Head bobbing

[Kim Fine]

Honey had a weird night a few days ago...she seemed very tired starting around 6 pm and wanted to just lay on the floor and sleep. I put her in her crate around 8 and went up to take a shower. When I came back down to get her she had thrown up a little bit (just food) and also had peed in her crate (which she has done a few times but it is unusual for her to actually be laying in it). I was really worried so called the emergency vet but decided to just wait it out until morning rather than taking her far away and paying a fortune. She seemed out of it for the next few hours and just wouldn't perk up like she usually does. Just sleepy. She was also doing a weird head bobbing thing on an off for a few hours which I got on video. The next day I took her to our vet and he didn't make much of it, he was concerned but said it could be a number of things...eating something bad, low blood sugar, and very low chance of a seizure but he didn't seem to think that was it.  Basically we are just going to watch and see if it happens again. That night she was back to her normal self around 2 am and by the next day was acting perfectly fine. I'm including the link to the video. Of course the video wouldn't play while I was at the vet but he said even if he saw it, he wouldn't be able to tell what happened just from seeing it. I did email it to him later. What do you guys think? She is 10 weeks old. 

Kim 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cLOCafzP7M

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I looked up head bobbing and I think your vet made the right call to have you watch and wait. I agree that it is worrying and that you want to pay attention for other symptoms.  My husband actually has this type of problem; in humans it is called Familial Tremors.

Here is what I found:

The condition is better known as "Idiopathic Head Bobbing Syndrome". In simple words, head bobbing which cannot be linked to any medical conditions and is in most cases harmless.

It is unfortunate though, that more often than not, veterinarians treat such cases as seizures, prescribing Phenobarbital or Potassium Bromide. In cases of Idiopathic head bobbing, such medications do no good, because the syndrome is not related in any way to seizure activity. Affected dogs therefore, will not benefit from such medications and may actually develop unpleasant side effects from such medications.

While the syndrome may look strange, it is generally not harmful and most dogs have happy, satisfied lives in spite of the occasional tremor. Typically, the head bobbing bothers the human observer more than the dog. However, your dog should still see the vet should your dog lose consciousness or show other signs of neurological damage. If he seems unresponsive and will not raise his head when you call his name it could signal an uncontrollable seizure.

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

It looks very mild, at least to my untrained eye.  She's moving her head very marginally, I was expecting a lot more activity.

Far be it for me to give a diagnosis but if you hadn't labled this video I would have just thought it was just Honey at rest moving her head ever so slightly to track something or someone.

Yeah, sometimes we make more out of things than they are.  If that's the worst that happens, God Bless Us.  Teddy had a really tough reaction to his 1st Lyme shot and he was totally out of it.  The 2nd shot was supposed to be the tough one -- nothing happened at all !!??!!  Go figure.... 

Let's hope the professionals agree it's nothing with your beautiful Honey.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The first thing I thought of while reading this post was a seizure. The video doesn't look like much to me, but the description of her behavior the other night is worrisome to me. There is a type of seizure in dogs called partial or focal seizures, in which only one area of the brain is affected and  the dog remains fully conscious, and I think this does sound like a possibility. I'd keep a close eye on her. I don't think that "eating something bad" would cause a dog to lose control of her bladder like that; diarrhea would be logical, but not urinating. Ditto low blood sugar. Hope it was a one time thing.

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

Dogs can have epilepsy too, apparently.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh yes, it's quite common in dogs, and we have many doodles with it; there's actually a group here for owners of doodles with epilepsy and seizure disorders.

[Kat and Winston]

Although she is a 10 week old puppy and I don't think it is uncommon really at that age for them to have accidents in their crate. Winston certainly had his share. The whole keep the crate small enough so they won't go in it didn't always work for him. He didn't do the other in there, but  he peed in it more times than I had hoped for.

I can imagine the whole situation was unsettling, as we tend to worry about these sweet puppies, but it really could of just been that the puppy was not feeling 100% and vomited and peed while she was in the shower.

The bobby head just looked like a tired puppy being bothered by somebody when she'd rather be sleeping. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

This does not look like a seizure to me.

[Kim Fine]

Thanks so much for your responses! Trying not to worry so much but shes so young and I'm already fully attached to this baby so hard to think about anything being wrong! Hopefully it was just a random event but I will surely keep an eye on this.  

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

Friends Invite sent....Frank & Teddy