Why does my boxers head shake

In some cases, supplements may be given as per your veterinarian's suggestion. Dogs live just fine with the syndrome and adjust accordingly, leading still a good quality of life. Editor's note: this post has been published in , and has recently been updated and revamped in for accuracy and comprehensiveness. If your pet is sick please refer to your veterinarian for a hands on examination. If your pet is exhibiting behavior problems please refer to a professional pet behaviorist. Home Health.

By Jennifer By Dr. Jennifer Masucci veterinarian. Related Articles. By Adrienne Farricelli. By Carol. Ivana Crnec veterinarian. See More. The condition does not progress to include other neurological deficits and often will spontaneously regress over time. This is an important condition to be aware of as these patients are often presumed to have focal seizures which carries a much different diagnostic work-up recommendation, treatment recommendation, and prognosis.

Privacy Search Site. More Ways to Donate From an online gift to a charitable gift annuity, your contribution will have a significant impact in the lives of thousands of animals. Learn More. Idiopathic Head Tremor Syndrome. Idiopathic head tremor in English Bulldogs. Movement Disorders.

Lowrie M, Garosi L. Classification of involuntary movements in dogs: tremors and twitches. Vet J. Clinical and breed characteristics of idiopathic head tremor syndrome in dogs: a retrospective study. My puppy has similar symptoms as you described. She does a very slow head movement not a tremor. She seems very healthy otherwise. My vet sent me to see a specialist and they want to run all sorts of tests and I'm wondering if she will be grow out of it.

Its not getting any worse, maybe better and she is a golden too. Alyssa, this sounds like a seizure or some type of neurological issue.

Something worthy of mentioning to the vet for sure. I have a 9 week old Chihuahua puppy she was laying on the couch with her brother and I pick them up to put them on the floor and she started shaking and bobbing her head, I put her on the floor and she couldn't hardly walk she acted like she was drunk and then I picked her up and held her and she started peeing everywhere, what does this mean.

I have a 9 week old puppy that is shaking and bobbing her head and acts like she is drunk when she walks and keeps peeing everywhere what does this mean. I have a puppy 9 weeks old. Her head just started bobbing and started freaking out. Just recently gave her heart work medicine and hope this giving wad apart of that.

If not just glad to know it's not something horrible. She response to our whistles and snaps and stops bobbing once she's distracted by something. We have a healthy 7 month old Miniature Eskimo Spitz.

After she was spayed I started noticing her tossing her head back quickly and then she would go back to normal looking forward. She didnt do this before surgery or else we didn't notice It. It does not happen very often. I asked the vet when they followed up after her surgery but they had no idea.

I'm concerned that something happened during surgery although her personality and temperament has stayed the same. I've been looking everywhere for an explanation. I have an English Bulldog who began to have this head bobbing on last spring but he did it only one time, we gave him honey and he was ok. This spring is very hot and yesterday he presented a head bobbing, I gave him honey and it stopped.

Thank you so much for this information!!! She is diabetic. Thanks again!!! It depends on what may be causing the head bobbing. If it's due to a seizure and it doesn't stop after a few minutes that can be concerning.

My dog has been doing this for years and i didn't know what to call it. I've been looking online just to see if it was a serious condition, but my dog seems fine every time it happens. Plus it only lasts 3 seconds which i'm glad for. I finally go a name for head wobble or bobbing that is not tremors. It's only taken 11 months. It's called Cerebellar Hypoplasia. The good news is that it doesn't get worse or improve, but the dog is not imparted, like the upsetting tremor.

I will share that our Golden, at one, is not as bad as he was at 8 weeks. Poor development of the cerebellum. Cause unknown, whether in utero or from an injury. He eats really good dog food so not sure what's up with that but it's worth a try My 1yr eight months blue nose SFS pit bull has had them for a little while now, and same here, out of the blue.

I'm glad to hear you all ran tests urine and such and came out negative. This coming Tuesday they're going to ultrasound Siete that's his name to see if it's an anomaly in some glands. Fingers crossed it's this ideopathic tremors and nothing more. Thank you all, be well :.

My lab had this exact head bobbing the other day for the first time. It was immediately after she had a bite of an organic banana that was a bit tart.

I was terrified and worried a chemical sprayed on the bananas to prevent ripening had triggered the event. I wrote to delmonte and am waiting for an answer.

She scrambled around in a circle as though something hurt her, then sat and bobbed her head up and down. It stopped when I gave her some raw coconut butter, but now I don't think there was a connection except that eating helps. She eats the best diet, is 5 years old and does have dermoid cysts on her head.

I am hoping this is an isolated incident, but it was definitely initiated by the bite of banana Thank you for this information. Kikie, thanks for the update, it's good to know it has reduced. Many cases remain idiopathic, no known reasons.

When I worked for the vet, we saw many cases like this. An update on our Golden Retriever, Charlie - he still has his head wobble, but it has softened. It is not the seizure type of vibration, but instead, it is a soft wobble, like a bobble head doll. It's just become part of who he is.

Our 7 month old Boston terrier mix had his first head bobbing episode in the car ride home from the vet follow major surgery. He was at the vet for 3 days and was sedated many times and given large doses of pain meds.

We feel it may have been his experience with the anesthesia. Again today, the second day we have him home, his head bobbed again from side to side. I have not been able to find a head movement like my wk-old Golden Retriever has. It's not a full-blown tremor. It happens constantly, but very mildly. His head can be stable, but if he pulls his head back towards his shoulders, there's a soft little wobble.

I can make it happen by startling him or offering him an irresistible treat. It's really sort of cute, but I am concerned about it. Has anyone seen this less serious type of movement? Just wanted to share that my Olde English Bulldog was having what appeared to be these head tremors last night. They were relatively mild, only lasting for a couple seconds, with 30 seconds to a minute in between. It was a distinct up and down shake.

I could tell it was scaring him a bit because he was giving me a very confused look and would lay his head down to try and get it to stop. We tried the sweet treats idea giving him a few marshmallows and took him for a walk and it completely stopped. The neurologist is the best person to ask this. These specialists have far more experience than the average vet when it comes to neurological issues. In some cases, when a medical culprit is not found and the dog is not suffering in between events, the tremors are more annoying to us owners than they are to dogs.

Hi guys 1 of my dogs a mastiff X staff had his first head tremor approx 6 months ago then nothing till last week they are now coming daily we have a referral to a neurologist but am concerned of how much to put my boy through to possibly at the end of testing to have zero answers. Thank you for the reassurance here. Was worried but am more relaxed about my little wobbly head puppy! Ya my yellow lab 6 years old just had this and i put him out side and hes fine now but i was scared about him because his live almost got taken by another disease and don't know if the head shaking is from that disease.

Just like the boxer but instead of moving up and down my dog was moving his head side to side. I am sure your dog's head bobbing event must have been scary!

I hope it was just an isolated incident. Good idea to catch on camera and show your vet for his professional opinion. My dog is a golden retreiver mix, so is usually calm and lays around most of the day. All of a sudden around 5PM yesterday she started panting and pacing back and forth, then would stop and sit for about 30 seconds. This did not make it go away. I was really getting scared but told myself to wait until morning. I was so scared and have never seen her like this before.

Around in the morning it seemed like she was starting to calm down and even was able to go to sleep in 30 minute intervals. Im hoping it was just brought on by stress, which would explain the not eating, the pacing and not sleeping, but the head nodding is the only thing that really scared me.

I took video of it so i can show the vet next time i go. Im just happy it went away and my furbaby seems to be ok. This was so scary. Hi all, oddly enough this is actually my boxer, Bailey, in the above posted video. I am currently fostering a boxer who just did this head bobbing a couple weeks ago and was looking back at my YouTube comments for added advice to give his new adopters.

To update- Baileys first episode was in and she's had about 5 episodes since her first series of them. I am a huge advocate for changing the dogs diet to be free of gluten, wheat, dairy, etc. Initially when this all happened I completely freaked out and rushed her to the vet. She was switched to Science Diet DD when this happened and for the past 4 years she has been on Nutro Natural Choice Venison and it has been great for her.

Please know, if you're dog has this it does NOT hurt them while it is happening. In fact, they will become more anxious and stressed out if you begin to freak out and show them your stress. The best thing to "snap" them out of it is to do something that stimulates them to lick.

I have Bailey lick peanut butter off my finger and she will immedietly stop bobbing. There are things that can trigger their bobbing also. Like extreme heat, high chemicals like someone noted the air fresheners- I won't use these in my house because she is sensitive to anything with a strong scent. Her last bobbing incident was last year after she swam in a chlorine pool for the first time.

I think she swallowed too much water and as soon as we got home that night she started bobbing. There is absolutely a direct link between their diet and chemicals to this head bobbing. I also agree with the yogurt, Bailey loves Activia, probiotics are great for dogs too. I keep a journal every single random time she has an episode and write down every change that could have brought it on, it's been really helpful to look back on.

Bailey is doing great and is healthy, I don't restrict her from anything extreme I just use caution and smart thinking. In the case with my foster boxer, I believe his episode was brought on by extreme heat. I live in Texas and it's hot and humid. We were at a mobile adoption for about 5 hours with him, even though I tried my best to keep him cool, watered down, and in the shade- nothing competes with the Texas sun.

He was overheated and that night he started bobbing. I let him bob just long enough to record a video and he snapped out of it as soon as he started licking the peanut butter off, and he's been fine since this happened 3 weeks ago. I wish there was this much info on it when she got diagnosed but it's great to know that there are so many helpful pet owners out there who are familiar with this.

Anyway, I was just browing the internet and saw my video and thought I'd update for those that haven't read the videos comments. It's scary when it first happens but try to stay calm and snap them out of it as quickly as you can.

Your dog can sense yout stress. Good luck to all! Brenda, I think that we are all puzzled by our dogs behavior and just reaching out to each other trying to find similar symptoms. I agree with you that it would be nice if the people that posted previously would give us an update on how their dogs are doing now. I know with our labrador retriever we take every day as it comes and pray that he doesn't have head bobbing I still feel that it has to be enviromental, seasonal, immunizations, or stress from injury that brings these on Good luck to you and your dog.

Brenda, the issue with head bobbing is that it's difficult to pinpoint the exact cause, and as such, many times owners are left with little options to prevent these episodes from occurring so they try home remedies they possibly found online. I remember preparing many charts for dogs with head bobbing, and upon checkout, I peeked on the diagnosis and it was often "idiopathic" meaning of unknown cause. People posting here are suggesting things that seem to have worked for their dogs but that doesn't mean it will necessarily work with yours.

I would always consult with a vet before trying things at home and then ask his opinion about these options.

I don't know the exact dynamics that would make these remedies work. One assumption may be that ice cream brings blood glucose levels up. This link uses ice cream for seizures and explains why it seems to work, so it may be a similar dynamic, best wishes! What is it about the yogurt and icecream that helps? Is it the dairy? I give my wolf-hybrid her glucosamine with chondroiton mixed with whipped cream everynight, so she is getting dairy and sugar. Today was the first day her head has wobbled and it scared the crap out of me.

In the last 8 months she has developed Horner's Syndrome third eyelids exposed, uneven pupil dilation, and her poor nose is flaking off and exposing raw tissue , she has a terrible snort in the morning that sounds like a pig's oink, and she has yellowish gunk coming out of the corner of her eyes. And now the head bobbing. I have read every post and wish many of these people would have followed up like Vicki to let us know whatever happened to the dog.

After reading these posts I'm left with "calcium, yogurt, vanilla ice cream, and peanut butter" The cure is 1 table spoon of plain yogart a day mixed with food at night time instead of seeing my dog bobble head 3 times a week, since the yogart I only see it once or twice a year! I have never missed a night of plain yogart, he is now 3 years old, I always keep vanilla icecream on hand just in case, I do see it a couple times a year. Thanks for the update Kim, I 'm sure it's quite frustrating to see them re-appear after a period of time.

A diagnostic workup may include a bile acid test pre- and post-prandial , ocular examination, brain MRI, and a cerebrospinal fluid CSF analysis. Dogs with idiopathic head tremors do not exhibit any other neurological abnormalities, and will have normal findings from both the MRI and CSF analysis. Your dog is not affected by the tremors, but may become alarmed or stressed by your reaction. Distracting your dog is the most helpful way to end the episode. If there is someone available, have them videotape the episode.

If the episode does not spontaneously terminate in minutes, try to distract them with food or walking outside. What about treatment?