For the past three weeks, I’ve been staring at Cooper.
It’s getting to the point, I think, where he’s ready to move out. “My lady is WEIRD,” is what he’s thinking. Because I felt like as soon as I took my eyes off of him, something bad would happen.
I am, in fact, aware that I’m neurotic.
Anyway! If you missed the last Cooper story, here’s the summary: He has horrible, painful, fur-falling-out allergies. We put him on an antihistamine. A few days later he started convulsing. We took him off the antihistamine. He kept convulsing.
Which brings us to last Thursday.
He had been off the antihistamine for long enough that it was definitely out of his system, yet he was still having episodes of tremors. His blood test and urinalysis from the initial exam came back clean. His vet decided to repeat the urinalysis and do a neuro exam.
So here’s where we need to pause the story for a quick aside: She’s doing some eye test where the lights are off and she’s examining his eyeballs with a bright light.
“Oh,” she said with a slight hint of surprise. Since I was already on edge, I had another cardiac arrest at her “oh.”
She flipped on the lights. “He has a hemorrhage in his left eye,” she said. She goes on to say something about the blood vessels are a good sign or something as she put drops to see if it had ulcerated. (Vets, I’m sorry. I’m probably getting these words wrong. I was very busy hyperventilating and only caught one or two out of five terms.) Then she said, “Does he crash into stuff?”
Um. Yep. So anyway, that’s unrelated to the allergies, unrelated to the tremors, but we did get an antibiotic ointment that we need to smear on his eyeball three times a day. So that’s awesome.
Anyway, he passed his neuro exam and his urinalysis was fine, so our vet called a neurologist to consult.
Throughout this whole ordeal, I kept saying over and over again, “This is serious. This isn’t nothing. Your head doesn’t shake uncontrollably for no reason. It’s not nothing.”
Well, turns out it’s nothing.
You know that saying that goes something like when you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras? We were, of course, operating with that philosophy. He started a medication –> he got head tremors —> probably it was the medication.
The neurologist went through his info and came back with a different diagnosis.
Idiopathic head tremors.
Of course, “idiopathic” is just another way of saying “we don’t know what’s going on here.”
But it’s a genetic situation. It’s common in bulldogs and dobermans. It doesn’t have anything to do with brain function, organ function, disease, etc.
It’s a muscle thing. It just happens.
So after all that…. it’s nothing.
His vet doesn’t want him on the antihistamine anyway, which I’m totally on board with because it sort of makes me wonder if this genetic situation wasn’t latent, and then the drug kicked it into gear. I don’t know?
So unfortunately, he’s still suffering with his allergies, but now on top of it we have to smear eye ointment for another week. And I’m still watching him very, very closely.
He had one other bout of head tremors on Saturday night but hasn’t had another since.
I think that every single time it happens, I will have a heart attack. We’re going to monitor the situation really closely, and we have a great vet who’s reading up on the literature about the condition.
For now, though, I’m starting to slowly get used to taking my eyes off of him for short periods. I don’t want to stop watching for even a second, even to blink, because I’m still worried, though I’m also a little relieved.
For now.
Lastly, I chose to include all these cute pics of Cooper sleeping not because he sleeps a lot… He does, in fact, crash a lot as he rips around the house, wrestles and plays with the big boys, pummels bugs in the backyard, and so on. When he does rest or nap, I photograph it as evidence. So these four pics are the four naps he’s taken over the last week or so!
Thank goodness that the tremors are not serious 🙂 Hoping the eye ointment does its job & is not too stressful.
I almost passed out from trying not to laugh when she asked if he crashes into things. That’s basically his job around here, to periodically rearrange the heaviest pieces of furniture using momentum and his head. But, he is adorable when he finally does take naps…
what an ordeal! i’d need anxiety meds after all that.
do they plan to test more as he ages? or if they symptoms go away that’s about all they can do?
Ouch…poor Cooper. Head tremors, allergies, and eye issues. Eye scratches seem to go with allergies, unfortunately. (Diamond has had three, one of which required minor surgery.) Just last night, we’ve started coning her at night so that she can’t scratch at her face.
Though, with Cooper, it could just as easily be the crashing into things as being itchy and scratching his eye. Either way, I’m very glad that the tremors seem to be less of a horrible big deal than you thought. Still has to be really really disconcerting.
Thank you guys for the kind words! As far as the long-term… It’s not likely that this will ever go away. He gave us a couple symptoms to watch for (eye movements, drooling, etc.) during the tremors. If we see those, then we need to take additional steps. For now, though, monitoring is the name of the game. I’m starting a spreadsheet to monitor days/times of tremors, and maybe (eventually?) a pattern will emerge.
Haha! I must say I love the pic of him napping between the chair and ottoman.
I’m glad the tremors aren’t anything serious, even if they do make you nervous.
So glad to hear that the tremors are not anything serious!
Hurley does the same smashing into things at full speed around our house – we call him Linebacker. I’m sure there’s eye ointment in our future too.
Despite all of these things, Cooper is still the happiest little man in the world. He’s never crabby, never fights – just all smiles and play. I’m so glad this is nothing serious and I hope this is the end of his problems.
What a relief! I’m so glad the tremors are nothing serious. Buster hits his head on things all the time. I don’t know how many times I’ve told him that he needs a helmet! =)
Isn’t it soooooo much better to be neurotic than to have a sick dog?
I’m glad the tremors are just a sign of character and nothing serious.
Your post took me back to so many worries–wondering if that knot on my dog’s head is a tumor or just the shape of her skull. Feeling a matt under the arms and thinking it’s swollen lymph nodes. Worrying when one month after having a squeakerectomy, Honey swallows a bit of ham bone and shortly thereafter develops a mild case of diarrhea.
I’ve never had kids so I don’t know how it compares. But I feel so responsible for these furry lives that have been entrusted to me and know that they can’t tell me clearly (or I can’t understand) what they feel and need day by day.
Idiopathic head tremors can be really scary looking. Elka has had them a few times, though the “spell” is very easy to break. Getting her concentration, giving a treat, and doing a few “sits” or “downs” fixes it for her. Sometimes stress will start them, sometimes “Oh my God, you’re carving a turkey and I really want some!” can start them, but by and large, it’s only happened a handful of times, and hasn’t seemed to affect her in any way.
I have heard it suggested (by other Doberman folks) to get a liver panel done, to see what those numbers were like.
That’s frustrating. All that money on vet bills and time and it’s nothing? Well, I guess it’s good that it’s nothing!
Poor Cooper. Feel better soon, buddy!
Maggie – I am so sorry you went through all that with Cooper, although I’m glad that it’s nothing. Bummer about the allergies. Hopefully they are just seasonal and will get better.
I can only imagine Cooper’s temperament, which must be similar to the other littermates I know well. Charlie is with my friends and is just an easy, sweet boy; we have Mouse who, while a troublemaker, is a doll; and Copper (formerly Tank) is back in rescue (through no fault of his own) and he’s also happy and sweet. This litter is all such GOOD, smart, sweet dogs. So grateful we said yes to them.