Recently my dog has been coming to me and placing his head on my lap at which point he shakes slightly (very small shakes - mostly not noticeable) for about 30-60 seconds and then stops, and after that he leaves his head on my lap and will not go away. The first time this happened I thought he was just begging for attention like he normally does so I ignored him, but now after three times, I'm beginning to worry.

My original reaction was that he is having small seizures, but there are no foaming of the mouth and his jaws are not clenched tight. When I touch his back to pet him during this process, the skin on his back jerks slightly (again this is all very small movements). Also, after he's done shaking, if I ask him to go play he is ready to move around.

I haven't really noticed any other change in behavior. He eats whenever I'm home (this is usually what he does, he will never eat unless I'm home - don't know why), and he drinks normally. He also pees regularly, so no problems there. No change in attitude either, still goofy and playful. I've noticed that he likes to sit in the bathroom now-a-days, whereas before he used to always sit next to me wherever I was at. I think this is mostly because he has hip dysplasia, and wants to lay on the bathroom shower carpet because the house stonework is too cold to lay on in the winter (I did buy him the heat pad recently from LB - so the cold shouldn't bother him anymore).

I'm not sure if this is even anything, or it's just my mind playing tricks on me. I think I'm going to take him to the vet just to be sure, but I wanted to get your guys' opinion on this and see if you have experienced anything similar to this before I take him.

Thanks in advance for the help.

- Ali

Have you been correcting him for something lately? Maybe making him a liitle nervous when he approaches you?

No, I don't think so. He's 3-years-old, so most of the correcting that needed to be done has been done already. I only scold him once in a while when he gets out of line, but there's not a real need for it.

I did grab him by the scruff of the neck today though to take him away from a baby that was in our house, but I did not grab him hard at all and it was mostly just to lead him away. He did do the whole shaking thing a bit after that, but it just seems too minuscule of a thing for him to be nervous about.

It's a good point you bring up. Although I doubt it's a behavioral thing because me and him have bonded pretty well over the years, it's still good thing to keep in mind.

Thanks!

- Ali

 Quote: Alex Madsen

... I'm not sure if this is even anything, or it's just my mind playing tricks on me. I think I'm going to take him to the vet just to be sure, but I wanted to get your guys' opinion on this and see if you have experienced anything similar to this before I take him.

Thanks in advance for the help.

- Ali

I agree about taking him to the vet. I'd make an appointment and then start a log of the head tremors and exactly how long they last.

Also, have you looked inside the ears? Anything wrong in there (inflammation, debris)?

Connie,

His ears are near perfect as I can see. He had a weird case of recurring ear infections earlier this year, but that issue was fixed. His last ear examination by a vet was about a month ago, and she said that they looked really good.

 Quote: Alex Madsen

... His ears are near perfect as I can see. He had a weird case of recurring ear infections earlier this year, but that issue was fixed. His last ear examination by a vet was about a month ago, and she said that they looked really good.

That's good!

I'd call for an appointment and start logging the events. Some of the possible triggers are cerebellar (coordination) problems, inflammation, like encephalitis, vestibular disease, etc. You'll want to rule these out. I think it will help the diagnosis to have exact info about time elapsed, what was happening, etc.

I'm not a health professional.


eta
Have you checked his temperature?


Edited by Connie Sutherland (11/20/2009 06:59 PM)
Edit reason: eta

That sounds like a good start! I haven't checked his temperature, I don't have anything to do it with. I can check his surface temperature, but obviously that won't be very useful.

He doesn't look like he's too hot though and he's definitely not dehydrated.