Head Tremors

Idiopathic head tremor
is a condition that effects all dog breeds
and is frequently seen in Labradors, Boxers and Bulldogs.

Idiopathic means a disease
that is of uncertain or unknown origin.
That means the exact cause of head tremors
has yet to be determined.

When a dog has idiopathic head tremors it
will shake its head without having any control over it.
No one really knows why this occurs,
most dogs show symptoms of head bobbing
(usually up and down but it can also be side to side).
In most cases the symptoms occur at the age from 6 months to 3 years.

Usually 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.
This condition is totally unresponsive
to seizure medications and the best way to handle
an episode seems to be to focus the dog’s attention
on a toy or treat. Episodes tend to get milder
and less frequent with age.

Diagnosis

It is very important to let a veterinarian
make an official diagnosis
because the same symptoms occur in other diseases!

These symptoms may also occur with epilepsy,
brain tumors or other neurological diseases.
It will be important to have an experienced,
reputable vet for this
since some vets incorrectly diagnose
head tremors as seizures and will put the dog
on medication for the rest of it’s life.

When your dog has these symptoms
you can help the vet with his diagnosis
by making a video of the head tremors
and to make notes and log exactly when
and for how long the head shaking occurs.

Officially there is no known cause
but here is a list of possible causes/triggers
supplied by our members
who have dogs with idiopathic head tremors:

females during the heat cycle
from eating a particular food
from being given a particular supplement
after flea and/or tick treatment
after being given heartworm medication
after an intensive work out or from being stressed

Treatment

Again there is no medical treatment
but here are some things you can do
to help your dog through it.

First of all make sure your dog is safe
(remove sharp objects around him and make sure he doesn’t fall).
Second of all be calm, if you panic
your dog will sense it and panic too.

Keep in mind that even though it looks bad
your dog is not in any pain.
And third distract your dog
with a treat or toy try to keep the dogs attention.

The current theory is that the tremors are a result
of dysfunction of the proprioceptive fibers in the neck.
Abnormal sensory input, causing alternating contraction
and relaxation of muscle groups, may be responsible.
This explanation, while almost impossible to prove,
would explain why those affected stop shaking
if something is done to focus their attention
on an object such as a toy or treat.

Tricks
A lot of people give a little bit of honey
or other sugary treats (peanut butter, vanilla ice cream)
allthough there is no medical proof this works
so many of our members said it worked
so it might be worth trying.
Also gently massaging your dogs head and neck
seemed to work for a lot of dogs.

17 thoughts on “Head Tremors

  1. Marla Ozenbaugh

    Ok my bulldog just started doing doing this and after doing some research I’ve found its common in the breed. I had given him heartgard & seresto flea tick collar & that night the shaking started. It’s usually only once a day at night when he’s sleeping.

  2. Anonymous

    My Olde English Bulldog started doing this last night. His head shaking was up and down and only for a couple seconds with a minute or so in between. I tried the sweet treats tip (gave him a few marshmallows) and took him for a walk to distract him and it stopped. Didn’t see it again last night and so far no issues today. No idea if this worked or if it was a coincidence but just thought I would share. Hope this helps.

  3. Tyler

    My Olde English Bulldog started doing this last night. His head shaking was up and down and only for a couple seconds with a minute or so in between. I tried the sweet treats tip (gave him a few marshmallows) and took him for a walk to distract him and it stopped. Didn’t see it again last night and so far no issues today. No idea if this worked or if it was a coincidence but just thought I would share. Hope this helps.

  4. Anonymous

    My bulldog started doing this tonight and I was in complete panic, I sat cuddling him like a manic mother while googling his symptoms!! I had ice cream in so tried him with vanilla, stopped the shaking straight away!! I’ll just keep an eye on him over night see how he goes!! This was after reading the link above to face book.

  5. Linda

    I see this more during summer heat on our bulldog. Could be dehydration. We give him ice cubes and it helps

    • My Olde English Bulldog has had head tremors but they subsided for a couple of months. He recently had one and instead of giving him a treat, ice cream etc., l just touch his mouth/nose with an ice cube and that stops the tremor immediately and then he’s fine again. The always occur while sleeping.

  6. Ali

    My Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog used to do that and now my English is doing it – it seemed to start a year after they were spayed.

    • Kimberley

      Same here…with our Doberman…she never did this before. She was spayed 2 days ago. And now her poor head is doing this…she’s fuctions normal thou

  7. I have twp English Bulldogs. Both suffer this from time to time for no apparent reason. I don’t know if my Son discovered this or if someone told him to do this but a plain old dog biscuit stops it immediately when they start to chew and does not recur for months. I wish someone would put this remedy on their site.

    I see YouTube videos where people are letting the dog lick what I assume is peanut butter or whatever and it is not benefiting the dog at all. A dog biscuit stops the tremor immediately with the first chewing motion. Won’t you people please try this and then advertise, advertise, advertise.
    Anthony B. Hargis Jr.
    brickboo2@yahoo.com

  8. LeAnn Franco

    Seeing this breaks my heart my Bruno also had head shakes ,scared me to death,sorry to say my baby had so much more going on health wise we put him down in July of 2017 ,I wish I could get another one ,Bruno was a rescue dog we had for 8 years ,wish I could afford to get another one ,so I just find myself watching bulldog video’s to fill the space I have lost ,not a day goes by that I do not think of him and still look for him when I come in the door my heart goes out to all of you!

  9. Edward

    My bulldog has head tremors. My wife found a VERY effective remedy that WORKS EVERY TIME: put a finger in his mouth and touch the back of his pallet. It stops it immediately. Seems like it resets some kind of neural connection.

  10. John

    My staffy Minnie is in heat and has just started head shaking does anyone no if being in heat can trigger it?

  11. Carly

    My english bulldog had this around 2 years of age. We noticed it was triggered when he had signs or symptoms of an ear infection (he loved swimming and would sometimes get ear infections, despite how hard we tried to clean and dry him afterwards!). I do wonder if there was some kind of inner ear connection? Was also during the summer and about 6 – 8 months after he was spayed. Had about 3 episodes in his lifetime when he was young, and that was it.

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