Shaking her head...

[Erin]

What does it mean that Hershey repeatedly shakes her head? My first thought is ears, and I clean them often, just a little bit of brown stuff on the cotton ball this last time, no bad smell... Doesn't really have any other weird behaviors attached with it. Anybody else dog do this?
Could it be something else or should I just take her to the vet and see about her ears?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'd take her to the vet. That definitely sounds like an ear problem to me.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Could Hershey have hair in her ears? It could be the start of an ear infection... or not. I would take her to the vet today and have them scope her ears since it is a long holiday weekend. Mickey had no ear infection but lots of hair that made it uncomfortable for him.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Smelling the ears when they are clean and before you clean them gives you a guideline to recognize when there's a problem. A really strong yeasty smell or an "off" odor can mean trouble. You can still err either way though, thinking there's an infection when there's not and vice versa.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

This is a great question because Murphy shakes his head even when the vet has said he is all clear of infections. But most of his 6 months I've had him there has almost always been one brewing. We are off to the vet yet again and I'm afraid it may be time for a culture. I'd rather err on the side of overly cautious, however, I've never taken him in on instinct where he's NOT had an infection. So go with your instincts. You know her best.

[Lesley, Wellington & Bingley]

Our Tibetan Terrier suffered from 'head shakes' when she was younger. This was an involuntary tremour and her head would shake, or wobble. It was caused by legions on the brain stem (sounds horrendous) but was triggered by the booster vaccine. We had to stop booster vaccines and it hasn't returned, it's been over 5 years now.

This was not her voluntarily shaking her head though, so you will probably need a vet to diagnose the cause of your dog's head shakes. Good luck and I hope it stops soon =)

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Erin,
How is Hershey doing today??

[Karen & Lucy]

Erin, she still may have an infection that you are not able to see. I would take her to the vet just to be sure. Give Hershey a big kiss from us.

[Erin]

Ok, the vet will be able to see hershey on friday... Though it seemed to subside over the weekend a bit, as of yesterday she was shaking her head quite a bit and rubbing her head/ears on anything she could find. Her ears also feel hot to the touch, which cannot be a good sign. Calling the vet back this morning to see if there is anything I can do to ease her obvious discomfort. I think I have some doggie tylenol left over from the great dane attack incident.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Friday? The vet can't see her earlier?? Hot to the touch sounds like an infection to me.

[Adina P]

Erin sometimes the act of repeatedly shaking her ears WILL make them hot and swollen. When Thule has had issues that caused her lots of head shaking (which she would continue for a long time after drops and ear cleaning) the ear flaps would get swollen and red JUST from all the trauma of constantly shaking them and having them hit her over and over and over. Was it your dog's ear flaps that were hot to the touch?

[Erin]

Called the vet yesterday just to see if there was anything I could do to help Hershey out before our appt. on Friday. She prescribed an antibiotic based on the symptoms I gave her, and I picked it up from the office. She'll still see Hershey on Fri, but now I get to put goop in her ears everyday :o) Thanks for all your concern, will keep ya posted....

[Erin]

Ok, back from the vet. Yes, she has two ear infections.... She got her kennel cough stuff and fecal check cause she was due for it, and that was all fine...

However, she apparently has some "anal stress." Butt dragging, random irregular poops... Vet expressed her rather full anal glands, and is thinking that was the problem. So on ear meds, and butt meds. Taking her to the kennel this afternoon (which I think she really enjoys - they have outdoor supervised play time like 6 hours a day...) cause we're off to a funeral this weekend. Thanks for your concern!