UPDATE! Start here —–>>>>> Welcome! I’m glad you’re here, though I wish it were for reasons other than researching head tremors. Please check out a more recently updated FAQs about head tremors, treatments, what’s worked, etc. I also recently shared his diet and routine that has helped nip the tremors in the bud!
Editor’s note: This is a guest post that I requested on behalf of everyone whose dogs are suffering from idiopathic head tremors. Based on the comments from my previous post (found here) I knew this was a topic that warranted further review. If you have additional questions, please leave them in the comments so we can continue our discussion!
What You Need to Know about Your Dog’s Idiopathic Head Tremors
Many dog owners have to watch their precious friends suffer from idiopathic head tremors on a regular basis. This problem can make owners feel helpless as their pets experience uncontrollable “head bobbing.” Some dogs bob their heads side-to-side, while others bob up-and-down. Either way, many have described the bobbing as resembling the “dog version” of Parkinson’s disease in humans.
Idiopathic head tremors can occur with just about any “bully dog breeds.” Some of these breeds include Bulldogs, Pit Bulls and Doberman Pinchers. Researchers continue to conduct studies. Yet, currently, no one really knows for sure why the tremors occur. Theoretically, the tremors are harmless. However, they can sometimes resemble seizures, which can be very stressful on owners.
How to Deal with Your Dog’s Idiopathic Head Tremors
If your dog experiences these annoying tremors, it’s important to remain calm. According to experts, the head bobbing doesn’t actually affect your pet. Yet, panicking will only cause your best friend to panic as well, which may cause the tremors to increase.
Instead, evaluate the condition of your dog. Is your buddy responsive and alert? What color are your furry buddy’s gums? Have any other parts of your pet’s body been affected by the tremors?
A typical idiopathic head tremor episode will generally last around three minutes. Once the head bobbing is over, your dog should return to normal, as if the tremors never occurred at all. If your dog does appear to have been affected, contact your local veterinarian immediately.
If your dog suffers from tremor episodes several times per day or over a period of a few days, that’s a good reason to visit your vet. Most pets never experience tremors while actually in the vet’s office. So, try to get your dog’s episodes on video. That way, your veterinarian can review the footage and use it to help him/her make an educated diagnosis.
Are Idiopathic Head Tremors Hurting Your Dog?
Many dog owners have reported their pets having recurring idiopathic head tremors for a while. Then, they suddenly just stop altogether. Until that happens, keep a journal which details the tremors. This will help you better understand what some of the possible triggers may be for the head bobbing condition.
In the meantime, remain calm, because these seizure-like symptoms are not life-threatening. That means they have no long-term effects on your dog. The actual point of treatment is to lower the stress and anxiety levels of dog owners who hate watching their pets suffer.
Dog owners with pets who suffer from idiopathic head tremors say that their buddies are entirely aware during episodes. Their ears stay up as if alert. They respond to your calls and commands as usual. And, their appetites aren’t affected.
The next time your dog suffers a tremor episode, simply try calling her/him over to you. Then, have your pet sit still so that she/he can focus. Usually, this will help to release your pet from the “tremor trance.” Some owners even say that treats can also release them from the trance.
This article was written by Ryean Bishop for Bannock Animal Medical Center (BAMCvet). Worried about your pet’s idiopathic head tremors or other medical issues? Contact BAMCvet to schedule your pet’s appointment today.
For reference, here’s a video I captured of Cooper having a tremor:
Idiopathic head tremors: A typical Cooper tremor from Maggie Marton on Vimeo.
Please visit the updated FAQs about head tremors, treatments, what’s worked, etc. and the details about his diet and routine that has helped nip the tremors in the bud!
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Oh my gosh! Poor Cooper! I’ve never heard of this. Is there anything that can be done to control it? That would freak me out if Titan started doing it but at least know I know a possibility of what it could be. Oh how sad 🙁
The first time it happened, I panicked! I flew to the vet’s office, breaking every law of the road, because I was convinced he was having a seizure. The only thing that seems to stop the tremors is to get him to focus on food, but even that isn’t 100% reliable. They say it doesn’t hurt them at all, but it just looks so scary – for him and for me!
I can’t even imagine how I’d react. Poor Cooper. 🙁 Scary as hell I’d say. He looks so uncomfortable while it’s happening. Oh gosh, nothing medically they could do?
Unfortunately, no! We talked to a vet early on who said that there were some trials with anti-seizure medication but that it didn’t actually change anything. The only goal is to “snap” them out of it…
Wow, said there isn’t a cure or aid. I guess as long as they feel no pain and you’re able to “snap” him out of it, it’s doable right? Very interesting. Still sad for Cooper. Poor baby and YOU too!
My dog link just started experiencing these 4 days ago. No money for vet so I decided to Google. But the only thing different from Cooper and link is links paws start shaking alond with his head and he’s usually laying down. He’s only a year old.
Dr. Christopher’s B&B formula works well. Just a few drops inside of the ears and it soothes the nerves. Only costs like $11 bucks on amazon!
My puggle has had 2 of these episodes so far. they are not as bad as Coopers, but it is scaring me. I am going to keep tract of them…Do you know of any reason why these would start so suddenly? He just turned three in September.
my little lady had been doing this for a few months and was really worried till saw this
We have a retired racing Greyhound, 5 years old that we just noticed her head bobbing side to side. Fortunately it was not as bad or long in duration as Cooper. She has done it several times in the past couple of weeks. So glad to see these comments. Yes, weird.
Hi name Wendy I believe my soul made have that what to do have no money I told s.s.I can work what I’m I going to help him
Hi my dog is name copper to his coat color is brown and wite
I have a 7 year old, white colored, red-nosed American pit bull terrier. About 30 minutes ago she was standing happily with a stick in her mouth and then she suddenly just dropped it, slowly lowered down into close to a laying position and started shaking. It looked a lot like what Cooper was doing. Is there any more info you can give me? Thank you
I can tell you how we get Carmen to stop if you like.
Please any info would be helpful my 5 yr old yorkie just had this last night out of the blue. She’s so little and it came out of the blue. I took her to vet and they put her intensive care. So worried. I can’t pay the bill we are suffering a financial hardship but they insisted she stay. Thank you
Hi My 5 year old British Bulldog had this start 12 months ago, I give him 1 table spoon of Greek yogurt morning and 1 at night with his food and it has stopped completely it took about 4 days of the yogurt and no more tremors its been about 8 months 🙂
rescued a small chiweenie two months ago had his first head tremor earlier today, I was so scared, thank you for your site, it really helped me a lot
I have 1 1/2 year old jack Russell terrier. He started this head tremors last week out of the blue. He just had a check up and last set of shots. At first I thought it was from the shots but not really since the shots he got were given over a month ago. I have been watching him sometimes they last for 5 mins to 1 hour. He’s fully alert and listens to me. Treats help but mostly he lays on my lap and stops. This has been going on for two weeks now and I’m worried. No given time of day it happens, or what he’s doing. My little buddy scrapy is my whole world. I don’t know if the stress of my female having puppies three weeks ago has anything to do with it or not. Right now I have more questions than answers.
Hi there, I have a boy staff cross pit bull, dre. He’s 7 months old just wondering what could it be he sometimes sits there n while he’s leaning on his paw it shakes often I need help tried reserching but nothing anyone have any ideas?
I did the same thing the first time it happened to my Boxer, Odie. I was so scared,and I still don’t like it. My husband suffered from epilepsy and died, so this is very close to my heart. :'(
Treats will snap him out of it about 75% of the time, but may have to be given more than once. His favorite tug of war gloves can get him up and focused too lol. It seems like it is happening more and more though…I feel so bad for him. It breaks my heart. :'(
Hi i,ve noticed my 4 month old english bull terrier has started doing this,,, been to vet who gave us ear cleanser and medication drops which we have been doing a week now but still happening… does anybody elses dog get aggressive with it, if my other dog enters the room she goes mad
My staffy buster does this ive not had him long he’s had 2 this week his jaw goes really crazy but his last around half hour o thought they where fits till I found this page after he had another tonight that lasted 22 mins hes 8 and the previous owner ( a close friend ) who sadly had to rehome him to me said he has always had them but he too thought they were fits
We have a female pit 9 years old at about age 6 she started having these tremors. we knew she was ok because she was always responsive throughout each one. Hers started about 1 every 8 months or so and have become more frequent and lasting longer sometimes up to 30min. the best thing is just to remain calm (easy to say since the head is shaking uncontrollably and the teeth are clanking together). hope this helps.
Honestly!!! One large heaping tablespoon of plain Greek yoghurt completely stopped my dogs head tremors! Please try! Also try changing their food! My dog was on a generic chicken and rice formula and ever since I switched to a good brand with the yogurt she hasn’t had one!
Our (then) rescued 2 1/2 yr old Black lab mix had these head tremors when we first got him. they were very frequent at first, like 3x/week or more! They had me really worried, until I ran into a lady at the grocery store who taught me how to read the dog food labels and what ingredients were good, and those that were not….. I switched our dogs food from cheap generic dog food to Nutro, and it only took a week or so to noctice that our dog was hardly ever having these tremors, but once every 6-12 months!!!! when we were broke one month and out of dog food, I went ahead and bought some so called “healthy” cheap dog food, and in that month while he ate it he had two or three head tremor incidents…. This has GOT to be related to their bodies need or lack of certain vitamins, or an allergic reaction to some of these crap ingredients in the cheap dog food. From now on, if I cannot buy (because we live in a small town and no one carries it here), Nutro (now the senior mix since he is nearly 10 years old), I buy a dog food with nearly identical ingredients listed in the same order on the label. The dog food I found similar is the newer Racheal ray with very few ingredients, and the Costco brand. I try my best, however, to keep our dogs on the same dog food non-stop! I strongly urge all people who really care about their pets to research dog food ingredients and which ones are good, and which ones are not good for your dogs health. what they eat is just as important as what you eat!!! I know I am definently going to try this yogurt thing every day!
I have a12 yo Aussie with a heart-based tumor being treated at the Univ of GA Vet school, Radiation & Chemo has given him 26 months of happy, healthy life and going strong, especially when my Atlanta vets told me that he would drown in his own fluids when diagnosed- bad vets!
He’s on 20 pills a day, takes them well in a meatball 2x/day. He recently developed violent brain seizures. The Vet school put him on anti seizure meds and we learned that he was having the seizure every Sat. Night between 11:30 and 12:00 AM. Believe it or not, it was all the sensory overload of SNL on the TV that triggered them, Now I have a no noise policy at that time and the seizures have completely stopped., although still on Kepra XL 2x/day. Try keeping your home peacefully quiet and regarding the food issues, go to Chewy.com they have everything your vets have including specialty script foods. Good luck. I understand the broke thing, I’ve outlaid 23K to date over 26 months. Good luck!
I have an appointment for our dog Shadow tomorrow morning. He’s 12. We’ve had him 8 years and he would have head tremors about once a year. Now he had three in the past 3 days. I just gave him a huge heaping tablespoon of Greek yogurt. I’ll try anything to help him. We have always fed him high quality food, Blue Buffalo and Wellness.
If CBD oil is legal where you live, I know a number of people who have given it to dogs with seizures and have good results. It is worth looking into…
Thank you for the information Jan. Shadow’s blood work results are great. We are going to continue to keep a log of date, time and anything unusual that might be going on to see if there is something that triggers these head tremors. They always happen after he has been sleeping, so we’re thinking it may be something related to a head position that he gets in that is pinching a nerve. We’ve replaced all his beds with ones that do not have bolsteres around them, so his head isn’t in an odd position, we’ll see if that helps. Our vet is confident the head tremors aren’t caused by a brain tumor because Shadow’s had them for 8 years. I found some additional information that’s nice and consolidated that I thought was helpful as well. Here’s the link for anyone that would like it. https://www.vetneurochesapeake.com/uncategorized/six-questions-about-idiopathic-head-tremors/
My American bulldog has the same issue however I live 2 hours away from the vet… So he has never been for this issue because as you say it doenst happen at the vet… I was not concerned after the 1st one with long term problems… Because he is alert but I know they bother him as when they start(usually when he is laying down napping) he will get up and come straight to me for comfort! I have not tried treats but I do rub pretty hard on the back of his neck and behind his ears and that seems to lessen the length of the tremor and makes him feel comfort .. thought I’d throw it out there for anyone who wants to try it!
Maggie I couldn’t thankyou enough for giving my family peace of mind for tonight. We lost our 9 yr old pittbull from cancer only 2 yrs ago and devastated us and my son so bad. We have a pittbull that is 1 now and just this morning during his sleep his head started shaking like cooper and I panicked and cried woke my husband up right away when my husband rubbed the top of his head and talked to him it stopped. It only happen 3 times this morning and as soon as we would comfort him it goes right away and he is totally aware and doesn’t act different shows no sign of pain. Since 9am he didn’t do it again at until 10pm while laying in bed with us. Bc of you sharing and everyone experiences you definitely made me and my husband not as afraid that it was something to hurt him and for what you did for my son I really couldn’t thankyou enough. He is an awesome dog and I love our vet tomorrow we will bring him to make sure it’s nothing harmful. I will try to get it on video so our doctor sees it. Thankyou for that info. I’m sorry that cooper goes through this and sorry that you have to. I agree that it hurts us seeing it more then them! He is a nervous dog so anxiety I feel makes sense with him! I’m praying we figure it out and it stops but thankyou and everyone for helping me breathe again and everyone’s information and things to help him! We thankyou Maggie and Duke thanks you too ??????????
Hi could anyone give me some advice I really think my brand new puppy might have this condition I have a recording of her doing it any advice would be massively appreciated
Hi, Ellie: It sounds like you’re taking the right first steps. My most recent roundup of tips and advice can be found here: http://ohmydogblog.com/2016/01/idiopathic-head-tremors-faqs-and-an-update/. Best of luck to you and your new pup!!
Hi Maggie! My Baloo looks just like your Cooper. We noticed his tremors the first time after he had eaten some rotisserie chicken, and another time when he got into some people food. Our vet suggested and so I researched, and believe that he was getting them from ingredients and seasonings he shouldn’t have.We no longer give him people food at all, and his treats and food contain healthy ingredients. It’s been about a year since he’s had one. Pretty much since we stopped giving him food we eat. If I make chicken, I set some breast aside and boil it with no season. I add that to his food with the juice so he doesn’t feel left out when we eat. He’s very spoiled ?
My dog has this too. I try to help as best as I can. Usually moving her to a warm darken place seems to calm her down. we curl up together under the blankets
I recently found out that my pitbull has started getting the head trimmers I don’t know where they came from why I don’t know if she recently got fixed and the people that did it stressor body out so much started them I don’t know but it’s getting I think a little worse but it doesn’t affect her her her I’m just curious what your diet change up was and when you say Nippet in the bud do you mean you got them to stop entirely
CBD drops stopped my lab from having these tremors for several years…
I’m sure there are many causes for these, but I had a Puggle who got them ONLY when I used a topical flea med on her… as long as I remembered NOT to use it on her when the other dogs got it, she was fine. Find the cause: end the problem.
My blue nose pitbull did this a few weeks back and scared the crap out of me! Called the vet and said if he starts vomiting and getting diarrhea to bring him in so he did one more episode and hasn’t done it sense. I’m scared he’s gonna do it again ????
My 18 month old boxer puppy has started having these in the past 3 weeks. he’s been put on 400mg tablets one every 12 hours on an empty stomach he’s not had another attack for 7 days now fingers X’d
What is the name of the 400 mg of medication?? I have an English bull dog that has been doing it for a week and I can’t control it.
My 4 year old boxer started this but he just sat there and he sat his head on my hand i thought he was dying like what happened to my 2 year old boxer
My 3 year old boxer just started this same thing three days ago scary i got it finally on tape for the vet just this morning
Thank you so much for posting this. My boy Chevy started this about a month ago…. I’ve spoken to numerous Vet techs and a couple of vets (in Canada and the States) and they had never seen this before. I’m so glad to know what it is and you’ve probably saved me hundreds if not thousands of dollars!!!! xo. Cooper is a sweet looking dog… Sorry he has to go through this but you have a good attitude (as I try to do when he has one) and I’m sure that helps a lot.
Our Doberman, Rizzoli has had Idiopathic head tremors since she was a puppy (she is now 2 yrs old) I did some research reading and found that giving Vitamin B would help. We happen to have on hand Vitamin B-Complex. She gets a her dose daily when I take my vitamins and the IHT has disappeared. The only times they seem re-appear is when there are weekends I forget to take my vitamins, thus forget to give Rizzoli her dose. I high encourage to try the simple routine of a daily dose of Vitamin B-Complex.
How much vitamin B do you give?
How much Vitamin B do you give her?
Thank you so much for your post, our dog who is 7 starter having these and we were quite worried, however after reading this were put at ease… Unfortunately after bringing her to the vet neurologist they said while this generally is something not to worry about should she have been younger (0-2) but considering her age something more sinister may be causing it, and unfortunately it turns out she has a large tumour on her brain. Just want to let everyone know Incase an older dog is experiencing this it may be worthwhile getting it checked in case!
I am sorry about your dog.
Buddy was adopted from our local shelter that I volunteer at. He is a Chihuahua mix. Buddy has the head tremor but also has balance issues and will stand in place with all 4 legs moving. Much like a horse moving in place. He can go backwards (Michael Jackson) or forwards. This does not affect his running. He flies and can go in wide circles without falling. He had a terrible time coming out of anesthesia after being neutered. We had to pad the inside of his crate because of all his uncontrolled movement. He is not in any pain. Totally alert and a very affectionate dog. He’s probably 3 years old.
My male boxer, Bodhi, started this about a month ago. At first, I thought he was cold, because he was laying on the bed near a window air conditioner unit. Then I noticed the rest of his body was still. He was coherent and I felt then it must not be a seizure. I’ve read where toxins could be the cause, but I’m not aware of anything that he’s digested that was toxic. One vet used a charcoal substance through a syringe to orally administer. I’m not sure of the outcome. Bodhi is 1 1/2 yrs old and this just breaks my heart. Last night while on the bed he started head bobbing. Even his sister( not from same litter), went over to lick his face.
I immediately got up and said, “Bodhi, you need a treat. He jumped off the bed and follows me into the kitchen, with Reba. Reba is my 2 yr old boxer. By the time I got the treat the shakiness had stopped.
I do hope it goes away. It’s freaky and I hate it for him and myself. I guess for now I’ll take one day at a time. I’m retired and with my dogs 24/7. However, I am going to the beach for the weekend. They will be staying together in a suite at Paradise Pet Resort.
I’ll worry the whole time I’m gone.
?????????
We got our lab when she was 5 months old. Shortly after that she started having head tremors. The vet we saw had never seen or even heard of them. I had to show her a youtube video so she could see what it looked like. The dog was in no pain. It probably hurt me to watch it more than it hurt her. The vet suggested we take her to the University for lots of tests. We talked with the breeder and he said they did not know of any of their pups ever having a problem. I went home and spent hours researching before we spent a ton of money. I found a chat site about head tremors. There were many, many posts from people in the same situation that said their dog was on Heartgard. The side effects for Heartgard said head tremors. They switched to Revolution brand and the tremors stopped, We did the same thing and she has never had another tremor. She is 5 yrs old now.
I’m so glad you found what works for your dog! Unfortunately, Cooper is on Revolution (he’s allergic to Heartgard) and still tremors. I think that every dog and every dog’s immune system has to be treated on a case-by-case basis. They’re all individuals, so test different things and find what’s right for you!
And I totally agree… it hurts us more than it hurts them. Thankfully!
Magie, your video is so helpful. Coopers tremors look exactly like Czar’s… especially when you were stroking him in comfort. Czar lays his head on my lap and he tremors… almost every time I stroke him. His tremors are several times a day now. If I throw his ball he stops, but We have to cuddle also. He had his first dose of yogurt just now.
Their necks are out of alignment. Its easy for a professional to feel the misalignment. I’m an acupuncturist and massage therapist. Ive seen this with a few puppies and dogs. I fixed “all” of them after a massage of tight muscles and mild neck adustments to fix the animals cervical misalignment. I also fixed a cat with same symptoms. Others had related to seizures… Initial misalignment can occur during birth or when young and feeding and competing for mothers milk. Our shitzu had relapses after chasing an older dog that would stop short suddenly…the puppy would plow into our terriers rear end and knock her neck out of alignment. Symptoms would reduce go away after treatment. When alignment is corrected they might be very tired and sleep for a bit, the release of pressure causes a flood of fluids to rush up into head….so continued massage of neck moving fluids away from head is important.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ralph. In our case, we had Cooper evaluated by a rehabilitation specialist who found that that wasn’t the case. I think any dog experiencing any type of tremor should start with their vet, of course, and then it can’t hurt to explore other modalities.
My dog started having these head bobs at 10 weeks old. I ended up switching to grain free/no dairy diet and she stopped having them. I recently put her on a joint support medication because she is now eight years old and she started having them again. There was alfalfa in the ingredient. So I will be looking for a medication that has no form of grain in it.
My old guy just started having these. I thought they were small strokes and I knew if you quickly mop his head with a cold water cloth would help the “seizure”. It stops these tremors immediately. Now if I see SAM shaking his head I don’t need him to go through this for 3 long minutes. A sopping , cold water cloth rubbed over this face and head stops them in seconds.
I have an American pit that has these same tremors which last for a couple of minutes 2/3 times a week. Only started at about 18mos old. He seems to calm some when I rub the top of his head but I feel so helpless. This has happening now for the last few weeks. Thank you for sharing.
Their necks are out of alignment. Its easy for a professional to feel the misalignment. I’m an acupuncturist and massage therapist. Ive seen this with a few puppies and dogs. I fixed “all” of them after a massage of tight muscles and mild neck adustments to fix the animals cervical misalignment.
I also fixed a cat with same symptoms. Others had related to seizures… Initial misalignment can occur during birth or when young and feeding and competing for mothers milk. Our shitzu had relapses after chasing an older dog that would stop short suddenly…the puppy would plow into our terriers rear end and knock her neck out of alignment. Symptoms would reduce go away after treatment.
When alignment is corrected they might be very tired and sleep for a bit, the release of pressure causes a flood of fluids to rush up into head….so continued massage of neck moving fluids away from head is important.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ralph. In our case, we had Cooper evaluated by a rehabilitation specialist who found that that wasn’t the case. I think any dog experiencing any type of tremor should start with their vet, of course, and then it can’t hurt to explore other modalities.
I have a jackahuahua (jack russell/chihuahua mix) that has just started having these tremors or spasms this past week. She just turned 10. She is not a bully-type breed as mentioned in the blog. Is it still possible this is what she is having? Her tremors are smaller like parkinsons disease and less like a bobble head. Appetite is good, bathroom habits are normal, and she is alert during them, it just seems like her head is heavy to her.
I believe IHT can occur in many breeds other than bully breeds, but I’d definitely suggest a trip to the vet is in order just to rule out other possibilities! Hope your little one feels better soon!!
My dog has the same thing…the Parkinson’s look. My vet decided that it was an idiopathic seizure…. between my vet and the holistic vet my dog takes CBD oil and it has helped her quite a bit. She has had this issues on and off for years. The CBD oil also helps with anxiety and arthritis.
Do you have to have a prescription for that?
Do you need a prescription for that?
I have a Doberman that has IHT since she was a puppy and she is now 5. We rarely see the IHT since she has been on B-Complex once a day – when we do see it, it is because we forgot to give it to her for a couple of days.
That happened sometimes to my old dog, Ben, a purebred yellow lab. I figured it was from water in his ears or an ear infection, but it always went away so I never worried too much. He didn’t seem bothered by it and it only happened a handful of times every year. He’s long gone due to natural causes, but now I finally know what that head-bobbing was all about! Weird.
Wow. Well, so glad this helped you figure it out! It is so weird that it comes and goes. Cooper has gone many months without a single episode, then he’ll have several over the course of a couple days. So odd!
Thanks for enlightening me about my dog’s uncontrollable tremors. Was never able to get an episode on tape. Had many concerns, but didn’t know exactly how to describe it to the vet. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.
Thank you for posting, at least I will sleep tonight! My 2 year old rescue deist just did this and I was terrified, I got really emotional. I immediately googled it and found your video of cooper. Looks exactly what she did. I will still take her to the vet to be checked, but this will get us through the night.
Thank you so much for sharing Cooper’s story. I follow you on Facebook and have learned so much from all your posts. As a mommy to three fur babies myself, I’m always eager to learn what goes on with other pets and even more relieved to learn that my fur babies are just like most others and destroy everything 🙂
Thanks so much for the kind words, Maria! I am so grateful!! And your fur babies definitely aren’t the only destructors! 🙂 Whenever we buy a new toy, we place bets on how long it’ll last… it’s usually less than 3 minutes!
I had never even heard of this before. Poor Cooper and poor you! It’s got to be hard to watch your pup go through that. I’m curious how Emmett and Lucas react when this happens? Thanks for sharing your story!
That’s a really interesting question, Chloe! I’m realizing that I haven’t paid much attention to them when it’s going on because I’m so focused on Cooper, but next time I’m definitely going to see what they do. Thanks for inspiring me to pay better attention to them! 🙂
I also have three fur babies and my baby Bella a chiweenie experiences the tremors pretty intense. I watch the reaction of my two other dogs (a lab and a boxer mix) and they don’t seem to even realize what is going on.
Thank you so much for this post. My Boxer/Lab mix Ares has been having these since he was a puppy. After a 15 minute episode today I really started losing my cool, it’s hard watching my little guy go through this. I brought him to the vet and they blamed it on him trying to loosen ear wax, which wasnt the case, since he has no ear wax. I’ve been looking for an answer for 2 years, and finally today I found it. Thank you for the peace of mind.
Kristen, I’m so, so glad that this helped you! My suggestion to you would be to catch an episode on film – does your phone have a video camera? – that you can then take a show to your vet. That might help him/her understand what it is you’re up against instead of making assumptions!
Even though I haven’t dealt with this myself, I still found it very interesting, and this was such a help to others who have experienced it! And we never know what we might experience with our dogs in the future, so it’s always good to be educated on these different things, so we don’t panic if it does happen to our dogs. Especially since it’s so difficult to figure out when we should panic, and when we should just wait things out. Can’t say how much money I’ve spent at the vet’s for basically what just ended up being for my own peace of mind! 🙂
I am totally the same way!! We’ve had so many “just in case” visits to the vet, but I think paying for that peace of mind is totally worth it. I’d much rather know that everything’s fine then sit and panic… or tackle a problem right away instead of waiting to see if it gets worse! I’m with you!
Thank You for your blog on IHT. This has helped us a ton. Our boxer Brutis has recently been doing this. It is truly scary seeing him shake his head like that.
Thanks for sharing this Maggie.
My 3 yr old boxer recently started having tremors, exactly like Cooper’s. You have set my mind at ease….somewhat.
Hi, Brian. I’m so sorry to hear you’re going through this with your boxer. It’s a stressful situation for sure. I try to focus on the reassurances we get from the vets: they’re thankfully not in any pain. Best of luck to you!
Hi,
My staffie has the head tremors too! The first time I was a crying mess… After a few month break they started to become frequent so I went to the vet, did full blood test – all normal. So I took him to a neurologist and he said he didn’t think it was a brain tumor. Chico had an episode last night after another 3 mth break. I just distract him with food and it snaps him out of it. I think his eps have something to do with his wormer as when I didn’t give it to him for a few months they stopped. Last week I wormed him and it’s happened again. I also think when he is stressed out it brings them on (he is petrified of thunder). I hate seeing him like that, he is aware of it and becomes very clingy before it happens as if he knows something’s happening. Love my boy!
YES! The first time… oh, jeez… I flipped out. It’s weird because like Chico, Cooper has long breaks between tremors, too. Who knows what brings on the episodes, though I totally agree with you that it seems stress-related. Best of luck to you and Chico!!
I believe my bully’s occurrence of this is related to heartworm preventitive ivermectin. He has never had the problem until the last treatment I gave him and he has had the tremors daily since. One other time he had them when he was neutered. The sedative was still in his system. Once he slept for a few hours he was fine.
My puppy nike goes through it but they think it has something to do with her liver she is a doberman yourkie mix n bet says nothing they can do to help her
Hmmm… I haven’t heard anything about the liver from any of the vets I talked to, but who knows. Everyone I’ve spoken with, though, says the same thing… there’s nothing really to do. Just try distracting her out of her tremors. Good luck, Justin!
You have a Dobie-Yorkie mix??? How is that even possible? Trying to wrap my brain around THAT mating session. Whoa!
Sorry to get off topic. My 4 year old Frenchie, Willy Wonka had the head tremor today and it scared me so bad I nearly got sick. Am so thankful to have found this blog right away.
Thanks,
~Angela
Maybe look into a second opinion? I know vets are expensive but I’d want to see what someone else thinks before anything is done that can’t be undone.
Hi Maggie my yr old pit bull just started having these head tremors for the first time today I panicked and started looking everywhere on the internet at things it could be and came across your blog, I’m just wondering how u deal with about leaving him home alone while it occurs and what kind of food u feed cooper if that has anything to do with it? I’m really worried my 8yr old daughter has never seen him do this and I just want to make sure I’m at ease about it as much as possible before she sees it so it don’t freak her out! Thank you so much for the reassurance your blog has brought me!
Hi, Nichole: I’m so sorry you and your pup are going through this. I would definitely encourage you to talk to your daughter about it so that she doesn’t freak out. The common thread among all the people commenting here and in the posts I’ve shared is that the dogs can be distracted out of the tremors, so maybe teach her that if she sees it to call your dog to come, ask for a sit, a high five, etc. and give a treat. They tend to snap out of it after a few seconds, especially when being distracted! As for food, Coop is on the Wellness Core grain-free salmon because he’s intolerant to grains and allergic to chicken and beef… I personally think his allergies contribute to the tremors more than the food does. If your dog has any allergies, it could help to eliminate the allergens (or, at least, decrease exposure). Good luck! Let me know how it’s going for you guys!!
Interesting…. Our Cavalier King Charles, Milo, who is 10 recently started head tremors/bobbing. They are slower than Cooper’s, but like many others…. He can be called or distracted out of it. Milo also has beef and grain allergies. I wonder if that is some possible reason? So far everything has been negative including a Brain MRI. I am gonna try the vitamin B complex.
Thanks for sharing!
my little 14 pound mix is having
tremos? not sure I would call thwm tremors but he is twitching his head side to side, lilke he is on high alert. he cannot stop tis no snaping him out.
I am wondering if something is stuck in his throat? did not feel anything.
to early to go to vet not open until 9am. found him in hall at 2am doing htis…
any thoughts?
thanks for site.
ginny
Vitamin B1 😉
My 3 yr old Dobe has has the head tremors ever since she was a pup. After doing research on some thing supplementall that would work – we give B-Complex with a flax seed caplet daily. After about a week her head tremors ceased. They only come back when we forget a few days of giving her the two supplements. It is worth a try.
My baby Alistair has this. He is a two year old Labrashepherd. Thank you so much for posting this. He just started these head tremors tonight and i was worried he was having seizures due to past incidents. Our other baby, Roxy, loves to play bite his neck. Twice she has gotten her jaw stuck in his collar to the point of choking him out, a terrifying sight. After witnessing it for myself on the second time, I opted for no collars. I thought maybe lack of oxygen messed him up, but he is responsive and doesn’t seem to really notice them. Again, thank you for putting my mind at ease, and I hope Cooper is doing well. Also, he tends to have a weak stomach with certain dog foods. Would that possibly be due to an unknown-to-me allergy?
Hi, Becca: I’m so glad this helped! I would definitely encourage you to take him to the vet just to make sure none of those other past incidents are affecting or are involved in any way. As for the weak stomach and allergies… Cooper has THE weakest stomach. He is really a mess, and if he gets anything that he’s allergic or intolerant to, his stomach is where it shows up. It’s very possible that it’s an unknown allergy. Consider talking to your vet about doing an “elimination diet” to rule out possible allergies. That’s what we did, and it wasn’t easy, but we identified MANY of his triggers! Good luck to you and Alistair!
My American Bulldog male used to bite my female’s collar, get his teeth twisted and stuck. I found them one time with him (130lbs) pulling her almost lifeless (95lb) body around. I screamed for help and rapidly got a knife and cut the collar off and my girl could breathe again. I was so afraid it might happen again, I switched to harnesses. No problem since. I would advise harnesses for all dogs at risk of this playing that leads to choking.
Hi Maggie First thanks for your posts. My ten month old yellow lab (O’malley) Just started having head tremors five days ago. As you can imagine I have been reading/researching non stop since. It is heartbreaking to watch. Luckily It does stop as soon as I distract her.I too believe they are connected to triggers or toxins. O’malley has been on Glucosamine/Chondroitin/Msm for a few months. After researching those ingredients I found out that when taken all together you could have harmful reactions. Another side effect is itchy skin. Since she has been so itchy we have been giving her an antihistamine. I just found out that is very dangerous to take cold meds or antihistamine with the other supplements. When researching side effects with dogs-they do not mention this. I found it researching side effects in humans. I just hope the tremors go away after her body detoxes. I hope you and your readers find the triggers. I think no matter how great your vet is- no-one can just assume there is no cause. Yes it’s possible it’s genetic but our babies definitely deserve every angle checked. I hope for the best for everybody and thank everybody for sharing their experiences. We all benefit.
Best of luck to you, too! And thank you for taking the time to share your story. Wishing the best for you and O’malley!
My 14 month old staffy. Mya, had heat stroke three days ago, and was with the vet for 3 days on IV amongst other things. Since she came home she has had a couple of head tremours. Her liver function wasn’t quite back to normal and she will go for further tests next week. I will let everyone know if her increasing liver function resolves the head tremours. I have also read somewhere about calcium – and a dog being given frozen yoghurt maybe it was the calcium that helped(which may be why the cheese worked)or maybe it was the sugar.
My female Australian Shepherd has been having seizures (idiopathic) for the past two years and is on medication twice a day. She can have a single seizure or clusters while on two kinds of meds. She has just had her first idiopathic tremor on Friday Dec 20, 2013. I suspect it is a progression of a brain tumor (Meningioma). Thank you for the information.
I have a pup, 2 years old Pyrenees and Heeler. I do not know the difference between a tremor and a seizure, How can I tell? They started out 3-4 minutes and now are i guess lasting 15 minutes the last one… I wonder how many of these are harmless, I know this does not look natural. EMF? I wonder about Biosignatures Bio Geometry, and what signatures we need in place to help these guys. I know some say they do not notice, and I see my pup acting like it is not a problem but I do not like it.
Hello…first of all let me THANK YOU for this blog. Our 1.5 year old Vizsla had his first head tremor at the end of October. My husband and I were sitting there one night relaxing with him and it started…of course I immediately freaked out and wanted to rush to the emergency vet. I got right on Google and found your blog. Also realized that my nerves and anxiety would make matters worse. So thank you for the details, the video, everything!!! It helped us out trememdously that night!
We did take him to the vet after the second head tremor occurred a week or so later and he had a full health panel done (bloodwork, urine, fecal sample, etc…). As we all assumed, everything was 100% normal. Our pup is in extremely great shape (high energy breed and we meet those demands with regular hikes and lots of fetch). His health is tip top, except for these head tremors which are a complete mystery.
Exactly that has been mentioned on this blog has been our experience also: always happens as he is either falling asleep or sleeping already, a treat can pull him out of it, he seems to know it’s happening but is not bothered by it, he is fully alert. Our vet was even stumped as he had never seen this before (we caught one on video and showed him that way). I have now been keeping a log when they happen. There’s no rhyme or reason. He will go 3 weeks with no tremors and then end up having several in one day. We cannot seem to find a trigger. He is on a high quality food (grain-free even!) and we have now started supplementing “people food” like chicken, chicken livers (believe it or not, liver is an extremely nutruitious food), beef, eggs, bacon just because we wanted to see if any dietary changes helped…so far, no change.
So for now, we are just monitoring him. We decided not to send him for any additional testing because he’s also a very nervous breed and we aren’t going to put him through it if it’s not needed. We know our dog and he is 100% himself except for these pesky tremors that occur once and a while.
I hope my comments can also bring a bit of comfort/relief to anyone else experiencing this. The best thing you can do is remain calm since our dogs definitely sense our anxiety. I truly feel that he will live a long, comfortable, spoiled, happy life…tremors and all. 🙂
Found Solution !
I am not sure this will help anyone else but we seemed to have found a solution to our dogs tremors. We have a 4 year old female Vizsla and like most other people here have been trying to figure out why our girl was having these head tremors. We tried many of the suggestions here as well as Vet visits tests, etc.
over six months ago we tried a different approach. Instead of looking at what she was eating or her physical activities we considered cosidered what she was missing in her diet. We thought that possibly it could be something lacking in her nervous system so we tried giving her some greek yogurt. We would have an evening snack of some yogurt and then just leave a couple tablespoons in the container and let her lick it clean about every other day. Since we began (now over 6 months ago) she has been tremor free. We don’t know why (possibly something to do with electrolytes… who knows) but so far so good. Don’t know if this would help anybody else but it might, so I thought I would post this.
Calcium, maybe? And mine, who just had her first one recently, gets a LOT less sun that she used to, when she ran loose on a 40 acre property…
From what I just researched, Greek yogurt is exceptionally high in the Bvitamins riboflavin, B-12, , pantothenic acid, thiamin, and B-6. Together these vitamins are vital for energy metabolism and the health of the neaurological, immune, and cardiovascular systems!! No wonder people a few people on here have recommended B complex vitamins as well as greek yogurt. These head tremors DEFINENTLY have something to do with a lack of vitamins which correlates directly to which type of dog food these dogs are on!
I am going to try it. My Boxer mix will be 13 in just over a month. She doesn’t have these specific head tremors but more full body affecting her balance. She is standing there fine looking around and alert and then suddenly looks dazed and/or distressed and leans to one leg like she is losing her balance. Them she leans to the next leg, then the next, then the next until she has made the complete four circle. Sometimes at the end she doesn’t regain her balance all the way and proceeds to fall over but when she gets 1/3 of the way fallen down she struggles and regains. This has been about two years or less. In the last few weeks I have noticed that she also has these she is sitting down. She doesn’t fall over then because is sitting. About two years before the balance issues she seemed to have some form of dementia episodes where she got scared and lost even in her own house or own bed. We had not moved houses in over 6 years. Occasionally she did not appear to know me by site during these moments, but she did know my voice. So I calmed down, pushed back feeling sorry for her the best I could, put my big girl pants on during the episodes and reassured her. It helped, a little. Then I started getting toys and making them squeak (her favorite noise in the world). Anything familiar to “her” and kept it up until she seemed to come out of it. Later I had to call her to a new location with the distraction to end the moment. Maybe it was jump starting the brain and body together, but it helped. She seemed embarrassed after she came out of it for several months (or I was projecting human response onto her facial expression and body language). Now its a daily thing that do. Less confusion (or she learned to cope with the confusion), more four paw balance moments. I have always fed Pedigree. Puppy, adult, weight maintenance the last year, tried longevity but did not see any changes so back to weight maintenance yesterday. It is so hard to explain to the vet, I cannot get it on video because it lasts like 15 seconds, and my vet is not interested in elder issues in the least. I cannot seem to find one that is near Washington, Missouri.
Is your pup on Nexgard? This exact thing is happening to me right now and my vet is suspicious of the Nexgard.
FWIW, Cooper’s never been on Nexgard, but if your vet is suspicious, it’s worth looking into!
My boy Severn had an episode similar to that but his head would start shaking when he tried to go to sleep. When I would call his name he woke up and it stopped but then would start again as soon as he laid his head back down once before he closed his eyes even. He acted like he didn’t know he was shaking even. That was the first time I’ve ever seen that. It lasted about a minute and that was a couple days ago. I didn’t freak out it anything cause I new it wasn’t a seizure but it was weird seeing him tremble like he had Parkinson’s.
Our 4 year old pit bull mix, Lola, who looks a lot like Cooper suffers from these tremors. Lola absolutely loves fresh vegetables. We have noticed that if we give her any vegetables with skin, cucumbers for example, she tends to have a tremor. I gave her a tiny bit of leftover hamburger meat tonight, and didn’t think about it having green pepper in it, and she just finished having a tremor. It was about 2 hours after eating it. We wonder if it may be a reaction to pesticide on the skin of the vegetables. She is perfectly fine and responsive during the tremor as well as afterwards, and soaks up the sympathy too!! It makes me sad to see it happen, but it would be much worse if she seemed frightened or bothered by it. Just a thought from what our observations of Lola’s tremors are.
I would have to GUESS that you are correct and it is the chemical pesticides. Hmm, you are eating them too. Time to grow a garden for most common vegetables. Try that and see if it helps. I am going to try it. My Boxer mix will be 13 in just over a month. She doesn’t have these specific head tremors but more full body affecting her balance. She is standing there fine looking around and alert and then suddenly looks dazed and/or distressed and leans to one leg like she is losing her balance. Them she leans to the next leg, then the next, then the next until she has made the complete four circle. Sometimes at the end she doesn’t regain her balance all the way and proceeds to fall over but when she gets 1/3 of the way fallen down she struggles and regains. This has been about two years or less. In the last few weeks I have noticed that she also has these she is sitting down. She doesn’t fall over then because is sitting. About two years before the balance issues she seemed to have some form of dementia episodes where she got scared and lost even in her own house or own bed. We had not moved houses in over 6 years. Occasionally she did not appear to know me by site during these moments, but she did know my voice. So I calmed down, pushed back feeling sorry for her the best I could, put my big girl pants on during the episodes and reassured her. It helped, a little. Then I started getting toys and making them squeak (her favorite noise in the world). Anything familiar to “her” and kept it up until she seemed to come out of it. Later I had to call her to a new location with the distraction to end the moment. Maybe it was jump starting the brain and body together, but it helped. She seemed embarrassed after she came out of it for several months (or I was projecting human response onto her facial expression and body language). Now its a daily thing that do. Less confusion (or she learned to cope with the confusion), more four paw balance moments. I have always fed Pedigree. Puppy, adult, weight maintenance the last year, tried longevity but did not see any changes so back to weight maintenance yesterday. It is so hard to explain to the vet, I cannot get it on video because it lasts like 15 seconds, and my vet is not interested in elder issues in the least. I cannot seem to find one that is near Washington, Missouri.
The garden comment was in reply to the green pepper burger pesticide post. The software added my recent post to it. Sorry. Please fox that if possible. Thanks, Tonnie.
Cannot thank-you enough for this post. Our rescue springer-lab cross had his first seizure this evening and leaping first to epilepsy your post & video has calmed me down and given me all I need to cope/help.
Thank you for all your posts. 🙂 I too have a Black Male Lab, “BP”, who first started having head tremors in Dec of 2012. They started out slow and far apart, (months I mean) and now are occurring once a week. 🙁 I have taken him to three different vets, and all tests are normal. He has no allergies and has never been sick. Only to the vet for shots. He was on Innova Dog food his whole life until the recall last year Feb 2013, when we switched over to Core Wellness Grain Free. He gets wholistic supplements , including salmon oil in his food, eats fruit , veggies, and occasional meat or fish. He is normal, plays and swims, and is very laid back. Nothing unusual to report, but these scary head tremors. (exactly like Cooper) I have too researched the web in search of answers, and am about to go a Neurologist next week. I wonder if there is some connection here with the food we are feeding our dogs or in the water? Some common denominator…
Hi Diane, my english bulldog has been having frequent tremors as well and we were considering a visit to the neurologist. Any word from him/her? How did it go?
Thanks!
Hi Amrita, I have an English Bull dog that has had the head tremors for a week now. It has been so scary and exhausting for our family. We also took her to the vet and we now have her on seizure medication called zonisamide caps 25 mg. My vet has kept her for a few hours to watch her and said it is weird how she is alert and he has never seen a dog with a seizure be that alert. They gave her an IV with valume. I hated how she was while on the valume, I will not let them put her on it again. We also thought about the new flea collar Seresto. After reading people’s reviews and researching the harmful ingredients in the collar, we immediately took it off. We were so sure that this was it, she started showing positive signs and was more like herself again. The head tremors have become less frequent. Now we are having three and four a day. I will not put the collar back on!!!!! The ingredients are so harmful. But sad to report, we are thinking now that it is something else. She too only does it when sleeping and when head stops shaking is very alert and playful!!
Please report what your neurologist says to you. We don’t know what else to do!!
Diane, thank you so much for starting this blog. I at least have a little piece of mine again!! I am afraid to leave her alone!!!!! I will keep in touch with anything new that happens with our Bella. She is like my child and watching this is killing me!!!! I don’t want to loose my “Best Friend”, especially at only three years of age!!!
Thanks!!!
Robin Delp
Hi,
thank you for your feedback. did your neurologist gave you any advice? my baby is 3 years old and she is a pocket boxer. I saw her first episode yesterday and I am extremely freak out. any word of advice will help tremendousley.
thank you,
Freddy
Hello Diane. My rescue chihuahua pit bull mix has had two tremors within the last two weeks. I just switched her to merrick small breed about a month ago. She loves merrick and has even gained weight. Previously she ate pedigree. I understand pedigree is a low quality food but I have owned dogs all my life and have had zero food issues with dogs living well beyond expectancy. My Bernese mountain dog is 13 and has eaten pedigree her whole life. My rotties lived to 14 on pedigree. This is the first time I have ever seen a head tremor in any dog I owned. She was fine with no tremors when she ate pedigree but maybe it is circumstantial.
I am interested to know if it is in fact a food issue.
Thank you for this wonderful blog.
The merrick food I am feeding my dog happens to be grain free. I wonder if there is a connection?
Hi Kathy & Brian,
I just read your post about food having skin on them. We give BP lots of fruit and veggies, with and without skin. (Cucumbers are one of his favorites) I’m going to pay attention more to the with skin issue, you may be on to something. BTW, if I may ask, what dog food do you feed Lola? I was wondering if there is some connection with the Grain Free, No by product, etc., dog foods, which also have fruit and veggies in them…
Thank you so much for posting this my boxer baby started having these within the past year and it freaks me out so bad. Luckily I stay calm which keeps him calm but I never knew what it was and assumed seizures. Now I know and I know what to do to try and snap him out of it. atleast I don’t have to take him to the vet because theres nothing they can do for him. This was a huge help.
Thank you for your post, my 4 year old Am. Bully Lady Banana Bug suffers from me. The first time it happened I freaked out!!! But then I started giving her something with sugar in it when she has one and it seems to kick it right there. Usually I will let her luck 3-5 spoons of vanilla ice cream and poof the tremor stops. It’s so weird, but I’m glad I doesn’t hurt her or seem to bother her.
We are doing the same thing. A couple of licks of vanilla ice cream.
We have a boxer shepherd mix that suffers from head tremor syndrome. When he has an episode we give him a spoonful of peanut butter, he focuses so much on licking that the tremor stops. We have no idea what triggers them, he can be just sitting there for no reason and starts head bobbing. Does anyone know if it affects their longevity at all? We’d be devastated if we lost him… Thank you for this thread.
P.s. I noticed increased frequency with Trevor’s tremors when his front line was applied. He has had these tremors since he was a year and a half old, he is now 4. Hr doesn’t have but a half dozen a year or so now. From what I know of these tremors its probably not related to front line but it makes me feel like I have some control over them. I mean, it is a pesticide applied to his skin.
P.s. I also stopped using frontline or any pesticides on our dogs. I noticed increased tremor frequency after Trevor had a dose of frontline. He has about a half dozen tremors a year now. But before it was several a day. Or at least one a day for a week. They seemed to come in clusters. He was Tremor free for a few months and my husband saw him have one the other day.
Ali, I’m glad you took your dog off of Frontline. I discovered two years ago that the poison in many of these topical medications that attracts/kills the fleas and ticks actually does affect your dog. Someone said it shortens their life by as much as 25%. I have used cedar oil, which is expensive but effective, and more recently, have been using a homemade concoction I found on the Internet that includes four parts white vinegar, two parts water, and one part each of vegetable oil and lemon juice, all mixed together and applied using a spray bottle. My two Basset hounds did not have any fleas last year, and I only found ticks when I accidentally let the applications lapse (you need to apply at least once a week in the summer).
My 7 yr old pit bull recently started having the same symptoms reported here. He has allergies and I recently switched him to Grain Free (Bil-Jac). I noticed a few others have posted about their dogs being on Grain Free diets. I am wondering if this is possible the symptom of something missing in their diet (or something related to the sugar levels in the Grain Free diet). I saw a few people mention that feeding their dogs ice cream or peanut butter seems to help, that could be due to the re-focusing of the dogs attention or it could be that the dogs sugar dropped. I am going to try giving a Tablespoon of ice cream or peanut butter the next time. I want to thank all who have posted here… I feel much better about the situation and will remind my family to remain calm when the tremors occur (it is such a hard thing to watch).
Thank you so much for posting this. Cooper’s head shaking is exactly like my boston terriers. We took him to the vet after a couple months of these tremors and the X-rays and blood work were negative. Then they recommended an MRI for $2,000! Also recommended steroids and anti seizure meds he would have to stay on for ever. He is in no pain at all and besides these episodes completely normal and happy. I just hope they disappear as quickly as they came and out if no where.
Do you have him on any anti seizure meds? Bella is taking them and I am thinking of taking her off if they do not help.
We just brought home a Border Collie from the animal shelter, yesterday, and noticed the head tremors this morning. They gave us a 30 day insurance, but it doesn’t start for two days. We videoed her with the shaking and sent it to the shelter. We couldn’t help to wonder was this fear (she is very timid), whether her previous owner kicked her in the head/throat (as she has yet to bark), but to see this video… we can only guess that it’s the same. Our poor babies.
Thank you so much for your blog – I have also a french bulldog puppy who recently started to tremor like this…..I found you blog really helpful – I read it and immediately decided not to panic after his first episode – gave him a spoonfull of liquid honey and that seems to help immediately every time………… I recorded one episode he had today just in case his condition will get worse….. I at least can show the doctor what I am talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4w2Uk0-ox4&feature=youtu.be
Anyways good luck to you all with your dogs – best from Iceland
Thank you! I rescued a springer spaniel 3 weeks ago and yesterday for the first time he had a tremor. It was terrifying. I felt so helpless. I took him to the ER vet and they did blood work all was normal. They said it was seizure activity but it was definitely the same thing as your video. He had another tonight. I am going to take him to my regular vet and see what he says. I was able to get tonight’s episode on video. It’s reassuring to hear everyone say it seems to have no effect on the health of the dog. Thank you.
I can’t thank you enough for posting this information, been so I’ve been so worried used at these tremors I took my dog to the vet tried to explain it he didn’t see anything wrong with her so I videotaped it sent it to him he still was sure about the trimmers. thought maybe it was a sleeping disorder because it happens just as she’s going to sleep it’s happened 4 times now, each time I try to make note of what was going on. the first time I was baking cookies then I thought maybe it was her ear drops, the only thing that was reacurring was it was is happend as she was falling a sleep.
My dog just started doing this and it has happened two days now (4 days apart) just as she’s falling asleep. It wakes her up and she seems frustrated she can’t sleep. We also have a newborn baby and the vet thought it may be stress related due to that. Her vitals and blood work are all normal. I’m trying to decide if we should go see a vet neurologist
I have a 1 1/2 year old American Bulldog, Oliver, who has been having these tremors occassionally for the past couple months. It looks exactly the same as the video of Cooper. It seem to happen when he is waking up or in a pretty relaxed state and only last for a minute or two and then he is perfectly fine. Of course, I tend to panic when anything out of the ordinary happens to one our of dogs and go running to the vet. Thanks for sharing. Oliver has an appt. in a few weeks for his check-up, but I thought I would do a little research in the meantime and felt a little better when I saw this.
I have a 6 month old yellow lab, she has had 2 episodes of head tremors, one my son observed today. He also thought a seizure. It sounds like no one has an answer from any vet. Since the vets do not know any thing, is it fatal? Is it genetic? I have her full brother who will be 2 in June. He never showed any signs of tremors only wheat allergies. I can’t afford a vet bill and since she plays and runs without any symptoms, I have hoped it would pass.
Priscilla
OMG! I rescued a dog and she has the same tremors. I watched your video and she does the exact same thing. Thank you for the post.
Thank you for sharing this information and the video of Cooper. We have had dogs for 25 years and never experienced this so when our new puppy Buttercup had one of these episodes the other night it completely freaked us out! We will be taking her into the vet to get checked, but your post and video have put us at ease a little bit. Also loved your suggestion of videoing an episode to take to the vet. We also have Buttercup on a single protein with sweet potato diet due to what the vet thinks is an allergy to chicken. We are also going to try the sugar trick to see if it stops the tremors a little faster. Your post will also help us with talking to our kids about staying calm when the tremors occur as they were obviously upset the first time the witnessed it.
Since I posted my last comment on febuary 1st. I have switched my dog to raw food diet, I took away all twisted fake bones, all processed food, kibble and treats…..his raw food consists of fresh lamb meat in which is added a bit of cattle blood, cattle stomach , calcium, vitamins and minerals. I then add to 20 kgs of meat around 4 kg extra of cooked and grinded vegetables ( broccoli, spinach, carrots, celery and sweet potatoes as well as handful of blueberries ) with each meal a give a teaspoon of flax seed oil or fish oil, and a teaspoon of cottage cheese or yogurt with acidophilus. For treats instead of giving him processed dog candy I give him a bite of apple. – For 10 days since starting this diet he has not had any tremors at all. =o)
Oh forgot to mention – I combine all the food and put it in zip lock bags ( portion size in each ) in the freezer( baking paper between each layer of bags so it doesn’t frees together ) and twice a week I give him raw ( frozen but not cooked ) lamb or cattle bone with a tiny bit of meat on…..just to make his teeth cleaner and stonger …… he loves that – XOXO – but for being calm I always keep the liquid honey at hands reach – just in case of a tremor =o)
Oh forgot to mention – I combine all the food and put it in zip lock bags ( portion size in each ) in the freezer( baking paper between each layer of bags so it doesn’t frees together ) and twice a week I give him raw ( frozen but not cooked ) lamb or cattle bone with a tiny bit of meat on…..just to make his teeth cleaner and stronger …… he loves that – XOXO – but for being calm I always keep the liquid honey at hands reach – just in case of a tremor =o)
I have a 13 year old min pin who had head trauma about a year ago. He recently experienced 2 seizures in a 3 day time period. He now has head tremors and body movements that resemble slight bouncing movements. They don’t seem to bother him but occasionally he will fall into a sit position. I won’t allow him to be put on any anti-seizure mess due to his age. It’s just heartbreaking to watch my sweet old fur baby age so quickly.
MY MIN PIN JUST STARTED ABOUT A WEEK AGO AFTER HAVING A SMALL SEIZER, MY DAUGHTER IS GIVING HER THE VANILLA ICE CREAM AS WE SPEAK TO SEE IF THAT HELPS SHE HAS THE HEAD TREMORS EVERY DAY UNLESS HER HEAD IS DOWN, SHE’S ACTIVE EATING AND DRINKING USING BATHROOM FINE I DID NOTICE WHEN JUMPING ON MY BED SHE IS HAVING A HARD TIME, DUE TO HISTORY OF SEIZING WILL TAKE HER TO VET BUT TRYING THE ICE CREAM TONIGHT HOPEFULLY THAT WILL HELP.
Thank you so much for this post, Maggie. My four-year-old Basset hound, Joe, had a few of these as a young dog, and eventually stopped having them as my vet said he probably would. He just had another one this morning. He was recently diagnosed with kidney disease (cause unknown). The PetMD website article on this topic (http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/neurological/c_dg_tremors) says that kidney disease can be a possible trigger for these. I was wondering if any of your other readers have dogs with kidney issues who are also experiencing these head tremors? Thanks so much.
This web page is a great resource… thanks. As far as I (or the vet) knows my dog does have kidney issues.
Try placing your thumb right behjnd the bottom front teeth and your index finger under the jaw and press your fingers together like pressing a doorbell and hold for a couple seconds
My white lab does this. She is 10. When it first started there was nothing on the internet. We took her to one of the best vets, she didn’t know. This has been informative.
Thanks!
Hey, everyone! I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to respond to everyone’s comments, but this has been an awesome discussion. I’ve learned so much for your experiences. Just wanted to give you a heads up: I created a “Tremor Tracker” to monitor Coop’s tremors, and I’ve made it available for download. Click here to go to the post and then download the Excel file: http://ohmydogblog.com/2014/02/idiopathic-head-tremors-updates-download/.
Hope it helps!
Thank you so much for this article! When I watched the video I knew I had found the right information. My dog tends to have these episodes while asleep so at first it was as if he was having a bad dream. When we can get his attention and get him focused on us and he sort of becomes aware, if that makes since, he snaps out of it.
My dog is 7 years old and we are very thankful the episodes are rare but they are alway very worrisome. Sending big than you’d and warm thoughts for Copper!
Thank you so much for posting this! I witnessed this for the first time this morning on my dog Rufus (retriever/rott cross) and I was sure I was in for thousands of dollars in vet bills! He shook exactly like your dog, Cooper, in your video. He didn’t seem distressed and it passed in a few minutes and he was perfectly fine afterward. What a relief to know what it is!!!
Oh poor little Cooper, you must want to bundle him up in your arms and hold him ’till it’s right again. At least I do.
It does look a lot like a seizure except for the fact that he’s awake and aware. That kind of makes it worse knowing he knows something’s going on. Beau used to have grand mal seizures but, while they were awful to witness, knowing he wasn’t in pain or afraid through it helped me be able to handle it a little better.
Thanks for offering a guest post from a vet clinic to help explain what’s going on.
I have an 8 months old Corgi ( Eddie). The dog sitter saw the first head-shaking just before xmas and today I saw it for the first time. Back then we had him at the vet’s and did all test, full blood work and he was normal. He eats Royal Canin Puppy and gets only the odd organic treats. This tremor lasted about a minute and after that he was fine again. It’s just so scary to see this and wonder if it is a tumour or something 🙁
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for posting this! I have a 4 year old pit bull who has been having tremors ever since we found her wandering the streets when she was about 6 months old. I’ve asked several vets and they really don’t know and have just made guesses that it is something she ate or maybe an ear infection. I’ve NEVER been able to get an answer… I’ve even video taped the tremors too to show the vet. That’s why I’m so thankful for this blog because at least now I can put a name to the condition.
I would like to add something that others on this blog may find interesting. My girl with the head tremors had puppies and we ended up keeping some of them. The puppies are now 3 years old. Just the other day we noticed one of the puppies is now having head tremor episodes. Don’t know exactly what that means but if I had to guess I’d say that the head tremors are either genetic or there is some genetic condition like an allergy or sensitivity to something that is causing the tremors. I still have 6 of her puppies (all the same litter and all grown adults now) and only 1 has shown symptoms at this point .
I have a 7 month old pit bull whom I rescued from the streets. When we got him he was skin and bones and would jump at every little sound. I couldn’t imagine the horrors he may have experienced. I am happy to report that he is at a healthy weight now and a happy,loving boy who loves to cuddle. But in the last couple months or so he has began having head tremors. It scared me so bad, I didn’t know how to help him. They only last a few minutes and he is responsive while it’s happening. I googled it and came across your site. Thank you so much for explaining this. And I just love Cooper! What a beautiful boy <3
Hi, my border collie cross Zeke has head tremors as well, but he is also epileptic (grand mal seizures). The head tremors are a new addition, they only started a few months ago. I have had Zeke for five years (he is seven now) and he has been having seizures since I adopted him. The head tremors show up a few days after a seizure episode and he will have them off and on at varying degrees, for about a week. I call them his aftershocks, with the seizure being an earthquake! He is fully aware and responsive during them and if I can get him to focus on me they will stop until he changes his focus. Just seeing what I can find out about them. The more informed I am, the better able I am to care for him.
Thank you so much for this website, my dog a mixed lab does this and it makes us feel so helpless, we do notice it stops when we get her to drink some water but she will only drink out of our hands during the episode. She is fully alert, but I notice when it happens she get very clingy. She is our baby and our kids get upset, but we try and remain calm and just love on her, but it is hard to watch.
My Doberman Max has head tremors. It was scary and I did take him to the vet. Although the vet told me it was a seizure I explained that he remained fully alert when his head was shaking. I do give him a treat when it happens and that seems to stop them. I did notice that he started to get them when he became stressed. Since my husband is in the military we move quite a bit and it seems that they happen more when we start to pack and get ready to move. He is a very sensitive dog and any major change seems to bring the on tremors more often. We do try to keep him calm and reassured.
Maggie my name is Jen I have a 5 1/2 yr old red nose pit mastiff mix i rescued him at a year an a half old! He has had head tremors since a couple months after i rescued him! It freaked me out at first because i had no clue what was going on! I contacted my vet and he explained the tremors to me and how to try and snap him out of it! At first calling him and getting him to sit and focus worked. But then after awhile they were more frequent and lasted longer! My poor Dozer! The vet said if i had gotten him as a pup and it started as a pup he could’ve helped him! But because he’s an adult there’s nothing he can do! So now i get him to focus and give him twizzlers! Because he has to chew and chew it helps them stop! Today he had one and it lasted longer than any other! After 3 twizzlers and his daddy going into another room and calling him and me calling him back it finally stopped! It lasted 7 minutes! He froths at the mouth while chewing but he is always alert! Thank God! But until today after reading your posts and seeing Cooper’s tremors i didn’t know what they were actually named and that they won’t harm my baby! Dozer’s tremors are very similar to Cooper’s just that Dozer’s head moves back and forth quicker! Thank you very much for your posts and the much needed information! People like you ate a God send for people like us! God puts amazing people on this earth for a reason! I’m so glad and blessed that he put you here to help us all! Thanks again!! Jen/ Ocala Florida
Kristen is your dog on seizure medication? My toy poodle who passed last month suffered from grand mall seizures and he was put on phenobarb to control them and it worked great!
Wow Maggie… thank you soooooo much for having this blog. My 1 year old Bulldog, Irish Setter and Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix had her second episode of the tremors. My partner and I were freaking out last night and were about to rush to a 24 hour hospital when I started googling what it could be and found this site. I feel somewhat at peace because I know my furry baby and I aren’t alone. I hate seeing her go through this though. I know they say for us not to panic but it’s so hard. I wish I could take away her tremors or transfer them to myself so I wouldn’t see her like that. Thanks to everyone who is posting their experiences. Thanks for the tips too! I will try snapping her out of it next time or try and give her some treats <3 <3 Raven's tremors are exactly like Cooper's.
My 18 month old Eng. Bulldog was doing rapid bobbing, vet told me no cure, stopped the good dog food, lean ground beef cooked with little water until almost dry, cooked rice, cooked veggies, ricotta cheese, van. greek yogurt 2 calcium pills per day. Not one head bobbing incident 3 months. Does this prove anything ? not really. New problem however with rear leg stiffness. Xrays taken ?? calcium ???
Hi Maggie,
Wow thank you so much for sharing this and for posting a video. I’m a mommy to three wonderful fur babies all Labradors one of each color. Recently while my husband was away on course, he serves in the military, our precious yellow lab had a tremor so bad that I rushed him to our emergency vet. I had no clue what was happening I thought it was a seizure. I cried quietly my whole drive to the vet, tears rolling down my faces but not making a sound so as not to scare my boy Chance(he’s only 5yrs old). He sat in the back shaking his head off and on. Out vet was great she did blood work and Chance even had a small tremor in front of her. Blood work all came back ok so she talked to her neurologist vet friend and between the two of them they seemed to think it is idiopathic head tremors. So we keep a log and take video when Chance has them. It is so heartbreaking to watch our precious boy suffer with them and I wish I could take it away, but I feel better knowing we are not alone. And the suggestions made here will help me to stay calm when it happens to him. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and the info on this. It is never easy to see our fur babies suffer but I for one will do anything to help them any way I can. Thank you 🙂
Hi Maggie
I have a 2 year old boxer I read your post it’s put my mind at rest a little my poor dog she not having much luck she has thyroid problems as well. Will these tremors get worse she only had 2 that I have seen. If I tell my vet about the idiopathic head tremors will she believe me as they did not pick it up before. Thanks
Hello Maggie,
my female bulldog just started having this syndrome today. I was very stressed out and was going to take her to the vet, but I first did my research and found everything I needed to know in this site.
My bulldog just had babies on the 19th of March.
do you think having the babies eat her milk all day is going to affect more???
Hi, Mario:
I really don’t know! I only have experience with males, so definitely ask your vet about that.
Best of luck!
My dog lab has got this and she was put on tablets called epilise which are for fits but have now compleatley stoped thease tremmors!! She was having around 20 a day and were very vishus so i am so happy we tried these tablets !
I have a 14 month old Bulldog (Peaches) who has this syndrome, I took her to the vet, for a full series of tests, everything came out normal. the attacks come in clusters…….5 or 6 days of them, then nothing for months….she acts completly normal even when she has them, i can snap her out of it with a biscuit.(she has a very strong food drive) But the scare the sh*t out of me. I wish they didnt happen…..I beleive (based upon) observation there is some connection with sleep….or should i say lack of sleep………she tends to get them more when shes very active and not had her 14-16 hours of sleep pe day as most dogs do. I asked my vet about that and she was skeptical about my observation….. Although Peaches has had hem in her sleep a feew times, and when I awaken her, she cotinues to have them until i give her a treat, then they stop…giving her a treat ALWAYS makes her stop. BUt it still upsets me to watch it….Yes like the article says, its like she has Parkinsons.
PS thank you sooo mudh for your blog/post, its nice to know your not alone with your problems and that they are not detramental to my Peaches
My initial reaction I think would be to hug my dog and hold on to him. Would that be a bad idea? Could that hurt him?
THANK YOU so much, for addressing this issue. My Joe Joe, has head tremors, just like Cooper ‘s. It scares me. I pray and gently hold his head, when it happens. It is good to know that we are not alone. Thanks again.
God bless you and Cooper.
Hi.
After switching to raw food diet the tremors in my frenchie almost completely stopped. He is very very healthy and energetic – However if someone gives him something that consists of very high protein source his body uses so much energy to digest the food that his insulin levels drop…..making him have those head shakes – and he needs sugar ( honey or a banana ) to fix it quickly…….at least in my case I can pinpoint the few tremors he has now with food intake that consists of high protein and meal/grains – so this might be result of their body not being able to break down proteins….. ? Just a thought……at least I recommend you try a strict raw food diet just to check if your case is similar to mine….Love from the land of ice and fire XOXO
Hello. Thank you for this article(?). Just now, our dog was suddenly shaking her head and it looked involuntary. My cousins who were boys looked so scared about it, suddenly yelling about our dog having seizures (it scared the hell out of me too).
I thought it was our dogs ears that have something since the site I searched about dogs shaking their head said so. I even called my mom about it. T^T
The video helped a lot since i didn’t know if Idiopathic head tremors looked like what our dog was having.
Once again, thank you.
Hi – update from Iceland.
Like you have read in my former posts, I switched my frenchie to raw food, with oil and teaspoon hemp seeds in every meal – he was tremor free for 3,5 months. Then I ran out of hemp seeds and the store did not have them for a week. In this week he did not get any hemp seeds, he got 5 tremor-episodes. Just something to think about. Can Hemp seeds really be such remarkable product with such amazing ingredients that they “cure” this unexplained factor ?? – Just a thought for you all.
XOXO
Me like the rest want to thank you very much for sharing. I have an 8 month old Engam bulldog, and was sitting here watching tv looked over and saw my buddy (Chulo) having an episode. Yes, I started freaking out until I noticed how responsive and unaffected he seemed. Looked it up and found this blog. Thank you again so very much. Poor little guys.
i find the food Dosent matter to snap my 15 month old Bulldog out of it, its just getting her to change her attention, and focus it on a task (eating, chewing,chasing a ball)…I can snap her out of it in seconds….How ever my observation, in some way i beleive it is connected to sleep (or lack of it)………..my bully gets them more often when she hasnt slept all day and shes running around and stops to rest, Like on the weekend, when im home….when she sleeps most of the day (like dogs do), she tends not to get them….and ofcoarse they come in clusters………is it a diet/vitamen difecency……??? I dont know….but id make a wager its attached to sleep deprevaton…….Just my 2 cents……
I have a rescue staffie, Sam, who has recently started having these tremors. He is a fit healthy dog, about 6yrs old. The first time it happened I was terrified as I had no idea what was happening to him, had never heard of this before. We were curled up on the settee together when it happened, no apparant trigger. Next time was about 3am, again he was asleep, no apparant trigger. Last night, about 2am he had another, this one lasted 5-6minutes which was worrying. Again he was asleep. I’ve read about other people distracting their dogs with food but I’m afraid he may choke? I tend to give him a snack afterwards as the vet said it takes up alot of energy. Are these something they grow out of? Or are they likely to get worse?
Sue he wont choke, (providing it is just the tremors, and all his other behavior is normal)…….i can snbap my dog out of it in less than 10 seconds…….is NOT just the giving of food, as much as changing his focus of attention……….so just giving him a biscut, may not do it, I give my Bulldog yogurt,..(he loves it)……so its making him come to me, sit and then licking it off the spoon, that gets him to stop……its Not the yogurt….its changing his focus…….try it…..i can sometimes get my dog to stop with out any food, jsut by calling him and tossing a toy at him to play with……good luck, they are scary things when you first see them….anad i beleive that in some way they are connected to sleep or he sleep cycle…………larry
Thanks for the video, my dog has this. She is an American bulldog…glad to know this is a breed trait! I can relax a little now!
Thank you so much for sharing.
Our 2 year old Mini Schnauzer started this on Sat and just like you said we rushed across the city to the animal hospital to find out what was wrong.
They actually thought it was poisoning from a store bought flea and tick med we put on him. They gave us muscle relaxants for him that worked like a charm BUT he is off of them and the tremors are back, Charlie’s are a bit different, they happen only at night time just before bed???? like 9-930 at night, once a day so far.
Today he pulled himself out of it and got up and ran to play.
I don’t know if my mind is at ease now or I am devastated for charlie.
Do you know if there is such a thing as a natural muscle relaxant? maybe it will help our dogs?
Thank you so much for posting this
Hello I have a 4 year old English Bulldog he has always had head tremors since he was a puppy. He doesn’t have them too often though.the first time he had one it scared me so bad. I took him to the vet we did blood work and everything came back normal. I watched dozen of videos and did tons of research. The vet and I figured out it didn’t seem like it bothered him so we stopped testing. I figured out that if I give him food he stops .which makes us both happy.i keep a peppermint candy with me at all times for him.i have them in mason jars all over my house, his treats only.
Hello, I very glad your blog came up when I typed in Head Tremor. I just experience this with my one & a half old Basset (Fred). I’m not sure if this is what it is because he urinated on him self. He seemed to not know what was going on. I took him down to the vet & told them what he was doing. They said it sounded like a seizure, they gave him a shot & took some blood. He had another one while waiting. I had the doctor come in. He seen it & gave him another dose of medicine. It stopped him from bobbing but within seconds he had another but this time it didn’t last long. He urinated all times & he was responsive to me. His blood work came back negative. They was keeping him for the day to see how many more times he will do this. This is so scary. I’m reading everyone’s experience but have not seen if there animals had also urinated while in the tremor.
Hello, I very glad your blog came up when I typed in Head Tremor. I just experience this with my one & a half old Basset (Fred). I’m not sure if this is what it is because he urinated on him self. He seemed to not know what was going on. I took him down to the vet & told them what he was doing. They said it sounded like a seizure, they gave him a shot & took some blood. He had another one while waiting. I had the doctor come in. He seen it & gave him another dose of medicine. It stopped him from bobbing but within seconds he had another but this time it didn’t last long. He urinated all times & he was responsive to me. His blood work came back negative. They was keeping him for the day to see how many more times he will do this. This is so scary. I’m reading everyone’s experience but have not seen if there animals had also urinated while in the tremor.
I am so glad to find this post! I have had my dog for a year and the first time I saw her have a head tremor I flew to the vet too! They had no idea what was happening and really didn’t give me much information. My dog is a beagle mix and she is 5 years old. When I adopted her they said that she had an ear infection so she had head tremors but it would go away when the ear infection cleared up. I didn’t know, so I trusted that they did. When I watched your video of Cooper I was so relieved to see that someone else’s dog does the exact same thing. I do the same thing that you do, I make her focus or give a treat for a command. This usually snaps her out of it. I wish I knew that real cause of the head tremor but I am learning to live with it. Thanks for the post and the information!
Omg poor cooper I really hope there is some kind of help out there that they will find. I have an American Bully he is about 1.5 years old he is such a great dog. He had the size to side tremors tonight. It lasted about 2 minutes. He just woke up so fast and his head started shaking I was so scared. But after reading your blog I feel so much better it hurts me to see him this way but knowing it’s not life threatening makes me so happy. But will have to work on getting this out there so there can be a cure.
I have a 3 year old corgi and he shows the same traits, but reading the articles it seems more prone in bulldogs and labs and those such breeds. I started freaking out when I saw him doing it. He was responding to me and I was petting him trying to get the shaking to stop. He seemed fine after about 10 minutes, but still dont like it.
Hi
For three weeks now my 1 1/2 year old Aussie Shep has been having these. My local vet didn’t know what was causing them so we drove 3 hours to a specialist in San Jose and he did an MRI and spinal Tap, both came back normal. Initially before San Jose, after the tremors he seemed fine. Two days after San Jose, his energy level dropped significantly as has his heart rate from 110 to 52-65. Not sure if they are connected or not. Blood work is normal, they did a tick panel too (for things like Lyme Disease) all came back negative. Today and one previous time they lasted so long the vt gave him Valium to stop them. Just picked up a prescription for Zonisimide an epilepsy med. had been on Keppra but he was still getting tremors. I don’t like giving my dog drugs but am as a loss of how to treat these.
It is reassuring to know others are going through this too. Sometimes re-focusing his attention has worked but not every time.
I also feel like one time excitement set them off, I got out the can opener (canned food is a rare treat for him) and they started then stopped after a couple of minutes then started again when I got my car keys, another happy noise for him as it means he gets to go for a ride.
May have to see a cardiologist regarding the heart if it doesn’t improve in a week or two. Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences.
should i leave her be or should i take her straight to the vet? my little girl is only 2 and today is the first day ive ever seen it, i honestly thought she was having a brain anurisem (how ever its spelt) it terrified me so much i burst out into tears and tried calming her by holding her head and just gently patting her, she looked at me as if she was so scared and needed me to help but i didnt know what to do 🙁 i dont think ive ever been so scared in my life! i wouldnt be able to live with out her! it started in her sleep, then i woke her and she was still bobbing her head up and down, i thought it was just shivering cause she was cold or a dream but shes started doing it again (ive only noticed it while shes laying down in bed with me cuddled up)
I’m so sorry, Tayla. I recommend taking her straight to the vet in case it’s another condition. You can start ruling things out before it’s determined to be IHT. Good luck.
Hi Maggie,
I have a pit (staffie) that had his first episode @ about a year and a half old when he got a multiple vaccine that had the lepto in it. I was told then that a lot of dogs have a reaction to the multiple vaccines that have lepto in it. He has not had any tremors for about a year and a half until this evening. I also, after his first episode took him off all grains and added omega 3 ‘s to his diet. Steel is a very muscular dog with very little body fat, so I feel that may be contributing to the issue since this would be considered a neurological issue, and the brain needs good fats. He is a momma’s so I figured since I was in a class this weekend and was gone for two days it has upset him. I’ve also noticed it does occur when he is relaxing. I do want to thank you for your blog as it does help to hear what everyones experience is so we can compare notes. No doubt it is frightening. Again thanks and God bless you and Cooper.
Previous comment was suppose to say Steel is a momma’s boy. I left out boy. Lol
Hello, my doberman also has it. Vitamin B1 helps administration at a dose of 0.8 mg / kg and a reduction in the amount of carbohydrates in the diet for the protein. It is suggested that there is a genetic disease.
Greetings from Poland
Hi ZYTA,
How much does your Doberman weigh and how old? I would like to try B1 for our Dobie who has these tremors but was unsure of dose (he is 1 and weights 110 lbs). I plan to call the vet as well to discuss B1 supplements but thought I would see if you had any success with it? And did you find that it is it too much carbohydrates or too little protein? Want to attempt to modify his diet as well.
I’ve not supplemented with B1. Give my Dobie general vitamins which contains some B1 daily plus her breed specific diet. So far has eliminated the head tremors. Good luck!!
just want to say my dog gets these a lot, used to worry me but a year or so later we just take it in our stride, if i throw her a biscuit she’ll catch it and it stops automatically.. could it be caused by a nerve in the jaw? (just a guess)
Thank you so much for posting this information. My 2 1/2 year old bulldog started with these on Friday, July 4th (pre fireworks) and they have been continuing through the weekend. No pattern or regularity. He walks around while having the ‘shakes’ and responds to his name. He seems to respond to us sitting with him and stroking him while talking, he returns to ‘normal’ and is off and running. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post!!!
My 1 yr old Bedlington cross Whippet had an episode for the first time on 4th July but it lasted such a short time I didn’t really know what to think. He had another episode yesterday and a longer one today. Only about 2 mins though. Vet wasn’t open so decided to google. We are so pleased to know it doesn’t seem to be anything too scary. Plan to log all episodes before taking any further action unless he seems to be distressed. Thanks again for the post. Dawn in West Yorkshire, England.
I have a 13 yr old Labradoodle who started experiencing a significant up and down head bob about 6 months ago. It doesn’t look like the video that was posted – its more like a jolt like he got shocked… Does anyone think this is the same thing? They don’t seem to bother him as much as it bothers me. I told his vet and they didn’t seem too concerned. Sometimes his head bobs (or jerks) cause him to lose his balance and he has fallen into either a sitting position or even fallen down. If anyone has any input I am all ears! Thank you!!
We have a 3 year old special needs puggle, Sully. He’s got all kinds of anxiety issues, so when he presented with tremors this evening alarm bells went off. Thank you and Cooper for helping us. He’s been fine all day, and started bobbing his head a little slower than Cooper but very similar. It stops and he falls asleep. If he wakes, it starts again. We’re going to journal and video for the next few days, and hopefully it’s just the IHT. His ears look good, he hasn’t gotten into anything, so I don’t think it’s anything toxic. Thanks for this resource.
My dog ??has the same problem. She’s 6, 65 lbs, a mix of labrador and husky. I feed her with Orijen (sugar and cereals free and also bio). She has had that symptom for 4 years, so I had time to study it… The length goes from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. My dog, ??with a labrador physics, but the mentality of a husky, so whining at the slightest injury (as if it is the end of the world), do not complain when it happens. It’s normal that your dog loses his balance ; his sight follows his head movements. Also, your dog will respond to his name or commands. By the way, there’s a lot of “info” on the idiopathic head tremors, but the cause remains unknown (http://www.examiner.com/article/idiopathic-head-tremors-boxers).
Here’s what I figured:
– this happens after long hours of physical activity, tremors occuring the same day or within two days;
– or when my dog smells too much things and for too long within a day;
– this occurs when the dog is lying down, so at rest;
– it does not occur in the winter when there is snow.
To remedy these symptoms:
– give a series of commands, especially “come” when you are at the other end of the room (don’t make him run!), followed by “sit” and “lay”;
– otherwise, take a toy or snack and shake it in front of the dog in the tremors’ opposite direction: you need to draw your dog’s attention, make him focus on something.
Sometimes these tricks do not work. When the tremors are too severe, my dog ??gets up and comes to me and looks at me almost telling “make ??them stop.” As a last resort, and when the tremors are too intense, I hold her head against my body and pet her calmly so she can relax. In this case, I count three minutes of head shaking, instead of 5.
I hope this will be helpful!
My dog fudge is starting to have these head shakes,he’s a pure breed Australian shepherd. .at 9 years old.. feel helpless when it’s happening but he still listens well..
This article brought me much relief to put a name to what my dog has been doing and to know it doesn’t really affect him. However upon reading the comments, mostly everyone has pit bulls who does this. Our dog is a chihuahua and, even though his symptoms match this to a T, I wanna make sure if anyone knows that it’s still normal for them to experience this as well?
From what I understand Mallory it is predominate in the bull breeds but can affect any breed. I also want to know how many people noticed this acuring shortly after giving their dog the multiple vaccine with leptosporsis included in the vaccine. I’m told that the lepto in vaccines can negatively affect some dogs and I wonder if this could possible be causing HT in some of these dogs.
I have an 8 year old shih tzu tha received the leptospirosis vaccine last week and has had two episodes (that I’ve seen) of these head tremors since.
My bestest buddy woody my mini daschund had a head tremor for the first time today…it frightened the life out of me and my husband….over the last two weeks he has been worked up to a frenzy because our other female dogs were in season and his testosterone must have been working over time…he was howling constantly and would not settle…it’s only over the last few days he has returned back to his normal loveable self…….he hash a head tremor this afternoon that only lasted a couple of mins while he was asleep in the sunshine…then this evening he had another while my husband was there..he was totally responsive and not at all distressed…my husband just calmly spoke to him and the tremor disappeared….I’d already googled this and found your site…which I might add has elevated a lot of concerns I have….we are now going to monitor woody and if they continue increasingly obviously a trip to our vets will be the next port of call…….I had never heard of IHT until I did a little research…thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Hi Maggie,
My boy Tex (he’s a pit bull) just had one this morning, over the past year we have had him he’s probably had maybe 3-4. The first time it happened he was with his trainer and as soon as she told me about it I started doing research on it. He fully aware of what’s going on, alert, responsive to commands, etc. What I learned with Tex is that as soon as I give him a treat, or a spoon of peanut butter it immediately stops and it doesn’t come back. I found your site because I wanted to show my co-worker what idiopathic head tremors were. I hate seeing my boy going through that, and I haven’t video taped it yet because the less he has to have the tremors for me it’s better because then I’m not stressing….but they don’t really phase him at all. Petting him, giving him love, etc doesn’t help. I think they need to do something like chew, having some sweet, in order to refocus. It has worked EVERY single time with Tex. Just a suggestion in case anybody else hasn’t tried this with their baby. 🙂
guys for what its worth. I started (about 2 months ago) giving my 16 month old EBD one tums in the morning, and one in the evening……and low and behold she has not had any episodes since.Could it be a coincidence? Perhaps, could she be out growing them?? Perhaps…In my frantic research when she first got them , I ran accross some articles that, they tend to out grow them if they have them as puppies….also other articles suggested that they might be casued by a calicum deficiency..(even though i had a thorough blood work up on her, that showed nothing abnormal) Anyway, I figured 2 tums aday couldnt hurt her……..”knock on wood”…..she hasnt had any since……..Ill keep you posted…
I came across your website and so glad I did. We have a 15 month old EBT/Staffie Cross who about a month ago starting developing head bobbing going from side to side. Obviously we were really worried and have been keeping an eye on her – when first started they seem to happen nearly every day for about a week and then all of a sudden she did not have any for about two weeks and then all of a sudden she had one yesterday. As others have stated they do look really scary but don’t seem to affect her she is responsive. It is helpful as to what other people have done with regard to treats/sugar etc and if she has another episode will try this. If these escalate will take her to the vet. Thank you for your sharing your experiences it certainly has helped us. She did have her booster vaccination on 29th July
Oh wow thank you for posting!!!
I just glanced over at my American Bulldog a few minutes ago and he was swiftly shaking his head back and forth, and right away I thought seizure! I immediately googled searched it and you were the first thing that popped up and I clicked on. Thank you SO much for posting the video and sharing your experience! I honestly was super worried and about to drive him to the vet. Bubba is 4 and this is the first time that I ever saw him do this. After watching Cooper’s video now I know what that was. Bubba was responsive and looking at me while it was happening. That was the scariest thing I ever saw him do.
Thank you again!!!
Thank you so much for posting this blog and especially the video. We rescued a mastiff/pitbull mix and have had him for over a month. Today, he started shaking his head repeatedly. I thought it was a seizure, but it was different than the seizures I have seen before. After doing a google search, I found this thread. The video of Cooper is just like what is happening to our dog, Sparky. I was wondering if you have noticed that it comes on due to stress. We just got back from the groomers and it was a bit stressful. Iwould love your insight! Thank You!
Thank you for this info. Our 14 mo English Bulldog came in from outside with this! I googled head bobbing and found you. As soon as we offered him food he stopped shaking and is now looking at us like we are goofy! Other 3 bullies are annoyed they did not get extra dinner!
I also thank you so much for this information. My gotti pitbull had side-to-side tremors recently and I freaked. I was preparing to go to the vet ER when I found this blog. Thank you everyone for the insight. I had no idea.
Our 3 1/2 year old English Bulldog, Sofia, has had these tremors/seizures periodically in the last 11 months (we rescued her in early September 2013). Sadly, Sofia’s have sometimes been quite severe, lasting MORE than five minutes and affecting her two front legs as well, particularly if she’s laying on her side. We cannot distract her from them with her ball, treats, etc….they simply have to run their course. Our vet has assured us that it’s not epilepsy because she doesn’t lose bladder or bowel control when they happen. She went four months w/out one, and then she had a TEN MINUTE one yesterday. Maybe it’s because we bought her some different treats, and we think it could be some sort of additive in those treats. When we had her on a high-protein diet (mostly salmon) last October, she had them every other day. We switched to another kibble, lower in protein. This is very scary, but we just have to continue to love her and live with it. After every episode, we do a training session to see if she’s lost any cognitive ability, and no she hasn’t. I was unaware that so many MIXED breeds can suffer from this affliction. It doesn’t ease my pain, or my Sofia’s…it just makes me sadder. My prayers go out to all of you my dear friends, and your beloved four-legged children.
Lita, try putting her on a NO GRAIN diet and add omega 3’s to her food. There is a lot to be said about grains and the GMO’s (imparticulear) If your dog is sensitive to them it can affect them just like it does people and now they are discovering that the GMO-grains are causing lots of neurological issues in people so it just may very well be that it is affecting our animals as well. I have taken my pit off all grains and I have added Omega 3 oils and he is much better and rarely has these head tremors. It’s something everyone on this site should at least try. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms…
Sofia is currently on turkey and sweet potato. We think it might have come from the treats she ate…you check the back ingredient list and they have some fillers in them. Thanks for your help. It helps!
Thank you for showing this. I wanna hug your adorable dog. My dog shook for about 10 secs and i was scared. Thanks for the video.
Hello Cooper I hope you are feeling better there buddy you made me cry very much because I haven’t seen a dog do that before I hope there may be a curer out there some where out in the world that can help you buddy to get better so you wont have 2 feel that pain that your owners are going through right now and I they say that you cant feel it but I know deep down you can feel it buddy.
I got a puppy to and she is a rednose pitbull cross with a shai pe shes my world and my every thing to me I will be so sad if she went through the same thing as you buddy I wouldn’t know what to do I would cry every day to the LORD to heal her and make her better and I am praying four you buddy to get better I am praying to the man upstair to heal you and to make you more stronger when you were fit and healthy before you got sick I pray these things our son and our savior AMEN xoxoxo.
Love U Always Buddy Even Know I don’t Know It Feels Like I Do.
Love U Heaps From Krystal And Kattleya
Sorry four the mistakes I was typing to fast. xoxo
This is exactly what happens to my dog Frank, he is 1 and he had his first episode after he was de-sexed he had 1 or 2 each day for a couple of days after. It happened again after he was put under yo have a small operation on his toe and then this week after he hurt his back. I am starting to think that the anti-inflammatory (rimadyl) is the cause.
It may also be the anesthesia depending on what they use.
Thank you so much for posting this as our Lhasa Apso puppy ELSA had this tonight and we felt the same as everyone mentioned before. Thought this was Parkinson like and this is what I searched and came up with your blog. We did call the vet who said not to worry and watch her and will probably be fine. It is so re assuring that others have witnessed this and that it is not just our wee girl puppy who has this. Thank you.
Hi. Thought I would share my experience with you all my collie cross Bonnie suffered from these tremours for a few years they weren’t regular and there was no pattern that I could see to set them off if she started with a tremour I would get her excited and they would soon stop. I spoke to vets and various other people about these fits/tremours and nobody knew, and of cause when I took her to see the vets she wouldn’t exactly listen to me and have a tremour there and then so they just had to take my work for it.
The not knowing was worrying me
Bonnie was putting on a bit of weight although very active (a bit like me lol) so I changed her dog food since then she’s never had a tremour of any sort again.
Maybe it’s worth a try for u
I have a female doberman who is now 7 years old. Her head tremors started 3 years ago (only head, no other body part). No apparent injury or accident to cause them apparent. The length of time varies, the time between episodes varies, different things can trigger them. Keep a diary over a long enough time and you will begin to see little things. More occur in the morning or when waking up (this is an occurrence with seizures too). At first they thought they were seizures (I’m still not certain) and she was put on phenobarbital after she experienced cluster episodes (numerous episodes in a 24 hour period) over a 3 day period (please bring your dog to your vet if they are frequent for an evaluation). She still had break through episodes on the phenobarbital but the tremors were very short in duration. The Pheno didn’t make her sleepy (she is hyper to begin with), so that was good but the Pheno caused bladder issues resulting on having to take Proin. She is always aware during the episode, she can still walk because she always seeks me out. She appears concerned and confused with what is happening but I don’t see any pain. Once in awhile I see problems with her rear legs after an episode (they just don’t function normally for awhile). Generally, over time her episodes are getting more frequent. She has had numerous neurological exams at our vet and full blood work that doesn’t show anything wrong in any other areas. I feel the Phenobarital is helping even though it hasn’t stopped her episodes completely. Unfortunately, our budget does not allow for her to see a dog Neurologist (spend between $2500 – ??) and yep there are specialist dog Neurologist. So I plug along with reading and learning.
When an episode occurs, I speak her name softly to be sure she is aware of her surroundings, get her to lay down and relax while I keep talking to her in a soothing voice and the episodes seem to stop sooner. If possible, turn off any radio or tv (I’ve noticed loud noice bothers her more now – she seeks quite places) .. also, pull a shade to make it a little darker. These are things they do with dogs with Epilepsy too. I also noticed that that back of her head/neck can become very warm and almost hot the longer the tremors go on. Another good reason to get them to stop as soon as possible.
I feel if its not seizures, then it is still something neurological going on. I feed her a home made diet specific for dogs with seizures (no processed dog foods or treats anymore). She loves it and in general appears healthier verses when she was on commercial dog good. Treats are now carrots, broccoli, green beans, apples. Bottom line, I’m not spending any more money for the organic meat and organic veggie’s at Costco. I do a big crock pot on the weekend that lasts the week.
When other dogs are around her during an episode (like her sister), they too are aware it is happening and seem concerned. Even though she has these head tremors
Even though she has these head tremors, she is generally healthy. Loves to play in the yard, go on walks, take long hikes with us, ect. I feel that getting away from the processed dog foods has helped also (no preservatives, no fillers, ect.). Also, I give her a good vitamin/mineral supplement too.
I rescued my boy Tex a year ago July 6th. He had his 1st tremor at his trainer’s facility about 3 weeks after he went there (which was about a month after we got him out of the shelter). He rarely has them, but I have noticed in the last 2 months he had 3 as opposed to having maybe 1 every 2-3 months. Now, that could be because maybe we just weren’t around to see it. I did research on it and read a lot of info, they all seem to say the same thing….it’s not hurting the dog. This is a video I captured today. When the tremor starts we just refocus him with a treat and it goes away immediately. That is unless we aren’t giving him enough treats (sometimes I think he does it on purpose….lol) He isn’t aware it’s even happening and nothing else seems wrong with him so I do not get too worried. I just don’t like seeing my boy shake like this. 🙁
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1520654348146912&l=177334792692911425
My english Bulldog suffers from head tremors. She is on phenobarbital since 6 months and since then she doesn’t get them often. They can last 15min though. She is hardly ever alone and i am wondering what could happen if tremors or seizures occur whilst she is by herself without me?
Your hear a lot that its nothing to worry about. Some say they are not seizures but then there are some who feel they are a mild or mini seizure. I’ve also been told that some dogs can work up to full seizures after having head tremors. Someone is usually home for our dog in case she has one that doesn’t stop. Our vet gave us liquid Valium in a syringe to give her rectally if they go on for too long (its absorbed fast this way verses by mouth and stops them). If your pet does progress to other symptoms associated with full seizures and the Phenobarbital doesn’t control, then contact your vet to also give KBr(potassium bromide) along with the Phenobarbital to prevent the seizures (98% of the time, the two combined stops the seizures). Read about Canine Seizures to know what symptoms to look for. Our Dobie started posturing which is also a seizure symptom (extends her head way up and stretches her rear legs way out back). Sometimes after a more severe head tremor, her rear legs will have a difficult time functioning normally (not permanent but can continue for half a day). These things make me think it can be neurological or can progress to full seizures. My concern with the longer ones are that her head / neck gets extremely hot and afterwards she has the problem with her rear legs. Some breeders say to induce the yawn action and it will stop. Guess getting them to eat something can produce the same action (people tell you to give them treats or lick peanut butter off spoons, ect. to stop the HT.) Our vet was concerned with the longer head tremors and when she started to cluster together the heads tremors within a 24 hours period (multiple times a day). That was when we put her on the Phenobarbital. Again, the clustering is more of a seizure type action. Just a suggestion, but if you are concerned for times when you are not home or if you are away from home for the most part of the day , you may want to discuss adding the KBr with your vet. Except for these head tremors, our dog is happy and healthy. Good luck!
Thanks. I am particularly concerned coz we move overseas soon and my bully has to travel in a box on a plane for long plus 10 days quarantine where i cannot be with her. She tends to get head tremors when under stress or as soon as we want to leave her alone. But i cannot leave her behind when moving. I will discuss adding the potassium bromide. With my vet.
I’m so relieved to have found this site. I have a pure bread English Bulldog that had exploratory surgery a couple months ago… After the surgery he started having these same types of tremors. Like a couple per day. Then when his staples were taken out he seemed to not have them any more. The the last few days he’s had one or two a day. But it’s the same thing his last for about a minute but no more than 3 and he is aware. It usually happens when we are just relaxing…. So when they start I try to get him to walk a bit and that seems to help. He can still do the stairs and everything.. Thank you so much for sharing… My vet said that he’s no in any danger but did prescribe a sedative incase he doesn’t come out of it like he has been.
I had this long thank you, but some how I back spaced it and its gone. My 2 year old pit bull just started doing last night out of no where and then this morning he had three episodes, ugh I thought he was dying. Thank you for setting my mind at ease that he is not the only one experiencing this, I’m so afraid that his brother Benny is going to start doing this as well because they are from the same litter. And of course we have called all the vets in town and it’s a Sunday, they all say “just keep an eye on him”. So now we know what we are dealing with, thank you so much. I think that this is the first time since last night I was able to take a breathe. Thank you so much!
Just a suggestion but be sure to have your vet run blood work. There are other things that can cause the head tremors (such as thyroid levels being off, ect). Rule out other causes with the blood work first. The vet can also do a physical neurological check at the same time and can let you know if they see any concerns there. We have two Dobie girls from the same litter and her sister has never had the head tremors. Also, watch what you feed because could be a food allergy??
Our Riley started getting these head tremors only a couple days after surgery. She is 2 and just got spayed, but we also did her 2nd vaccinations when we got her spayed as well. She was a stray, so the vet has aged her at about 2-3 years old. I’m so glad I fiuns this forum, I’ve been so worried and have no idea what it could possibly. Like manybhave mentioned though, it appears as if she’s bobbing her head and we’re able to get her to stop by distracting her. It only happens when we’re laying down and she’s almost asleep. At first I thought it might be a nervous tick because of the pain from being spayed but the pain meds the vet gave us didn’t appear to effect it. It comes and goes though. I read the link aboit the lady that bred huskies that had a lot of success using calcium supplements so im going to try that and will follow up in hopes that it helps and maybe gives someone some ideas too. Im also considering changing her diet as well, we feed our dogs natural foods for sensitive tunmies (our pitbull, Ladybyrd has food sensitivities) but maybe something else will help. Any suggestions on foods that have helped or you’d recommend?
Juliana, I have EBD, (rescue at 11 months old) that has them, I give her a Tums in the morning and one in the evening (calcium) It appears to have reduced the frequency of her attacks…….but they came in clusters………for a few days….then nothing for a few months, then a cluster again….BUT I agree there is some association, with sleep/waking…….cant figure it out……yet i can re-create them in her….if i startle her when shes sleeping…..(loud noise, clap of the hands)….she will awaken with them………i give her a treat and they are gone in seconds………..I dont know what it means….but i thought id pass on the info………
Larry,
Thank you for sharing! This is very helpful and I will give it a shot. It’s definitely interesting that you know how to trigger them, I hope in the near future some more studies for this mystery are released!
Originally we pulled her from all food except her vet dog food for weight management in an attempt to determine an allergy. Slowly added other things back in on a weekly basis.
We could not connect her initial head tremors to an injury, surgery, vacinnation, ect. so tried the allergy ellimation.
I eventually switched our Dobie to the diet shown on canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/healthy_diet.com. Used organic food. Was provided by a dog nutritionist/vet.
I had paid for a diet to be formulated based on the breed and perhaps having epilepsy but unfortunately Wm. Cusick was ill and never recovered enough to create before he passed away last year.
His wife sent me his book for the Doberman breed which contained recipes and then I combined ingredients missing from the Epilepsy recipe for good measure.
She loves it! No toxic farts, no doggie vomits, less waste (seems to absorb more of the food). If it helps with the head tremors, I can’t say but her coat and health since the change is great. I tried a couple of high end Vet dog foods but she does much better on the home made diet. Must remember to supplement with vitamins/mininerals. I have two nieces who purchased Wm. Cusick books for their dog breed and when we compared, they were different and each had different ingredients. They too feel their dogs have thrived since put on his diet. I prepare every Sunday for the the next 7 days.
Preparing the food, the cost is less verses the high end vet dog food I was using. I buy organic meat and veggies from Costco for her food. Using a crock pot, its easy. Put all in pot and let cook all day. None of the dog foods I was purchasing can even compare. No more weight problem either (got rid of all the fillers used in dog foods).
Our Jade isn’t a picky eater, so its easy to find treats (carrot, broccoli, apple, ect.)
A couple of well known breeders we know use Life’s Abundance. I’ve never used. You can’t buy it locally but they deliver directly to your door.
All food for thought! Good Luck, Jeanne
Thank you, Jeanne!! This is awesome and absolutely worth a try, even if we’re unable to link it to the tremors (yet haha). Thank you!!
Hi Jeanne,
How can I order Cusick’s book? Have a 1 yr old Dobie who has these tremors and would like to look into a home made diet for him. Thanks!
Oh it’s also worth mentioning when she was spayed they also did blood work and she is perfectly healthy so it appears to be unrelated and more neurological. Calling the vet in the morning.
i too had a complete blood workup on Peaches and just about every other type of test my vet could think of……….she ruled out epilepsy, and brain tumor……sje said its just plain old tremors and theres a chance she might out grow them when she hits about 3 years old (she will be 2 nect week)
Hello from Edmonton Alberta,
My now 15 year old Dobermanns head used to twitch 2 years ago, after putting her on Thiamine it has been greatly reduced to less then 5% a day. |Sometime it would continue and cause her to fall to the ground or become unstable, especially crinkling of packages or her nails clicking on the floor.
ohhh and our girls blood work was fine…it didn’t reveal anything that was causing the head twitching. She actually has melanoma cancer, she had 2 surgeries but the cancer came back and the third time. Justice was then given unti \christmas to live before the cancer woud become so large that it would start putting pressure on organs or begin growing in other places. Our vet asked around (his colleagues) and one, an oncologist recommended DCA “Dichoroacetate”
http://dcawatch.com/home/ along with Thiamine, miraculously the tumor stopped growing and after a week or so the we saw a huge reduction in the head twitching, fast forward 4 months Justice is doing great, blood work is great, and no cancer has grown. She had obviously been deficient in this area. (Neurolgical condition)
Hi to all, read a few are staffys that are suffering, i have a baby staff who was off from birth with balance, at two weeks was not developing as well as the rest, three weeks I took her to the vet as she wasnt moving around like her brothers, vet wanted to put her to sleep..after stating she was in no pain, i took her home with some antibiotics..at four weeks she was starting to move around but backwards, went back to vets neither if us were sure she could see or hear, vet still recommended to put her sleep, i took her home…i beileved this puppy would pull through..vet wanted me back again a few days later..this time ten days after first took her to the vet she was walking around a little unstable..she licked the vets nose and was playing with him..but vet still said to put her sleep…he believes it is neuorological…she is now almost 8 weeks…a normal puppy with a shakey head from time to time, if this was what the vet believes surely she wouldnt have caught up with her brothers, been stable on her feet, be learnint basic commands etc…she has a head bobble with a no gesture, she will come when called and her eyes follow people etc around so she can see, she can hear, she can play, eat unaided everything a puppy should do..i think about it and i am happy i didnt listen to the vet, in my eyes she is a healthy puppy who just likes to say no from time to time…whe has learnt herself if she lays her head down on her paws it stops, I will try upload a video for all to see…once i workout how to upload to YouTube
Perhaps she will out grow it, im hoping mine will(shes 2 years old today,) ive done alot of research, and they say alot of dogs outgrow it by the time they reach 3 years old.
My 5 year old Yorkie has head bobbing, but he is unstable at times and can’t stand without his body weaving. He acts ok, he eats, drinks, goes potty and poop ok. I don’t know what is wrong with him. I took him to the vet and they did all the blood tests and they were ok. Now I have an appointment with an neurologist next week. That will cost $150.00 plus tests. I already pain $200. for the blood work and vet visit. He don’t seem to be in any pain. He runs with the other dogs. When he gets to wobbly he lays down.
Thanks for listening’
Janet
My two year old blue pit just started with these. I brought her to an er vet thinking it was a seizure they said it could be a localized seizure or idiopathic head tremors. After the blood work came back normal it was safe to say it was idiopathic head tremors. What gets me is she has been so healthy and BAM she is diagnosed with this. Everything she gets is all natural food, flea and tick treatments, and treats. The vet told me to make big loud noise when she was having an episode. If they get worse or she doesn’t snap out of them then we will need to have a neurologist meet with us. Thanks for the information. And if there is anything else I could do please let me know thank you!
Our Dobie has had the head tremors. They would be severe at times. As a last attempt, I obtained a recipe breed specific for the Dobie. I devote 3 hours ever week preparing the food for a full week. She loves the recipe and but no elimination of the hear tremors until I hit the 3rd week when they decreased and the 5th they were totally eliminated. Fingers crossed because into 5 weeks with out any head tremors as of today. I had read about breed specific dog recipes but thought it was just another fade until my niece said she had her dogs on this diet for 2 years and both her dogs were doing much better and were generally healthier. Wm. Cusick died last December but his wife and friends are still providing the books. Since he has passed away, you can’t obtain a custom recipe anymore but I just went with the Doberman recipe without any changes. I had a epilepsy recipe and had intended to add anything form the epilepsy recipe to the Dobie recipe but doesn’t appear its necessary. I had a friend buy two breed recipes and combine them for her dog of mixed breed. Her dog had other issues but is doing much better now too. Try to get your dog to yawn or open mouth wide to break pattern. Some feed a treat or put peanut butter on a spoon and it helps. Good luck!
Thank you for your post on Cooper! I have a “white” 2 year old Pit Mix (Lola). She came to my bedroom this morning, crawled into bed and as she was falling asleep she began to have head tremor exactly like Cooper only slower. Very upsetting. She responded to my commands to get up and go outside but her head was still shaking for 2 minutes. She had another episode an hour later as she was falling asleep on my lap but responded well to treats and verbal commands. I am at a loss as to what could be causing this. Very disturbing but comforting to read the experience of others. Note: I have read that the tremor syndrome is primarily seen in white dogs and certain breeds.
My boy Tank just had one today for the first time ever. He is not even a year and a half old yet. 🙁 his sisters haven’t had any signs of this so I’m pretty freaked out. I cried and cried and took him to the vet. They checked his ears (for cheat grass) and he pooped himself. The vet was awful and she wanted to get a blood sample but I refused due to her horrible attitude. (There is a lot more that happened it’s just to much to write.) I took him home and he has had a couple more little tremors but he seems fine. Perfectly alert and eating like a pig. So I’m not sure.
Ps for those with little kids and trying not to scare them, I described it as really fast hiccups but in their head.
I have a English bulldog name Tyson , the first time the head bobbling happen we were on vacation, I was freaking out calling the vet from thousands of miles away, at tat point it happened quite a few times and stopped he was 3 years, now he is 4 years it happen a few time! Don’t know what to make of it, it’s scary and feeling of helplessness.
My english a bulldog matrix was having bobble head periodically a couple times a month this will go on for a couple months and then he would have a break for several months. However it seems that any time I am in the kitchen preparing food, a bubble comes on; could he make himself have bubblehead to get snacks? With previous bubbles we’ve given him yogurt or honey but now I’m wondering if he associates shaking his head for treats . Is my dog that smart?
Oh my gosh–thank you so much!! I was so worried about my Lyla (6 month old pit) who just recently started doing this and I was panicking not knowing what it was. I didn’t think it was a seizure because she was totally aware and responsive during. But seriously thank you. I noticed she started doing this after having to go to the vets and get a Benadryl shot and steroid drip from having hives all over. I thought maybe she was just stressed from the drugs but she just did it again and it’s been a couple weeks from that issue. I will continue to monitor and be at ease now knowing what it is.
I think it is important to assess your pet carefully. It’s probably advantageous to also think globally. Meaning, consider what is good for brain health in general and supply those elements, i.e. B vitamins, Omega 3 EFA’s, remove off all grains, look to see if there are other symptoms throughout the body indicating other nutritional deficency’s. And it is still a good idea to have your vet take a look at your pet to rule out any other possibilities. Because unlike humans Parkinson’s affects young dogs. It also would have other symptoms as well but when dealing with neurological issues you want to get a jump on the problem before they lose too much function…..
Hi all,
First, thank you for posting this video! As my English bulldog started having the exact same head tremors as cooper a couple weeks ago and got me pretty worried. I had met someone a while back at my vets office who told me when seeing my bully that hers had head shaking problems no one could understand. She told me she found a trick for him to get over them faster and that was by giving him sugar. When my bully had his first episode, I remembered that but opted to give him honey instead. It made it stop right away. It’s now been a few shaking and the honey has managed to stop them short every single time. I suggest you try it out. I searched if honey was ok for dogs and haven’t found anything negative about it. I don’t give him much but enough for him to get a few licks out of it. The last episode he had seemed to make him confused or worried of what was going on, I really hope it will just stop suddenly just how it started.
Thanks again for sharing!
Believe its more the licking action verses what food. Many have said they give peanut butter, ect.
Sometimes a yawn can stop the tremors. If no food around, I’ll take my dobie’s mouth and open her jaws wide to simulate a yawn and its seems to work too. Or asking her to bark works some times too (anything to get her mouth to open and close).
It’s been 5 years of tremors now but drastically reduced now that I cook her Doberman specific food for her. Since her diet change we are down to perhaps 1 per tremor per month now. So perhaps a nutrition thing? Was never happy with the mass produced dog foods. I’ve had a few times I was hopeful and I thought the tremors were gone (a couple months without tremors) but then one will happen again. All just food for thought.
Good luck, Jeanne
I have an 8 yr old lab/beagle mix who has been doing the head tremors for about 8 years. There are times we will go awhile without tremors and times he will get them a few a day, every day. I have noticed right before they start he will be a lottle more clingy. I am sure his are anxiety related. He doesn’t like booms and we live on a military base so the nights of loud artillery make it worse or stormy nights. Also if my kids get too loud playing he will start. Also stressful times like moving or long trips will bring them on. Usually he is pretty easy to snap out of it with treats or just giving him a calm quiet area to calm back down. Throughout all of the times he is always alert and responding. It is just sad to see his big brown eyes looking at me, I feel like he is pleading with me to make it stop again. I know it doesnt hurt him, but it has to be irritating and frustrating for him.
I want to thank everyone who has shared their experiences on this. My yellow lab has been having these on and off for 3 years, and like everyone else, it freaked me out to see her. My vet had thought it was an ear infection, even though I tried to explain how her head shaking seemed to be involuntary. We treated her for ear infections, as she DID always seem to have one, and they would stop after her ear was cleaned out. She has allergies…food and environmental so we have been treated her for her allergies, too, thinking that was the cause. I am not sure that we have found any solutions to her allergies yet, (but have spent a ton of money on her) and she still has episodes of head bobbing. Like everyone else, I think it bothers me more than her. She is 6 years old, and other than this, a very happy dog. I agree that it does not seem to bother her all that much, and she is alert and fine otherwise during them. I do sense a theme of many of these dogs having allergies, or something missing in their diets. I finally got her on video and showed my vet, and he says, yes, they are head tremors and didn’t seemed all that concerned. I will be talking about it more very soon with him. Like others, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the timing of them, although almost always when she is at rest. I am trying to just treat it as something a little peculiar about her and we all have our idiosyncrasies. And again, it seems to bother me a whole lot more than it bothers her. Thank you everyone for sharing, and I will keep checking here to see if anything new shows up.
Last night I experienced this with my pup Guinness for the 4th time. He is a lab mix rescue, almost 3 yrs old, 46 lbs. He is very active and healthy (as far as I know). Every episode I have witnessed has been when he is relaxing next to me. Last night was the most dramatic and scary, so I started googling for info and found this post. What Cooper is doing in the video is exactly what I witnessed with Guinness. He also was responsive and when I prompted him to hop off the chair and interact with me he did with no issue. It’s so scary and sad to watch. I’m hoping it’s nothing more serious. I plan to monitor for future episodes and also ask about it at his next vet appointment. Thanks to everyone else here who is sharing info,
My 3 year old Boxer/Pit, Cali suffers from IHT and i took her to the Vets office. The Vet told me that Xanax is used to treat this condition but only if it becomes a very regular occurrence. She also told me onces she starts taking the medication she will be on it for life. I decided to do nothing. Ive been keeping a record of the events, how long they last, what time of day, conditions when they start and such but have found no triggers. Any advice would be helpful.
With my 2 year old EBD, i can snap her out of it with a spoonful or 2 of yogart…..its not that yogart is a miracle drug, but its changing her attention/focus that snaps her out……….they come in clusters for her, none for weeks, then all of a sudden 2 or three in a day for 3 or 4 days, then they vanish……..Its my personal beleif that they are somhow tied to sleep, or lack of sleep…………i can with 90% success, get her to have them, by waking her up by startling her..(a loud noise, that wakes her suddenly)…..Like you i track carefully what shes doing when she gets them……the only thing i have noticed is, they appear when shes been running around all day with NOT alot of dog-naps, she tends to get them……..hope this helps you……
My 1 year old bulldog started having these last night was so worried and thankfully I found your post calmed me down a bit! He seems fine when he has them and will respond to me. After reading this post I have now started giving him some food and it seems to stop them. We have taken a trip to the vets this morning and they have taken some bloods just waiting to hear back.
Thank you so much for everyone’s comments of helpful things to try
My dog just recently started head tremors. I’ve only noticed a couple times but it scared me! Thank you for your post, it has eased my mind a bit. I was worried something was seriously wrong.
Sherry
It is importanat that everyone keeps in mind that IHT’s are NOT normal and just like with seizures everytime it happens it is more than likely causing some form of damage. The Brain needs 3 things constantly Oxygen, Sugar, and Fat. Good exercise will help with the oxygen, sugar is something they are more than likely getting in their food (not something you need to worry about supplementing), and fats (good fats) can be supplemented by adding them to their food. Also B vitamins are good for neurological health. I have taken my dogs off all grains as they are inflammatory and cause a lot of other health issues. Since I follow this protocol I have noticed my dog hasn’t had any head tremors for a very long time. He was having them pretty frequently prior to me starting this protocol. Just because they come out of it by food distraction doesn’t mean everything is ok. Please do your dog a favor and help them overcome this issue before it leads to something worse. I also quit giving him the multi-vaccine since some dogs react to the lepto portion of the vaccine. In my case thats what had been given to him when he started having the head tremors. I hope this helps.
My pitbull cheko has the same thing and he is responsive all the time I just snap him out of it with food and if goes away.
My adopted 10 yr old Donnie gets these “head tremors” and has been getting them since we’ve had her, 4yrs. They never last long and aren’t consistent. But I always find that a walk in the fresh air helps. It seems to happen after some time being a couch potato. So we have to coax her into going outside. I’m glad to know I wadnt the only one concerned and relieved that it is no major worry.
My 9 year old pit bull just started having these “head trimmers” back and forth, she has had 3 episodes so far that we know of. She is alert the whole time and we have snapped her out of it by scratching her at her tail, food, and going outside. I’m worried that she may be having these because she got in to the trash while I was at work and eat some (about 12) chocolate chip cookies the kids had thrown away. She loves people food and chocolate. I try to keep the husband and children from feeding those things to her but sometimes I’m just not here. I’m worried I may loose her if it continues, or she will do something she has never done before like bite or attack someone like a family member. I can not afford to take her to the vet rite now still recovering (financially) from the knee surgery she had a few months ago. She just lays around not as active as she was a week ago. So worried about my Patches. She is such a good girl. Loves and protects my girls and the rest of the family. Don’t know what I’d do if she left me. Could this be temporary or life long?
Such a great article and has re-assured me endlessly. Our whippet cross started with the wobbles just after he contracted Meningitis, he fully recovered from that, but still has daily head wobbles, the vets gave us weeks and weeks worth of steroids but they made no difference.
When he starts one, we simply offer him a bowl of milk, this makes it stop more or less straight away x
My American Eskimo, Yoshi had the head tremors last Christmas and again today. This was interesting to watch for she remained herself during these episodes. I wonder if the Christmas tree is releasing some sort of chemical that could be affecting the dog? How I dealt with these issues was to take her for a walk to provide additional stimulation thinking the exercise might help. That seemed to do the trick and the tremors stopped. I do think it’s strange that it only happened when there is a fir tree in the house
I’m so glad I found this Yesterday I was laying in bed with one of my pit bulls and his head started shaking so I called his name and he got up but his head was still shaking really bad I was terrified and then it stopped. It happened again this morning and so I looked it up and I feel so much better that it’s not a seizure and it’s not hurting him.
Hi Maggie,
I have an 8 year old Staffordshire who had an episode similar to what you explained, but the movement he had was a little more pronounced and it looked more like he was shaking his head. He wasnt phased by it and allowed me to look at his mouth and subsequently let me attach a leash and rush him off to the vet. He ran with me and jumped into the car without a problem, whilst still shaking his head.
Halfway whilst rushing to the vet, it stopped and I was perplexed. The vet said it could be the onset of epilepsy or by a severe case of ear mites, which is chronic for the poor fella.
After looking at many other videos of dogs having mild epileptic episodes and being somewhat unresponsive or reclusive, I’m now wondering if my little guy has the onset of IHT
Best thing I can do, is try to video it (if it ever happens again) and post it so you can see what I’m talking about.
After reading your post, I’m somewhat relieved as I can see that your dog is still aware and alert during these tremors.
Regards,
Joel
My English Bulldog started having head tremors!!!! I had no clue what they were, so far I have only seen it twice. It is so scary. I don’t know her entire background, she is almost 3 years old , she is a rescue. I google ” head shaking” and came across Cooper’s story. Ellie’s tremors are the same. She is very high anxiety and I thought maybe it was from how anxious and nervous she gets. Both times I have given her small amounts of her kibble and the tremors have stopped. Thank goodness. She has never had them before they just recently started. I am thankful for all the information you posted it helps me understand better what my girl is going through. Next time it happens I am going to record it and get her an appointment at our vet.
My Border Collie/Australian Cattle Dog/English Springer Spaniel mix has had these tremors on and off for a few years now (he’s 4 1/2). They started happening regularly, sometimes multiple times per day, so we were worried. We freaked out at first and recorded him on our iPhone and showed it to our vet, who specializes in animal allergies. At the time he was on a salmon and sweet potato blend of kibble, high-ranked and good quality. Our vet said there may be too much estrogen in the sweet potato and recommended we change his food. We switched him to a chicken and rice blend and the tremors stopped! He used to get them several times a week, now he will almost go a year at a time (many many months). They are only triggered when he gets into human food. The other day a fridge door was accidentally left open and he gobbled up a whole row of crackers and leftover mediterranean food. The next day his head shook for the first time in over a year I believe (so long I can’t even remember the last time!).
I’ve noticed it happens when he eats grains (bread of anything really). Changing his kibble was by far the most effective thing we did.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Hi,
This was really helpful. My dog (Mac) gets similar tremors and he is also very responsive during the whole episode…However, as mentioned in the post the tremors go down in around 3 minutes, but, for Mac it goes on for hours !!! Any experience with that ?
Our dog Ozzy has been having these episodes since last summer, so far they can last up to about an hour. We have discovered that if we get him up and start feeding him treats they almost immediately stop.
Thank you so much for sharing this. My dog just now had this occur and I was freaking out and called the vet. She said he must have an ear infection and I know that’s not right so started googling what happened. You described it perfectly, the episode lasted about 3 minutes and he was alert and then “snapped” out of it and is now completely back to normal.
Just would like to share this. Our 2 year Doberman has idiopathic head tremors since she was a puppy. We did research on a supplemental way to possibly lessen these tremors and here what has worked for us. It took about 10 days, but the head tremors finally all went away. We started giving her a daily dose of B-Complex. It has gotten to the point the only time she has these tremors is when we have forgotten to give her the B-Complex like two or three days in row. It is worth the try!
Jill
I just noticed this in my 4-year-old Lab/Shepherd mix. We rescued him and his brother four months ago but have only noticed the head tremor in the past two weeks and only in one of the dogs. I was wondering if anybody else’s dogs with IHT are heavy chewers. I’ve read in a veterinary neurological article that it could be linked to a muscle in the face that gets temporarily “stuck” and puts pressure on the trigeminal nerve (the main nerve in the face/head.) My doggies are both very heavy bone chewer and it makes sense that if one is predisposed to this condition that he might fatigue or otherwise overwork a facial muscle easily after a day of heavy gnawing, causing the trigeminal nerve overload. I get similar uncontrollable tremors in my hand or thumb whenever I’ve severely fatigued it and subsequently hold it in a resting position. The fact that most dogs experience relief after chewing or licking up a treat supports the idea that the muscle is being “reset” by the chewing action which then relieves the pressure on the nerve. This theory just sounds so similar to my own experience with tremors that it sounds more plausible than many of the other food or toxin triggers suggested by most veterinarians. I would be very interested in hearing how many other IHT dog sufferers are heavy chewers. Both episodes I observed in my Durango were after a day of chewing on brand new heavy-duty Nylabones. His brother, Silverton, chewed on the same bones but has shown no signs of IHT thus far. Thank you to everybody who has shared their experiences with this mysterious disorder!
This is a very interesting theory. Thank you for posting. My Sofia (English Bulldog) is a very heavy chewer as well. We limit her chewing time because she’ll just chew her Nylabones until they’re bloody! Thanks again.
Our Doberman did this as a puppy (she is presently almost 2 yrs old ) – after doing some research, we started giving her B-Complex on a daily basis, it took a couple of weeks to kick in, but the head tremors are gone. The only time the tremors return is when we forget to give the B-Complex for a couple of days. Definitely worth a try!
I have been on here before about my lab Hannah….. she seems to be having them about once a month, and oddly enough, around the same time of month…. always around the 19th-22nd….I have begun following the advice of others who say to give a treat, and that does seem to stop them. This has been on and off for quite awhile, and although at first my vet thought it was an ear infection (as she always does seem to have one)., obviously this is not the case.
How is Hannah?
Thanks so much for being here! Last night my 3-yr-old white English Lab, Jake, was resting his head on my lap when I noticed he was having head tremors, exactly like Cooper. I was extremely upset, yet kept calm and gently held his head. The tremors lasted about 3 minutes. Tonight the same thing happened, while lying on my lap, and lasted about a minute. Tearfully, I took a deep breath, grabbed my iPad and found your site. Like other dogs described here, Jake is happy, healthy, and dearly loved. Interesting that this condition seems to affect so many bulldogs, labs, and/or dogs that
are white. I look forward to your continued thoughts, suggestions, and support. Jan
How is Jake?
Thanks for all the comments. this has put my mind at rest. My dog sometimes gets the tremors and I panicked like anyone would! It always seems to be if he has been sleeping in an odd position, and if I massage his neck it goes away. It is horrible to have to see.
How is your dog?
Thank you for this post! This morning I woke up to my border collie mix pup shaking like crazy. She is 1.5 years old and has been completely fine until this morning. She had 2 episodes lasting about 5 minutes each. On the 2nd one we went to the vet. They told me she had a little ear infection and gave me some drops for her. It seems to happen when she is tired and falling asleep. Before her nap today she “nodded” for alost an hour. They said sometimes they will grow out of them but sometimes they don’t. How many times do they generally happen per day? Ruess is going on 4 just today and we already visited the vet. 🙁
How is your dog?
i was so happy to find this post and all of the informative comments! My 7 year old Great Dane has been having these head tremors and I haven’t been able to pinpoint any particular reason. She had one this morning and I am now thinking it has something to do with the fact that she got spayed with flea and tick killer yesterday. This has been very enlightening and I am now going to try the homemade recipe that someone posted earlier. Thank you!
My dog has these once every blue moon. They are fairly light and are usually solved with rough-housing.
Since they hapoen at night and she’s a pitbull, all i do is turn her over in my bed and she wrestles me to try to win. We have so much fun that we both often forget why we were fighting because head tremors are gone in about 15 seconds.
The big baby is on her back in my lap on top of my covers but under my blankets. She just had one about 6 minutes ago
This may have already been posted, did not read all, but we have a Doberman that has had tremors for years. If we give a small amount of peanut butter the tremor stops immediately. Try it it has worked every time for us. Hope this helps someone.
I was happy to see something that explained this head tremor business to us as well.
We have had this going on for a while and made a trip or two the emergency pet center in the middle of the night. Our regular vet did not know the cause and wanted to do tests. By finding this blog site we also found trying to snap them out of it or making a big distraction seemed to work also, but only some of the time. I was so thankful for this blog on this topic I wanted to pass on something that might work for some of you out there as well because shaking Carmen and yelling her name or getting her to sit for a treat was not working all the time
One thing that I discovered and it works all of the time is Angelo thumb pressure trick.
When our bulldog Carmen gets the Tremors I place my thumb in her mouth just behind the lower set of front teeth and press as if I was pressing on a door bell and hold the pressure. It only takes a second or two for her to stop but I hold on for a few more seconds until I can pet her and make sure I really have her attention. Let em know if it works for you.
My Staffi mix does the exact thing like cooper. I am thinking it more of a pinched nerve than a reaction to food, hes on the same diet and only gets this issue once every few months, usually when laying up on a chair or couch. He does like to bite onto the leash and pull you…I just pet him to reassure him its okay and it starts to diminish over time, strongest for the first 5 minutes then back to normal in 15-20 minutes. Thanks for all your comments, Ill try PB next time.
Vince
Try the thumb pressure I recommended on the Feb 2nd blog it really works fast let me know if it works for you.
angelo@rep360.com
Hi Angelo, I will try the thumb pressure method the next time thanks for your input and helpful information.
Hi! My Brittany, Bailey (age 12 since Feb 1st), is on meds for small liver issues and keeping her bones all good and healthy. Sometimes she does this head/body shaking, but it’s not consistent and it stops usually after a few seconds. I’m guilty of getting worried about her constantly since she is the love my life, and at 21 that is a big deal. :] I just want to make sure, so this is nothing to worry over? I found out today if I ask her “treat??” she snaps right out of it and then I give her a carrot (since that’s what we like to use as treats). And now she is all fine and chilling out, per usual! Please, confirm my worries are nothing 😛 Thank you!!
Just this morning I saw my pup Zeus start bobbing his head when he came over to me from laying down. Scared me so much, I did have some sense to record him. I didn’t know about the food, but he little boy had some treats and he kept going over to him to get some. Anyway I tried to keep his attention on me and the tremors didn’t last long. I read most of the comments and he did get some cucumber skin this morning, he has possible allergies. I had him on a grain free food, but currently he is on a grain free food mixed with the lamb food from Sam’s Club. He also gets just a few select treats. Oh he is about 20 months old and we’ve had him for 5 months, he’s a lab mix- probably a beagle. About 50 lbs. It’s dead of winter here and he’s not getting out much, but we do run around the house lots and on sunny days he plays in the yard.
I’m so glad I found this because I’ll keep track if I see anything else and I won’t rush off to the vet! He does have his checkup next month and I will bring it up.
we found that eggs really increase Carmen’s tremmors
the thumb pressure behind the front row of teeth on the bottom jaw really does the trick for us it is fast and lasts.
this site was great for us too.
Our Doberman, Rizzoli has had idiosyncracy head tremors since she was a 6 month old pup. Some one (vet or herbalist) suggest using B-Complex on a daily basis. So we did and it took care of within a few days. Rizzoli is now 2 yrs old and we find when stop the daily dose of B-Complex to see if maybe she has outgrown the head tremors situation (we were told that she could possibly outgrown this) but within a couple of days the “head bobbing” returns. So we put her back on the B-Complex. Take a moment to read about B-Complex and benefits, it is a water soluable vitamin. It’s worth a try and seeing for yourself rather than being freaked out by the these head tremors.
Rosie our 3 year old Pit Bull Terrier / Vizsla had her first tremor this evening. Was really scarey for us, she seemed fine and listened to commands and her focus was normal. Lasted around 3 minutes or so. Sort of a sideways head twitch a little different than Coopers (at a different angle). Going to get a video of it next time she has it. The only thing new in her diet is some dehydrated lamb lung. Thanks for the blog, if she keeps having them she will see the vet just to get a check up. Think it scared me and my GF more than the dog she seemed unaware it was happening.
A recent entry on the site mentions vitamin B complex as a preventative which we are going to try for Carmen.
Aso try applying thumb pressure right behind the teeth on the bottom jaw it stops Carmen’s tremors almost instantly.
How is your dog?
Our staffie/ridgeback/golden retriever cross has episodes like these! He also has hip displaysia and the bones in his spine are crumbling (he’s 18 months old). I took videos of his fits to the vet and they can’t tell me what’s wrong. I’m interested in the connection between food and tremors. We changed our boy to Black Hawk dog food last September (due to ongoing digestion issues ) and two weeks later he started having these type of tremors. We took him off the Black Hawk and put him on supermarket dog food, the tremors stopped. This last fortnight we put him on Hills Ideal Balance (again due to digestion issues).. and now the tremors are back with a vengeance. Only this time they are more violent and more difficult to interrupt. To complicate matters he also had some veterinary procedures this week to inject cortisone into his hip joints. Two days later the tremors started! So I don’t know if it’s the Ideal Balance or the cortisone treatment that has set this bunch off.
Incidentally, when I mentioned idiopathic head tremors to our vet I was ‘told off’ for trying to ‘internet diagnose’ my dog! Funny thing is, the tremors are exactly as shown in your video and as described by many contributors to the comments section. I am grateful for everyone’s contributions that set my mind at ease a little.
Tremors completely stopped after switching our dobie to home made diet. I had a niece who obtained a breed specific recipe for her dogs and she had nothing but good news regarding her dogs health after switching to home made diet. Our dogs tremors became more frequent and felt it couldn’t hurt her to switch her diet. I contacted the wife of William Cusick and obtained a recipe for our Dobie. After 3 weeks on this diet, her tremors stopped and never returned (been over nine months now). William Cusick passed away last year but his wife still has the recipes available for sale. They come in a booklet with recipes for both sex from puppy to old age…includes lots of informative information. Well worth the $30 fee.
Good Luck, Jeanne
Carmen our Bulldog has tremors if the food has eggs and we have gone to gluten free food which seems to help tremendously.
She had a tremor this week but used the old thumb pressure behind the teeth on the bottom jaw and it stopped immediately.
She is a hoover and licks the floor so we never know if she is picking up some people food
Also we only wash the floor with vinegar and water so no chemicals there. ggod luck!
Thank you for your help and advice! And also your support. I’m sorry for my late reply.
William Cusick is not someone I’m familiar with.. is this him: http://www.wdcusick.com/06.html ?
I’m unsure how you would define Winky’s breeding due to the cross breeding but it’s definitely something I’m interested in. I will have a look thru the website tonight.
I find it quite distressing to see a tremor taking hold and especially as the previous couple have been much more intense than those before it. I’ve taken him off canned dog food (he was getting a tablespoon full twice a day to hide his medication in with his meals) and put him on a kangaroo & beef mix (which I was disappointed to see still had preservatives in it!) and so far it’s stayed down and hasn’t been vomited back up (touch wood!). But the tremors are still present and I would like to try a home made diet for him instead and see if that helps reduce the incidents.
Thank you again!
The most recent spate of tremors were much more violent and lasted longer than the previous episodes. We took our boy to a specialist (in the same complex as the hip and bone specialist we see) and she diagnosed him with epilepsy. This is despite video we showed her of him being alert and responsive during the episodes. She tells us they are focal seizures and prescribed Potassium Bromide for him. Well the PB tablets (6 per day) upset his gut even further and given that we already have so many vomiting vs food issues with him, that was far from ideal. I was also surprised to find that PB would take 2 – 3 months to show any signs of working! So we ended up with a compound liquid instead (all at great expense!) which I haven’t yet started him on as the food/vomiting issues are continuing despite the addition of maxolon and until we get that settled again we won’t be starting the PB liquid. The last tremor episode saw our boy standing up wagging his tail responding to my son who was patting him at the time. And interestingly, the pressure on the jaw behind the teeth stopped it instantly! I’m not overly convinced on the epilepsy diagnosis..
How is your dog?
Hi Kaite,
I had my dog on Black Hawk for a few months and she started having head tremors (she was about 6 months old at the time) Similar to what Cooper had, but the only difference is hers wouldn’t stop. It was a constant head shake and within a few days went from the slightest little shake to her hardly being able to stand because the shaking was so bad. Of course I changed everything. First we got anti inflammatory and steroids medication (the vet honestly didn’t think she’d survive the weekend), I changed her diet to Science Diet, gave her a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt 2-3 times a day, and I’m not sure if it was the change of diet (after seeing what you said, possibly), or the meds, or the yoghurt, but over about 2 weeks it went and hasn’t come back since (it’s been a year). We even got her a spinal tap to see if maybe it was meningitis, but it came back clear.
Sorry! I should have said the kanga/beef mix is raw meat (but with preservatives in it!)
My 4 yr old, perfectly healthy boxer started this a couple days ago upon awaking the other morning and seems to do it after laying down and raising his head. Almost like parkinsons.
The only differences in diet and routine are:
– Swimming in the salt water of the san juan islands (suspect)
– Costco dog biscuit brand (which he ate before but this is a new batch)
He eats a premium salmon based no grain healthy food which hasnt changed for months.
Considering our planet and way of life is seriously effected nowadays it could be a range of things such as mercury poisoning, gluten, GMO, beach bacteria, parasites, mold, etc…
Ask yourselves if your dogs started this after interacting with tree branches / sticks, water, food, salt water, ocean etc…
All the recent swimming in the pacific ocean has me concerned considering the fukushima nonsense as well as any parasitic or beach based toxins.
He seems fine but it is definitely involuntary and distressing.
Such a healthy boy to. Would kill me to lose him to some environmental or food related idiocy.
How is your dog doing?
A number of you have said that you started giving vitamin B. I was wondering if you could tell me how you found the right dose for you dog. I want to try this but am having trouble finding the right amount.
i have been giving Peaches (2 year old EB) 1 bcompex pill per day, started 2 weeks ago, and she has has 3 attackes in the last 3 days…. ,so far they have done nothing…..they come in clusters with her…..months with none: then in a span of a week, 4 or 5 attacks…..i snap her out of it with yogart..in seconds…..but i was hoping the Bcomplex would work.. I will continue to give them to her.i hope it does work in the long run…..I give her one pill, i think its 1000mg…ill keep you posted……
It took a few weeks for me to see a difference in my Doberman.
If you put your thumb in her mouth and apply a little pressure on the bottom jaw
between the fore finger and thumb let em know if this works faster than yogurt
For us it is almost instant
IMHO, its not the yogart, or honey, its the change of focus that casuses Peaches to stop, I know many think there’s a connection between the tremors and blood sugar, but I don’t! I believe there is a connection between head tremors and sleep/nervous system. I can recreate tremors with my bully by startling her awake, and I have a 80% success rate trying it. And I can snap her out of it by changing her mental focus, doing it with yogurt is just easy, casuse I always have yogurt handy, because I eat it.
i have a 4 year old bully and although change of focus has sometimes worked for us
the pressure on the lower jaw thumb placed behind the teeth and forefinger knuckle underneath and about the same pressure as a hand shake stops it IMMEDIATELY for us.
but heh it is great to hear all of the home remmedies and I guess you have to use what works
I was wondering…over vaccination, GMO in foods and being vitamin deficient are all known to cause neurological disorders. Does anyone think there could be a connection. A lot of vaccines contain harmful metals like aluminum and mercury…highly toxic, even on people. Just questioning 🙂
How is your dog doing now?
We have two Old English Bulldoggies
Beamer is 2, Bentley is 1 has never had tremors.
Beamer has been getting these tremors since a small pup a few months old. At first thought it was a seizure except he is totally alert. They were always very mild and far in between until recently (still scary) Now he gets them randomly and much more intense. I always panic every time i see it nomatter how many times ive seen it. He does not seem to be in pain but is definetley aware its happeneing, as he will sit still. The ONLY thing that has ever helped once it starts is to give him a half a teaspoon of honey. It will continue until the honey seems to hit his bloodstream then completely stop. They are seldomly left alone however my concern leaving is this will happen when he is alone. What we do is if we are leaving or if he just ran around alot outside, we will give him a half a cup of his food to prevent the tremors. My guess is the tremors may be related to a form of hypoglycemia. Beamers happens mostly when he is sleeping, and wakes up in the am, so at night he sleeps right next to me so i can be alerted…it has also happened in between his normal bout between breakfast & dinner. So we also started breaking his meals into smaller more frequent, adding in a lunch:)
Thank you for this forum and article, it was alot of help.
we get immediate results by putting pressure on the bottom jaw between the thumb right behind the front teeth and forefinger knuckle not hard just firm .
it is immediate
How is your dog?
I am so greatful that I came across this! My Lacey girl (boston terrier mix) has had 2 one in Decemeber 2014 and one today 2/26/15. I knew nothing was terribly wrong because she was alert and even drank water during the episode and responded to come, sit, paw and treat( although I waited until she was done with the episode before giving her a treat as I wanted to make sure she didn’t choke). This is a very scary thing to witness and reading this blog makes me realize that we are not alone and that gives me comfort! Hope all your pups stay happy and healthy!
I have two 15 month old Miniature Pinschers, Zoe and Bear who are brother and sister from the same litter. It has one week now since Bear has had head tremors. At first my husband and I thought maybe Bear clocked himself or maybe his sister rang his bell, because they are very active pups and are always chasing each other and wrestling each other. Since it has been a week, we no longer think it is an injury. My vet gave us an anti-inflammatory to give him, but it does not seem to make a difference. Bear’s head shakes from side to side, similar to Cooper’s tremors, only it is continuous. If he is laying down and resting his head the tremors stop, but if his head is raised it continuously shakes and has been for the last week. The only triggers I can think of are that we have pulled off several ticks over the winter months, so I plan on asking the vet about possibly giving him antibiotics for Lyme disease. Also, I just gave the pups a dose of Revolution last Friday, so I am suspicious that this could be a trigger since I have read that others have said that Frontline has triggered their dog’s tremors. For those where they believe Frontline triggered their dog’s tremors, did they stop once the Frontline was out of their system? My vet had no experience dealing with this, so I am trying to trouble shoot the things I can control to see if it makes a difference.
How is your pup?
I had a handler tell me recently of an owner who indeed traced the tremor issue to ticks
I had a handler tell me recently of an owner who indeed traced the tremor issue to ticks
Hi, Mary: Do you have that data to share? We haven’t found anything of the sort and have talked to vets at three different animal hospitals and two universities. I’d love more info if the handler can provide! Thank you!
Hello – my eight year old shepherd mix started having something kind of like Cooper’s tremors yesterday. Instead of small, quick twitches however, his head and neck were twitching back and forth slower but much larger, like the full range that his head is able to turn. Just his head/neck, and no frothing at the mouth. He seems fine afterwards, just very tired. From your experience, could this just be another type of idiopathic head tremors, or should I look into it being some sort of seizure?
Thanks for enlightening me about my dog’s uncontrollable tremors. Was never able to get an episode on tape. Had many concerns, but didn’t know exactly how to describe it to the vet. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.
My doggie does this the same as cooper… She is a shih tzu.. Only happens maybe once a few months. After about 10 minutes it’s over with. I really appreciate all the info from you website. Thank you.
My dog, Samantha – a very active, 2-year old yellow lab, started having head tremors in December (2014). I took her to the vet immediately and they took a blood test. Unfortunately, they could not find a reason for the tremors. They can give her an MRI, but that would require her to be put under…always a little dangerous. The vet recommended not doing an MRI until absolutely necessary.
What was different? The month before –
• We moved to Southern California.
• I gave her NexGard (I never used that product again). They do not recommend this product for dogs with a history of seizures; I know seizures are different then head tremors.
She continues to have them every few weeks. (That I know of, she could be having them when I am not around. Sometimes they only last for 20 seconds or so.)
I am keeping a log of her tremors, just in case I can find a correlation between the tremors and some other factor. So far nothing is standing out. The log contains every thing – time of day, length, weather, activity, description and the food she had (including treats).
When she is having a tremor I distract her with treat, toys or having her do a trick. I now stay very calm during these episodes. Thanks to blog. like this one that recommended these tactics.
Thank you for this page.
Try placing your thumb right behjnd the bottom front teeth and your index finger under the jaw and press your fingers together like pressing a doorbell and hold for a couple seconds
That’s very similar to what I do, I grab the jaw and depress their tongue with my thumb for a few seconds. Works immediately.
How is your dog doing now?
Thank you so much for this. My dog has only had these a couple times but they were worrying me. His look EXACTLY like what you just filmed so I really appreciate knowing I don’t need to worry about him.
I am not a vet, but here is my two cents on a potential cause, at least in my dog. I have an 8 yr old yellow lab who had one eye removed before I got him when he was a year old. His other eye had a cataract which I had removed when I got him. He did great until he was around 7 yrs old and then the pressure in his eye increased and he went on some glaucoma drops. I started tracking the head tremors he was having along with his eye issues, which seemed to rapidly progress over the course of a month. I took him to a neurologist who said he could not conclude it was simply idiopathic tremors without doing a MRI and spinal tap (for close to $3000.) The eye vet didn’t think there was a correlation between the tremor and the eye, but admittedly didn’t know. My holistic vet thought the pain from the glaucoma (it is a pressure pain that can cause migraine like headaches) could be causing the tremors, i.e, when the pressure spiked, the pain caused the tremor. Without putting him in a kennel where they tested the pressure every two hours to see if he was having pressure spikes, I can’t really know. I ended up having his eye removed because I thought he had lost almost all his vision and he was on the maximum treatment of glaucoma drops. I have been tracking the tremors since and they have (knock on wood) not occurred in a long time. They did occur for a short time after the eye removal, but that could be because the area was not healed and still sore. My suggestion is have a vet check the eye pressure to see if it is possible your dog is developing glaucoma because it is not always a visible disease that you will be able to tell your dog has. It is a lot cheaper to have a pressure check than a MRI. Just my experience.
Thanks for this post. I just got back from the vet with my 1.5yr Red Heeler who started having these about a month ago. His tremors are side to side and last about 3 minutes. I have been very worried, but feel reassured by the video of cooper and information on this site. My vet told me it was the start of epilepsy….
How is your dog? I am researching this .
My dog is the same as Cooper! I can’t believe I have found this website. Thank you so much. Neo is nine, he started with IHT about a year ago, it freaked me out I thought he as going to die in one of these attacks, I’m used to it now but have never heard of this in another dog until I stumbled upon your website searching for info about Pexion which my vet has prescribed for Neo. Seeing Cooper has helped us so so much, I will try distracting Neo with food next time .
He has had loads of tests, and a CT scan all came up with nothing but now we know other dogs are living with the same condition, living!! – what a load off my mind. So helpful many thanks maggie and cooper, especially for mentioning the bit about bullie breeds, Neo is a staffie.
Hi. Our boxer, Junior had a head tremor. We met another lady with a boxer, who also had a head tremor. Her dog had had many tests with no answers. She thought too much salt affected it. She also showed me another trick to stop it. She kept a baby teether in her freezer (the kind with liquid in them). When her dog had a tremor, she held his head against her leg, lifted his lip and held the frozen baby teether against his gum. It stopped the tremor. You may have to do it a second or even third time. But, it stops it. I don’t know why.
Also, we put Junior on a no grain dog food when he was 7 and he never had another tremor for the rest of his life. He lived to be 12, which is fairly old for a boxer. Just something else to consider.
Good luck with Cooper and all doggies.
I think my dog is doing this. He is a mixed breed rescue who we suspect may have some Doberman or pitbull in him. The vet diagnosed him with focal seizures and put him on 2 seizures meds (Phenobarbital and Keppra) but they are becoming much more frequent, not less. He also is very alert during these episodes, following commands. I would not expect to see that if it actually was a seizure. We also cannot afford an MRI or CT scan. I’m so glad I found this site. Could the seizure meds be making it worse?
I’d love to hear of any new info regarding this if any one has any. Please and thank you. My dog is currently on seizure meds too but if she shouldn’t or doesn’t need to be I’d love to know.
As far as I know, seizure meds don’t have an effect on IHT, nor would anything show up on an MRI or CT. If your dog has been diagnosed with seizures rather than tremors and the meds aren’t working, you definitely should consult with your vet for adjustments. Good luck!!
How is your pup?
Jen How is your dog? I am researching this and am curious as to if your dog got vaccinated shortly before having these head tremmers. The Leptospira vaccine has changed recently… 2 years maybe, I am 50 years old have had dogs since before I was born, never heard of this till recently, my last dog died in 2013, before the change in the vaccine. My vet has said that its not a reaction, but my pup got first tremmers 36 hours after multiple vaccinations, they were getting worse until I started using essential oils and raw foods, now she is doing much better, no tremmers in 6 days, and they were 3+ times a day, and gradually got smaller & less frequent over the last 2 weeks.
I just recently took my Boxer in for this same thing. Just did some tests and waiting for a result since the vet wants to rule out a liver shunt. Seeing this video makes me believe it’s the same head tremors. I seriously hope it is just this and not a liver shunt. My girl is responsive and totally fine otherwise just like cooper. This gives me some hope. Thank you
My dog Neo started with IHT after cruciate surgery about two years ago. I became convinced that he had suffered brain damage under anaesthetic and was having seizures, frequency about 12 a day. He went to hospital had extensive tests and scans, on his heart and his brain and blood. nothing showed up (except his pulmonary arteries were a little longer than usual). I think this is the really important part – nothing shows up, on every test all organs are completely normal and during the tremor the dog is alert and can function and the tremors appear to be able to last longer than seizures without ill effects. Neo is an English Staffie aged nine, and he hasn’t had an episode since May 31st – this is a record.
I cant tell u how happy I am to have found this website. My dog Pippin has been doing this for a little bit now and I feel helpless just watching him having what I thought was a seizur. but after watching the video of cooper and seeing how he acts, that’s just how Pippin acts. I feel more at ease knowing that he will be ok. I’m not sure what his triggers are yet but im gunna keep a diary on what he eats and watch him closely and try to figure it out. Thank you for the information it really helped me out a lot. I really thought something was wrong with my best friend, I’m so happy he will be all right.
Our Dog Molly is one of 4 boxers and all are siblings. Only Molly has this condition and it was your post on Cooper that helped us figure out what it was, IHT. She had not had an episode in some time now until the other day when my wife gave her a treat. The dog bone treat contained Red Dye 40, and within 12 hours of having it her IHT returned and she has had two tremors in the last 24 hrs. My wife and I are convinced that it is the RD40 that has caused this. We used to give them treats containing RD40 until my sister who worked at a pet store informed us that RD40 was bad for animal and we stopped buying anything with RD40. My wife just figured that they have not had those specific treats in a while and did not read the ingredients when she bought them. Needless to say we threw them out and went and got them different treats that do not contain Red Dye 40. After a few days Mollie’s IHT has stopped. I am still doing research on this but was couriuos if anyone who has a pet that suffers from IHT has also given them anything containing RD40? This may be the cause, so I urge you to stop buy and giving your dog anything containing
RD40. Also we are unsure why her 3 sibling are unaffected but as we all know, every dog is different just like people.
Hi Paul,
I have never been able to narrow down what is in the treats that makes my Crosby have IHT, BUT we find that pretty much any time he eats a dog treat that is not all natural, he begins to shake within 12 hours. Oddly, we have recently found that peanut butter also led him to shake. I tried putting some in his kong and shortly after he began to have the tremor. Thanks for trying to narrow down the specific ingredient.
Thank you all for posting your experiences! My late mother’s dog just had the first episode of the head shaking that I have ever seen! It was just like Cooper’s. I am relieved to find that they are not too serious, but… some of the comments about Frontline reminded me: I ALWAYS use Advantage, and I have been the one taking care of this dog since my mom first got her… UNTIL this month. Someone had donated some Frontline Plus at the adoption center, and I used it on 3 of the dogs, including this one! Maybe a coincidence– lets face it, we know all these chemicals are toxic, and we just choose to risk them rather than suffer fleas– but now I don’t think I will ever use the Frontline again. Certainly not on this dog! Anyone else use it on their doggie sufferers?
I’ve been using cedarwood oil on my pup to control fleas, it’s working and it has a nice smell and is said to have a calming effect. : )
Oh my God this just happened to my dog Opie. My sister in law started freaking out and the post you made really helped!
My 3 month old Chihuahua puppy head bobbs up and down and sometimes side to side, i was able to stop him from doing this thank to this video. I feel so scared and i cry because i am the worrying type of person.. i do not know if that is normal for him to do the bobbing up and down and side to side, he sometimes does both. i got him out of this one because i am prone to having seizures myself so i did what happenned in this video and now he seems fine. this is his second one since i have had him. is that normal?
This evening has been very traumatic for my furry friend Jake and myself. I had just made it home from spending the evening with family when Jake started uncontrollably shaking his head. I was eating at this time and I immediately freaked out! I thought he was having seizures…. After I had my moment he quit, but then started again… I did notice that the entire time he was very calm and continued to wag his tail to beg for food. Immediately I started on the web after I got him to calm down. Lucky I stumbled on your page!! I’m relieved! I also read a few things about giving snacks so I tried yogurt, a little pedialite mixed with water, and gave him some food. He has continued a few times but I have noticed if he is distracted a little bit he will quit. It’s such a struggle dealing with our furry friends when they are sick…
Well, after having some success with yogurt our dog, Sasha, had some more episodes. We ended up taking her to a Holistic Vet. She suggested that the head tremors could be related to a food alergy. So she advised us to remove from her diet.. Chicken, Beef, Wheat, Dairy, and Corn. She recommended giving her Natural Balance with Venison and stressed ” no snacks (however, she did say we could add some ground pork to her food). We switched her over a couple weeks ago and the tremors have gone away. Not certain this is the trigger for her but so far it seems to be working. We also give her the Natural balance dog treats and she seems to be OK with that. Not sure this is the solution.. but it seems to be working for us right now. Other things we gave her was some denamarin( just for a couple days suspecting her liver enzymes could use some help) to see if it would possibly increase her threshold levels, although not sure if that or the diet change is working for us right now. Unfortunately, the yogurt apparently was not the reason the tremors subsided.
My Tophe (Malamute/Rottweiler mix) started to have these around age 3. I didn’t know what they were until looking up the symptoms just now. VERY HAPPY to learn that (at least current research suggests) these episodes are harmless (but yes, WORRISOME!). In my case I find that if I simply distract her with a task (like getting up off the coach and walking around a bit) the tremor will stop immediately. Thought I’d share in the hopes that perhaps other owners can give this simple technique a try and have success.
We have noticed the exact same solution with our dog Sasha(4 year old vizsla). Started seeing the tremors at age 3. As soon as we notice them we call her name get her up and they immediately stop. Also, we are continuing to try and eliminate them altogether, with some success. Our latest efforts have been on her diet. We are currently feeding her Orijen, all fish kibble. Seems to be working. Our hypotheses is that she has a minor food alergy and a very low threshold immune system. We also have on hand some denamarin which we will give her as needed just as a liver supplement to help her liver enzymes,
I am so glad about this news that my American Bullies, aren’t going crazy. American Bullie, is pit, American, and English bull dogs. They fit the description of head rolling.
You have more than one dog doing this?
Our 3-year old labradoodle starting having head tremors in July. The first episode was severe as her mouth was affected and she shook from her head to her chest.
The vet advised us to stop using flea medication and find food without Kelp. I hadn’t realized how many dog foods, even the expensive brands, contain kelp.
The tremors stopped for a few months but started again last week. They are small in comparison to cooper, and much less severe than her first. However, we are at work all day and not sure if she has multiple episodes.
I appreciate everyone posting your findings and to Maggie for posting the video.
I am wondering if your dogs experience tremors shortly after having a vaccine. Just curious.
Yes, 36 hours after vaccinations, my concern is this leptospira vaccine. I have researched them all but this one is very bad. I’ve been using essential oils and raw foods. She is tremmer free 6 days now. Thuja and cedarwood, haven’t been able to get my hands on Lyssin yet but I will. She is my baby.
Ronda: That was when my Pitbull got his head tremors. The night after he had gotten a vaccine. It was a multiple vaccine with leptosporosis in it. I understand that, that particular vaccine causes a lot of issues. Especially neurological issues. And now the issue of over vaccinating has come into play. I would be very cautious about what I put in or on my dog. I don’t use flea products, I don’t vaccinate with the multiple vaccine every year and since my Pit. showed a reaction to the lepto he doesn’t get that included in his vaccines at all. I also do things like make sure he has good oils like coconut oil in his diet and a good dog food with a good level of vitamins. Things good for the brain. He use to have head tremors often as I progressed it’s been over a year since he has had any. You need to be able to confer with a vet that has some knowledge of dietary levels concerning a dog. I’m also a holistic physician for people, but I need to check things out with my vet because while dogs systems are close to ours they are NOT exactly like ours and certain things can do a lot of harm so be careful as you navigate through this issue. They can be reduced but make sure you do it right. Good Luck.
Hi
Thank you so much for this information, my 8 month old pit Meili (Maylee) had first episodes at 6 months old, 36 hours after Lepto/rabbies /distemper vaccination, I also have noticed it is after hard playing and falling asleep, she had one last night, slept all night, then today just a couple hours ago, a sip of milk snaps her out in a flash. I’m curious as to why some vets have never seen this before, is it in the food we buy?
My I year old American Eskimo weight 17 lbs. Today 12/1/15 started having head tremors. I am so concerned. I had a dog love of my life companion passed away ept 1 2014 I had him for 15 years. He was 6 weeks old when I got him.. He suffered from seizures where the vet said he had backward sneezes He would pass out I give him syrup on the tip of his nose he would come around.. I don’t want my baby Kody {his name} not to go through tests unless its necessary. What is your feel on this. Of course if he needs treatment I would do everything to help him.
Thanks
sue c
Has your dog had vaccinations? My little girl is doing much better with homeopathic essential oils & raw foods haven’t seen one in 5 or 6 days, they were 3 & 4 times a day.
My boxer just started doing that after being on an antibiotic for an ear infection. She also had just gotten a distemper shot. I fed her yogurt thinking that maybe she needed a probiotic. I haven’t seen her do it since she’s been off the medicine now, not sure if that was related but it appears that way. Was very glad to see this website because that’s what I was looking up (seizures for dogs.) our last dog died from a stroke. so it was very unsettling to see my new dog having tremors. I will be telling the veterinarian to alert them to a possible side effect of that medication, and or distemper vaccine.
I would check into vaccine, did it contain leptospira?
My dog has just been diagnosed with addisons disease and has just started doing this it’s working to watch
I looked up Addisons in dogs, and this would make sense if your pup was vaccinated with leptospira, it’s a bactria that attacks the kidneys & adrenal glands. Please research it my pup is on the mend with essential oils and raw foods, hope things get better for your dog.
My dog is a Pug Shar Pei mix. He has done this since he was about 6 months old. Like others, I brought him to the vet and they did blood work which all came back normal. I have found, however, that he will do it after eating any sort of dog treat. He can only eat all natural snacks, or human foods. As soon as he has a treat he starts to shake within 12 hours. Also, recently we have noticed that eating peanut butter also results in shakes. Not sure if anyone else has found this correlation, but for us it all revolves around his food consumption.
Has your dog had vaccinations? My little girl is doing much better with homeopathic essential oils & raw foods haven’t seen one in 5 or 6 days, they were 3 & 4 times a day. They started 36 hours after vaccinations. At 6 months old. Good luck.
Hello, everyone!
I am simply amazed at how thoughtful, insightful, and generous you’ve all been on this topic in the comments. I have to admit: There was no way I could keep a handle on this thread, plus the thread on the other posts. So, I wrote an update that (I hope) addresses most of the questions you’ve posed here! Or, if you’re new to this discussion having received an idiopathic head tremor diagnosis, this is my latest post on Cooper plus I answer a handful of FAQ. You can find that here: http://ohmydogblog.com/2016/01/idiopathic-head-tremors-faqs-and-an-update/
Thanks all!
Maggie
After my father passed I became owner of his dog Marley, a boxer lab mix. She’s an old dog with lumps and bumps. She also has the head tremor.
I learned of the head tremors on a Saturday night, after the vet closed. I held her, tried to calm her for the five minute duration of the episode then spent the night searching the web.
I found a recommendation to give the dog a tiny bit of peanut butter and put a tiny dab on the dog’s nose as well. The purpose being to use the food to refocus the dog’s brain. She had another one the next day and worked – immediate – head bob to stop in a second.
Took Marley to the vet for shot updates and so forth. Mentioned the head bob. Vet said anxiety can bring on the episodes and it can happen for no reason as well. Was told to continue the peanut butter method. Said to keep track of them as well and bring the information in during her next check up.
Now, two months later, i’ve used the peanut butter method a dozen times, and each time there is an immediate response. The head tremors disappear until the next episode (which is usually a week or so later).
I have another dog who has seizures and am very aware of what those look like. The head tremor is nothing like a seizure (at least for my dog) as Marley is still very present, can walk and acts normal other than her uncontrollable “yes” motion.
Hope this helps someone, like the advice I read helped me. 🙂
Thank you for this it really helped us with our pit lab bear..
Our 3 year old Doberman has had head tremors ever since she was a pup. We did research and wanted to do something supplementally. We found out that giving daily B-Complex and Flax Seed Caplets work the best. It took about a week to kick in, but worked! Her tremors only come back when we accidentally forget to give her the supplements for a few days. It is something you should try!
I am SO relieved to have found his post, and to be able to read what others are going through with this. My little Wally (Pharroh hound Chi X) started doing exactly what Cooper is doing in this video about a month ago. As with most, I ran to the Vet, and they said it’s possibly an ear infection, and wanted to put him on antibiotics. I treat all my animals naturally, so I have been putting Colloidal Silver drops in his ears, but its still happening every couple days, so I was getting ready to make another appt. when I came across all your info. I’m now going to try some of the suppliments some folks on here have graciously shared, and see if we have any positive effects. We are SO in love with our Wally, and watching these tremors is SO painful for us. He just goes about being his adorable self after them, I hope that we can find something natural that will help him. THANK YOU for your video, I have some peace at least to know it’s not something horrible, or will end his life.
What are you feeding Wally? Our rescue English Bulldog, Sofia, started having these when we switched her food (at the VET’s suggestion) to a salmon based diet. She thought it would help our dog’s skin and joints. Sofia started having the head tremors within a few days of being switched over – and we switched her food gradually, like you’re supposed to in order to avoid intestinal upsets. The food was the only variable that had changed in her life. So we stopped feeding her the fish-based kibble and switched back to the turkey-sweet potato kibble she was on when we adopted her. Her tremors tapered off, and she hasn’t had one in a couple of years. Sofia’s tremors were pretty bad, too. My daughter timed one, and it lasted over 4 minutes!! Be sure to check the ingredients in the treats you’re giving Wally also. Hope this helps.
My 1 1/2 year old Boxer and Bulldog mix started having these a week ago. The first day we noticed them he had three episodes and they all seemed to appear while he was asleep. I took him to the vet after sharing a video with her. Her answer was that it was a focal seizure and she gave us Gabapentin. All his labs were perfectly fine. I wasn’t too happy with being given meds, but thought I would try and see if it helped. Well one week in I come home from the store to find him having a tremor. He has had it 3 times in the last 5 hours. I find this whole thing strange as he can fully function in fact he will jump up on me and get all excited and the tremors stop until he sits still again. I am going to stop the meds. I need to log these closer and figure out if there is a trend. He is not in pain so I don’t feel the need to keep drugging him with meds. He’s on an all natural dog food Diamond Naturals which we have used since he came home. With two kids both dogs do from time to time get a bite of people food, but it’s rare and we ensure nothing that could be toxic. I just feel bad for the guy. It’s nice to have this website and read so many great things about this condition. Hopefully I can find something that helps keep these at bay.
Thank you for this page. My Boxer Lab mix began doing this a few months ago. The tremors have been consistent for the last couple of days. I am glad to see that is isn’t uncommon in dogs like her. I appreciate your video and background information. It helps me feel at ease that it isn’t something to be too concerned about. Thanks again- to you and Cooper!!
Thank you so much for posting coopers problem. This helped me to relax a little in regard to my dog having what I have been calling “head ticks.”
Thanks
Kelli
My adeline just turned 1 this week and she started doing it today. And i dont have the money for the vet so i looked up what was wrong. This helped me alot and will help me not stress about it. My poor baby. Im soo glad its not hurting her.
My dog’s head shakes in the exact same way that Cooper’s does. I’ve been keeping a journal for 19 months now. By doing that, I’ve determined that chicken is a big trigger for my dog. I switched to a homemade raw diet and have eliminated all instances of chicken, except for eggs. My holistic vet suggested giving her one egg per day for a week to see if eggs would cause tremors. She had no response so I went ahead and used them in the raw food mix. Once I eliminated chicken meat, the tremors stopped. I did slip a couple of months ago and put chicken broth on her kibble (kibble is in the food rotation ~ 2 nights/week). No surprise, the tremors started again. I have determined that stress is a trigger too. My mom died 6 weeks ago and my stress level has been through the roof. This dog is very sensitive to my moods, the increased stress in the house has triggered the tremors. My holistic vet sees my dog quarterly and she is working very closely with me to find a homeopathic remedy to give to help these tremors. We’re on our second remedy and she’s going to come up with a third, based upon the recurrence of the tremors. She was just here two days ago so I’ve not gotten word on what the new remedy will be. When my dog is in the midst of a tremor, I get a treat, add a couple of drops of the remedy to the treat and feed it to my dog. The anticipation and chewing of the treat is usually sufficient to stop the tremor.
Thanks for this blog, it is very helpful to know there are others experiencing this with their dogs.
Leslie
Hi Maggie, i have a 2.9 year old aussie bulldog. He had these tremors when he was around 9 months old and they would happen a few times a day for a period of about 3 weeks. Then they just stopped. Last week he had a major operation on his cruciate ligament and two days ago, the head bobbing started again.I can usually distract him with with treats, it stops after a while but it is very nasty to watch. I would like to thank you for your post that i found 3 years ago about these episodes. We are hoping they just stop again like they did the first time, but time will tell. I was thinking maybe they have something to do with the stress of his surgery, but again who knows. Anyway thank you again for your post.
Hello readers, I have a 7 year old American Bulldog who just had his first episode of head tremors this morning! No previous surgeries and no different foods or medicine or vaccines given. I will tell you, this was the worst thing to experience and I really hope no more occur! I was relieved to see all this information on the condition online and happy that I am not the only one who’s baby is experiencing this, and mostly blessed to find that it doesn’t hurt him! He seemed annoyed and uncomfortable when it was happening, but he was responsive. He will love that I am going to start giving him a bit of ice cream each night to see if it keeps them away!
My 16 month old English Bulldog, Baby Shrek, had the first episode Friday night, scared me to death, he has had no other ones so far, I pray he doesn’t, it looks just like the video, I am having vet check him just to be sure, thank you so much for this sight, it helped so much, I had a 10 year old bulldog never had these, praying they go away. I will be following this blog and maybe the vets should read this.
I have an Alaskan Malamute that is having these tremors this has really enlightened me on them thank you. I just wanted to share what I have found to help, I cover his eyes and it seems to almost instantly stop the tremors giving him darkness and call me crazy but maybe resetting his brain is what it is doing I’m not sure. It is so sad to watch I tried this because it worked with my Sheltie and his seizures.
I have a 3 year old lab and I have noticed in the last few days that she does the same thing. It may last like a minute but she just shakes her head. When it happened today though her left front leg kinda did too. Not very much though. I know they aren’t seizures because I have seen many of those. I work in a dog food/grooming store and have seen too many there. 🙁 I am trying to find out why this started for her and if there is anything I can do.
Hi. My dogs gets random tremors similar to ur dog but not as severe. Have u ever heard of them happening in a labrador though?
Thank you so much for this article. This is my first time reading about IHT. My Pit Bull is 7 years old and just had an uncontrollable but conscious head bobbing episode, and thank you Internet, I Google and found this article. Seriously, I almost died. But after reading this article and watching Cooper’s video (my baby girl looked just like Cooper does in the video), I feel so relieved and equipped to handle this situation if it were to occur again.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, for using your experience to help educate others. And thank you ro all the people who posted remedies and solutions.
I was so freaked out when I first noticed my pup doing this!! I thought it was a seizure but he would still follow commands and was totally responsive in every way. Then I saw the video I cried!! This is exactly how my Simba looks!! Thank you so much!!
My Am. Bulldog/Boxer had these when I first adopted her, she was eating a mostly chicken based food (Costco Brand) then I switched her to L.I.T. Sweet Potato and Fish and she hasn’t had one in years. I also changed from advantage flee prevention to Next Guard.
Thank you so much for sharing. The video is especially helpful, as that it looks exactly like my poor Ringo when she has an episode. Many vets that haven’t seen these tremors may not know how to diagnose, and have a tendency to scare the owners (at least from my experience!) again thank you for sharing, after Ringo had an episode this morning this really helped put my mind at ease.
Our Doberman, Rizzoli has had idiosyncracy head tremors since she was a 5-6 month old pup (she is now 3 yrs old). Some one (vet or herbalist) suggest using B-Complex on a daily basis. So did some research and giving B-Complex on a daily basis has take care of the tremors. Rizzoli is now 3 yrs old and we found out when we have stopped her daily dose of B-Complex to see if maybe she has outgrown the head tremors situation (we were told that she could possibly outgrown this) but within a couple of days the “head bobbing” returns. So we put her back on the B-Complex. Take a moment to read about B-Complex and benefits, it is a water soluable vitamin. It’s worth a try and seeing for yourself, it’s definitely better than being freaked out when the tremors come on. Jill
Our Doberman, Rizzoli has had idiosyncracy head tremors since she was a 6 month old pup. Some one (vet or herbalist) suggest using B-Complex on a daily basis. So we did and it took care of within a few days. Rizzoli is now 3 yrs old and we find when stop the daily dose of B-Complex to see if maybe she has outgrown the head tremors situation (we were told that she could possibly outgrown this) but within a couple of days the “head bobbing” returns. So we put her back on the B-Complex. Take a moment to read about B-Complex and benefits, it is a water soluable vitamin. It’s worth a try and seeing for yourself rather than being freaked out when these head tremors come on. Jill
I have seen references to vitamin B before, but have not yet seen what dose you would give…how much do you give her?
Rizzoli is a 70 lb Doberman we just give her daily one tablet of Spring Valley Super B-Complex (sold at Walmart) and I swear it does the trick. If you read my previous post we have experimented with her on and off of this. We started giving this to her when she was a puppy and the first several tremors occurred and after doing some reading and reasearch is what lead us to this solution. Now are going on 3 years experience of dealing with the head tremors and the B-complex is the only thing that works. It’s simple to do, an inexpensive “supplement” (not a medicine) and all you need to do is be consistent and give it on a daily basis. As you know supplements only provide benefits, but one thing to be aware of is your dog’s urine will be a bright yellow. I encourage all to please give this a try for a few weeks.
So glad we found this site! Our Harley started having tremmers two days ago. We thought it may be a seizure but she responded to her name. Seems to happen when she is laying down and resting.
Thank you for sharing this
Possible vitamin or mineral difficiency. I strongly encourage you to look into vit B1 Thiamine ;). .
No, Bodhi is not at all aggressive ever. He has a sister(not from same litter) that checks on him when it starts. He’s always sweet as can be. A treat or two brings him out of it. I’m beginning to think it’s related to heart worm preventative. Next time, I’m giving him the injection. They were out at the vet so I went with a monthly Heartguard. He just started this in July and has always been on non- grain fish/potato.
Hi my name is Karolina and my husband and I have a 8 yr old boxer that started with these exact head tremors about 2 yrs ago. We have figured out that if you give him some honey the tremors stop immediately. We put a little honey on our fingers and let him lick it or just rub it on his gums so he can lick that way. That way the tremors only last less that 30 secs. Or as fast as you can get the dog the honey. Hope it works for everyone.
My black lab, who’s only 10 months, does this every once in awhile but his are short lived and his head bobs up and down. It’s almost like he’s cold and has only happened when he’s completely relaxed. I have use Frankincense essential oil by a MLM company and it seems to help but has not made them go away.
He recently went through a very stressful time having to go and stay at the Vet for a week. He had a temp and sever diarrhea. We thought he had a bad virus or intussusception but as it turned out he had swallowed a dang sock!!!!! Crazy dog! A month before this incedent is when I noticed the bobbing. It’s so sad to watch and be able to do nothing to make it stop. I just hold him and cuddle him to help him feel loved. He never leaves my side especially after the week “vacation” at the vets.
I AM SO RELIEVED TO HAVE COME ACROSS THIS WEBSITE!!! I HAVE A 5 POUND CHIHUAHUA THAT SUFFERS FROM THESE HEAD TREMORS!!! MY VET HAS BEEN TREATING HER FOR SEIZURES!!!! I CAN SNAP HER OUT OF THEM WITH FOOD OR A TOY!!! WHEN THEY FIRST STARTED HAPPENING I TREATED HER LIKE I DID MY BOSTON TERRIER THAT HAD ACTUAL SEIZURES. I HELD HER TO TO TRY TO KEEP HER FROM HURTING HERSELF AND THEY LASTED A LONG TIME….I FOUND IF I DISTRACT HER SHE STOPS WITHIN 30 SECONDS OR SO….I WILL BE TALKING TO MY VET ABOUT THIS SITE…THANK YOU….MS.MINNIE AND HER MOMMA…CINDY
Dear Cooper’s Mum,
It was really hard to watch and brought tears to my eyes – but a somewhat relief when Cooper’s clever tricks could be exercised.
If your VET has absolutely NO idea as to what is the cause ruling out neurological or genetic diseases and anything else I will say it is NUTRITION either a lack of necessary nutrition or TOXIC NUTRITION. Let me say this that if you are feeding Cooper ANY PROCESSED DRY OR TIN FEED regardless of breed specific for head tremors all this means is that these breeds are ‘more receptive’ than some other breeds making them easier to succumb to lowered immunity.
PLEASE see http://truthaboutpetfood.com/author/foslw3pspow/ THE TRUTH ABOUT PET FOOD by SUSAN THIXTON. I too am finishing my HOLISTIC PET NUTRITION course with over 20 years animal care in veterinary. PET FOOD and anything else TOXIC such as VACCINES, PARASITIC INSECTICIDES all synthetically GMO designed will BE THE CAUSE.
HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES are absolutely necessary for healing the pets body. A brilliant Orthodox Vet who is the world’s best HOMEOPATHIC Vet is DR CHRISTOPHER DAY or the late DR GEORGE MACLEOD https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-George-Macleod-MRCVS-DVSM/dp/1844131963
Also CELL TISSUE SALTS (the very cell salts that help keep us ‘animals’ alive and functioning well – such as Silica, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Iron, Fluoride, etc) ALL 12 combined in one dose. YOU CAN NOT OVERDOSE with these and are very safe to give every day with a dash of PLAIN SHEEP OR GOAT YOGURT (probiotic) – dont worry cats and dogs NEED saturated fats just not trans-saturated fats such as bacon, pork, fried foods and greasy tallow.
PLEASE TRY THE AUSTRALIAN OR AMERICAN INDIAN FLOWER ESSENCES. You can buy our Australian Bush Essences on line or the English Bach Flowers on line too. These are VERY SAFE and gentle and work on both psychological and physical ailments.
BAROMETER OF THE SOUL BY ANNETTE NOONTILL http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-body-is-the-barometer-of-the-soul-annette-noontil/prod9780646197210.html will give you reasons as to why every ailment is occurring (of course environmental conditions such as ingestion of toxins as previously discussed are valid – however, when the bodies spirit is weakened by a source (toxin vibration) it will result in certain origin of the body giving rise to effects. THEN all you do is CHOOSE the correct FLOWER ESSENCE to heal Cooper.
How long does it take? well my friend, this depends on (1) changing Coopers diet to RAW Organic MEATS (lamb, chicken and Sardines for EFA’s essential fatty acids), Veggie Pureed in processor ORGANIC BEETROOT, CARROTS and must COOK SWEET POTATO KUMERA for carbohydrates (orange only) AND RAW BABY SPINACH the small tiny leaves (NOT Silverbeet as its too high in oxlates) FEED ONLY CHICKEN OFFAL as GIBLETS because cattle offal harbor cysts and parasite fluke even when frozen or cooked-which you should never COOK any MEAT for pets as it denatures the meat (kills it) renders it useless for DOG and CAT digestion as their enzymes in their gut and bowel DEPEND 100% on RAW MEATY BONES for optimum health and well-being.
ALSO RAW MEATY BONES CONTAIN VITAL VITAMINS INCL VITAMIN C AND OMEGA EFA’S without these being fed DAILY/regularly pets succumb to dis-ease.
SUPPLEMENTS:
SPIRULINA HAWAII BRAND (in glass jar) ORGANIC only (1/4 tsp DAILY or every 2nd day BOOST and PROTECTS immune system and reduces parasitic infection
Goat Yogurt or Sheep Yogurt (probiotic)
PAPAYA and or PAWPAW REAL FRUIT (nothing processed) PEEL and DISCARD ALL WHITE AND BLACK SEEDS. Chop into chinks. Keep in fridge up 7 days. SQUASH HANDFUL OF FRUIT INTO WET RAW MINCE EVERY SINGLE DAY – one meal a day is ample. YOU CANT OVERDOSE ON THIS FRUIT. It will help kill parasites, eggs, arthritis, constipation, diarrhea, organ failure, IBS, Colitis, pancreatitis, the list goes on – yes even diabetes.
HEMP SEED OIL although pets can NOT convert PLANT OMEGAS ALA’s into DHA’s (EFA’s) Hemp Seed Oil has MANY other healing properties and is not just used for omega nutrition. It is a rich source of Vitamin D, K, C, E and many many other properties.
Dosage 1/4 teaspoon twice per day. (1 teaspoon per day)
Martin & Pleasance Combo 12 Cell Tissue Salts (2-4 tablets per day) remember these are cell salts not herbs and non addictive and non invasive and non pharmaceutical VERY SAFE. Crush with back of spoon and add to meat meal with 2 tablespoons of VEGI puree or just PAPAYA.
Add SPIRULINA into SARDINES in SPRINGWATER BRUNSWICK BRAND NO-ADDED SALT 3 tins per week ONLY. YES ADD PAPAYA TO IT TOO and if you want to cooked spoonful of sweet orange potato.
ADD 5 DROPS OF CALM AND CLEAR AUSTRALIAN BUSH ESSENCE into water bowl. OR BACH FLOWER RESCUE REMEDY
BACH FLOWER: CRAB APPLE, WALNUT AND WHITE CHESTNUT when you read the BAROMETER OF THE SOUL BOOK it will guide you to the correct REASON for head tremors (remember its Cooper;s SPIRIT which is communicating through his body to the cause and effect of tremors. (other than previously discussed toxins)
PLEASE STOP FEEDING ANY DRY FEED AND TIN FOOD AND ANY GAME MEATS most exotic and game meats are poisoned and parasitic riddled.
NEVER FORCE DOG AND CATS TO BE VEGAN OR VEGETARIANS THIS IS CRUEL AND UNNATURAL OF 40 MILLIONS YEARS OF THEIR UNIQUE DESIGN TO LIVE HEALTHY ON RAW MEATY BONES AND MEAT. I am Vegan myself – BUT I would NEVER dare change my dog or cat’s necessity for RAW MEAT for my ideologies. Just because we can change them does NOT mean we should. I strongly oppose FACTORY FARMING is horrendous and is unforgivable – but opt for pasture raised and lived, humane approved farms for LAMB and CHICKEN. In the next ten years apparently NO AGRICULTURAL ANIMALS WILL BE FARMED INSTEAD STEM CELL RESEARCH HAS AND WILL BE GROWING MEAT IN LABS FOR OUR PETS….hopefully non-genetically modified THIS WILL MAKE VEGANS HAPPY..
DOGS MANUFACTURE THEIR OWN TAURINE critical for heart, brain and eyes (nervous system) and is found in organ meats (chicken) and MEATY BONES – chicken NECKS.
OK Hope there’s enough here to help beautiful Cooper. THESE BREEDS that suffer from these tremors are highly excitable dogs – thus MUST be related to NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY and it’s never just the main nutrient its ALWAYS a SYNERGY of many WORKING TOGETHER – use the CELL 12 SALTS. PROCESSED PET FOOD i don’t care whats in the Vet stores or supermarket shelves or who promotes the billion dollar industry its all TOXIC GARBAGE.
THUS not ALL highly excitable dogs fall to this dis-ease ONLY THE ONES who’s immunity has been suppressed so far to suffer the effects!
“”DOGS WOLF FOOD DOWN”” they lack enzymes in their mouth to predigest food its all done in their STOMACHS AND BOWELS this just proves that bullshit dry feed deliberately lies about TEETH CLEANING is lies lies lies, the synthetic crap in the packets and tins are loaded with sugars and starches/carbs that STICK to teeth ROTTING them away remember too they lack the enzymes in their mouths to wash the sludge away. SO MUCH TO LEARN but EXTREMELY VITAL for Coopers longevity.
PET FOOD is the ONLY industry in the USA LEGALLY allowed to LIE to consumers and allowed to VIOLATE Federal Food Safety Laws – well, where else do you think they CAN OFF LOAD the BY-PRODUCT FILTH FROM PHARMA AND AGRICULTURE COMPANIES….WHERE DO YOU THINK THEY PUT IT??? IN PET FOOD.
There may be RAW Pet Food in the supermarket BEWARE THE HIDDEN SULPHITES that cause ILLNESS and FATALITIES in Pets…game meats, kangaroo, etc is laced with it.
NEVER BUY RAW PET MARKETED FOOD ONLY EVER USE ORGANIC HUMAN MEATS!
ONE last thing: Crystals have Vibration: CALMING Vibration crystals TIGER IRON (tigers eye and hematite for grounding and sense of safe control) or AMAZONITE any blue or yellow crystal is soothing and healing.
Love and Light Eve
I know you will find the cure to Cooper’s Tremors XX
Meditate on your intuition with Cooper may also help you both find answers.
I apologize in advance if your already adopting the above info. X
Our dog, 3 years old, beagle x lab (lab body, beagle colouring and big floppy ears – goddamn adorable!) suffers from the ‘head shakes’ as well. It doesn’t seem to affect her other than the shaking.
We couldn’t figure out what made it happen, vet said that it could be epilepsy but it was unlikely – I think it might be what you have described in your posts. It felt totally random but we think that it could have been caused by chemical sprays. We live near a reserve so would use fly spray on the random spiders, and would use room spray every couple of days to make the place smell nice. Then we stopped using sprays and changed to a totally organic and chemical free fly spray, and it stopped almost completely.
I used a new chemical free spray today that deoderises the room, and the shaking came back – so I don’t know what’s in it, but that’s all I could put it down to. Might help some of you as well?
I took my 2 yr old Boxer male off of Heartguard and tried Trifexis. He still had head tremors. I took him off of both and the tremors have stopped. My next step is to get the HW injection.
I am so relieved to come across this blog post! I adopted an American Bulldog from our local animal shelter about 2 months ago and was informed upon picking her up from the vert after being spayed that she had suffered 2 seizures. I then had her for 3 weeks before I saw one myself. While being a special education teacher, I have witnessed and cared for students during many seizures and the fact that it was just in her head and she was still very aware seemed very odd to me and not seizure activity. However, I still took her to the vet and had blood work done. Everything came out clear and the vet insisted that they were seizures, but I declined phenobarbital due to the harsh effects it has on dogs and decided to use natural, holistic remedies instead. After starting the holistic remedy, she went three weeks before I saw any more seizure activity. They have recently become much more common, even though she takes the holistic powder twice a day with peanut butter. I realized just this weekend that if she just smells the powder during an episode, then she will come out of it. Sounds like the smell is just a great distraction. I was about to have some more tests done but after seeing this post I feel so much better knowing that this is a common issue among the breed that does not have long lasting effects! Thank you!
I have an 11 month old female and a 7 month old male Doberman. The male has experienced tremors for a few months, whereas my female just began having them last week. I have found that when an episode starts, I open their mouth, grab their jaw and pin down their tongues with my thumb. This, for us, stops the episode within seconds. Try it, if it works for you too, please let me know so I can help spread the word.
My Chester is a 12 month old staffy and he had just started today ( 01/01/3017 ) and it is very distressing for us all, very sad ???
Vitamin B1 🙂
I was able to video tape my bully last night and the vet told me today that Jersey has this disorder. So I googled ut and found ya”ll. Thank you for your blig. It is so scary and I feel so helpless. I need to learn all I can so I can help her better. Should I change her food and treats? She now gets nutri soyrce seafood select and her treats are sweet potato and duck. Can you please help me help my baby.
Hi, Jean: I’m so sorry for what you’re going through. I know how scary it is. As for changing food and treats, I’d strongly suggest you work with your vet on the best options. In our experience with Cooper, he is SO sensitive and allergic to so many different things that clearing up those issues did help alleviate the tremors a bit. I shared more about that here: http://ohmydogblog.com/2016/01/idiopathic-head-tremors-faqs-and-an-update/
Good luck to you and your pup!!
my 10 yo English Staffy started doing this, he’s only had 2 episodes in the last year quite scary as he is fully alert when it happens, we were worried sick and found this article it put us as ease a bit thank you 🙂 the tremors only lasted a min, he jumped off the couch shook his head and he was fine.
My six year old female Dobie has had three episodes in the past (first was at 2 years old), where her head (only her head) aggressively shakes up and down and causes her to chatter her jaw. She is currently on the Horizon Legacy Salmon food (Pet Planet in Canada) which has high Omega 3 and B6 vitamin and seems to be extremely beneficial for her. I do know her mother has had episodes as well (more often then my girl) so this may be hereditary or linked that way somehow. I noticed my girl seems to have had her episodes when she was just waking up in the morning. As terrible as it is to witness your sweet pup this way, the best way is to stay calm for your dog, business as usual and go get their favorite treat with a trick or two and surely they will snap out of it (even if it takes a few tries) I found this very successful for us. I have tried to journal what has linked these three episodes in the past and I have only come up with warmer temperatures/climate so the trigger is really hard to pinpoint at this time.
Hello… please please consider vitamins b1 thiamine. It’s completely stop my Dobermans tremors 😉
Hello… please please consider vitamins b1 thiamine. It’s completely stop my Dobermans tremors 😉
I have an 8yr old Lab pure breed. He started this maybe close to 1yr ago. It isn’t a seizure because the dog can still respond to comments and acknowledges when spoken too, the trick to this HAND YOUR DOG A TREAT IMMEDIATELY when it starts and it STOPS on the spot. If continues a second treat which is rare and stops. This piece of advise shared has saved me as a constant worrier. I keep treats in night stand, often find it happens in am more so than later in evening.
Good luck
Yes distractions worked well for my girl too 😉 however we found Vitaminwater b1 thiamine to completely stop the twitching after about 1.5 to 2 weeks of administering. She was vitamine deficient 😉
This was super helpful. Thanks!
I wish I could have found this out really early because my four year old pit bull Dozer always had them. The only way we could have her to stop was to focus on the soda Pepsi so if my out pit Bull (they are father and daughter and yes we always called them bulldozer) has them I know what to do ahead on the dot. I have experience this for years but sadly I lost her almost two years now and it’s very hard on me truthfully and I know she’s okay now. But I hope and pray to God Cooper never gets as bad as she did. Thanks so much for this passage
Great article! My English bulldog suffers from this type of tremor on an ongoing basis. I huge spoonful of honey makes it go almost immediately. I don’t know why, but it helps! I’ve tried everything. I have always connected it to having a low glucose level because it happens right before she falls or sleep, or she wakes up due to the tremors. I hope this helps!
Thank you! We’ll try honey next time.
Yes! I have also heard that it may be caused by low glucose levels. I have a 7/8 beabull and she had her first “twitch” Saturday. Been researching ever since. Gave her maple syrup and almost instantly it went away. It happened right before she went to bed. I happened to catch it on video.
Boxer Louie gets this 2-3 times a year. Honey on the gums and it stops. Instantly!
Thank you!
My 2 year old hound mix just started with tremors in the middle of the night. So scary. Took him to vet today and blood work came back good. He does what your copper does. Any advice would be helpful
Thanks Kim
Remain calm and try distracting your dog with treats. We get our dog Shadow up, give him several treats and outside for some fresh air. Here’s a link that was very helpful for us. https://dta0yqvfnusiq.cloudfront.net/vetne67239387/2018/01/IDIOPATHIC-HEAD-TREMORS-Info-graphic-jpeg-5a5e8e7e3bba7.jpg
I have an 8 month old 7/8 Beabull. For those not aware of what that is, it’s a 3/4 english bulldog and 1/4 beagle. Just this past saturday she had her first head tremor and it scared the hell out of me. I tried peanut butter, treats, her favorite ball….nothing seemed to keep them away. I then took maple syrup and squeezed some in a bowl and let her lick it all up. Within a minute or two it went away and thank god she hasnt had another episode. I was told greek yogurt and honey works, healixer cbd oil drops, peanut butter and just calm words will also help. Very scary to watch. I was able to catch it on video incase the vet would want to see it. Since the episode, I’ve been researching what triggers them, treatments and neurologically what the cause is. If anyone has more information let me know. I wpuld love to find a cure for these poor babies so they nor their owners have to experience these horrific issues ever again.
Our 4 year old bulldog (Didi) had these tremors start when she was one year old. We raced to the vet and sat for 5 hours. We were relieved to hear it wasn’t serious. Didi’s head tremors are typically a little more violent than Cooper’s and they’re up and down. It seems like she doesn’t love them, but she appears fine. We heard you can try giving Greek yogurt, so we give her some every morning. We’ve been doing it for 3 years. She still gets the tremors, bit not often. I don’t know if the yogurt has helped or not. Thanks for sharing your stories. It takes a community!
I too have a dog with IHT. I recently rescued this precious pocket bully (IHT is common to bully breeds) who came in as a 3yo stray to a shelter. She was there 2 months, then adopted and returned 3 days later..reason?…housebreaking issues!!?? I had been sharing her on social media to help get her a home and when I saw the 3 day failure I drove 5hours to get her. I’ve had her since Oct 1st, 2021. This dog is precious. The original owner or breeder either hack-docked (or had it done by an idiot) her tail too short. It also disjointed and fused that way so she can’t wag or lift it when pooping! And she currently poops 3 times a day so after the deed, I wet wipe her bum and underside of tail stump. Non-issue there. She’s incredibly intuitive, smart and sensitive to (now) me, her new master. Startles easily at loud noises and the doorbell, barks at new people till she knows them, however, she intuitively knows compassionate people when she meets them by reading their energy. She reads my stress and I’m a pro at hiding it, so I thought. She knows key phrases connected possibly to prior training for “service” dog, like “she’s alright” when referring to another dog or human and settles/relaxes just after I say it. She’s a gentle hugger and wants to do this whenever I express frustration or sadness, even when I express it on the phone! She’s my shadow now. Doesn’t lick faces at all but prefers to put her head on my shoulder. Her first IHT episode was a few days after I brought her home. Like you, right away I looked up this symptom and will be getting some blood work to r/o hypoglycemia or calcium deficiency and other possibles. She’s had a litter at some point because she heard puppies crying on TV and ran frantic through the house looking for them and needless to say, I cried buckets. Oh, she has no apparent allergies, environmental or food related and loves to eat.
I do have an albeit nominal medical background but I’m now retired, fixed income and don’t have a ton of extra $$ for complicated testing etc but I will r/o basics. Food works to distract her and shorten episodes which are random and more frequent during stress. Extreme flavors, like yogurt from a spoon, work very well. I just have to stay stocked with her favorite..Oikos vanilla! Oh, did I mention she’s petrified of riding in a vehicle, any vehicle!! She wailed, seriously wailed with her mouth open for the 2.5 hours drive to daughters home from shelter! I don’t know if there’s a spatial disorientation happening that freaks her out, but she’s fine if I drive 25mph…yeah, a mild sedative, for her sake, is in order when travelling, if she can’t get past this. Kennel in truck doesn’t help, scares her more. I have seatbelt harness for her to restrict her flailing and she still occasionally does somersaults. Treats save my sanity and hers, giving her something to occupy herself. Also an occasional dental bone but she “mows” thru them waaay too fast.
All this is to say, that my instincts so far tell me that her IHT may be related to her intense desire to read people and help, coupled with a possible hereditary IHT gene trait…and a real crappy prior 3 years!
This will be her forever home and I will persist in working with her because I knew (from her photo!) there was something very, very special about her. Plus it’s what I do, I only rescue the one’s no one wants…they pick me and they know they are free to give me their worst and best and we ALL win. My reward is their contentment.??
*sorry, the last sentence should have exclamation points (!!) instead of question marks (??)