing? No more tremors?

[ksdstny]

oh gosh how scarey, i hope everything is ok.

[MedicBarbie]

You might want to try dividing his adult food into more frequent feedings of smaller portions.    It sounds like he's a puppy burning through the fuel in his food too quickly. 

If you do see it, giving him something to eat is a good idea provided that he's alert and oriented.  Make sure it's something with sugar/carbs in it.  Granola bars go over very well in this house!   They're healthy too!

[winwinsmom]

I keep a bottle of Karo syrup on hand.  We had a kitty that would have seizures and I had to give it to her if she had a bad seizure.  Also one of our shih-tzu dogs would have them occassionally.
My vet told us to keep a record (log) of the time they would have their seizure and how long they lasted.

[Ozzysdad]

I had a short experience with this too a couple of months ago. It seemed like when Ozzy was tired, just ready for a nap, he would get these tremors for anywhere from 30 seconds to 4 or five minutes. It had nothing to do with food or anything, i frantically searched online (thats how i came across this forum actually) and found a few things about it. The computer i had then has died so i don't have the link anymore, but i found one rather extensive study on it. Basically, what I found out was that first of all, the dog is in no pain, or discomfort. Secondly, out of all of the dogs (all Bullies) studied for this, none seemed to be bothered by the tremors. They couldn't find a direct cause for them, it was something with the nervous system, i cant remember exactly. They will go away eventually. i think Ozzy had them for about three weeks or so, they came on slow and at the peak he had about four in one day, then they decreased until they were gone. He hasn't had them in about six months or so, and he is a year and a month old . The study also stated that this ranged in bulldogs of all ages, but it was most common in younger (<3 years) dogs.

[MedicBarbie]

http://bulldogsworld.com/headtremor.html


That is the study of which you speak. 

It was authored by a dear friend, so if you have any questions, ask away.