# Dog keeps shaking his head witout visible reason



## Marina Schmidt (Jun 11, 2009)

Hey guys, since about three weeks my Border Collie shakes his head pretty often and also tilts his head sometimes. At first I treated him with some pain-relieving ear drops and it got better (at least I imagine that). After this five-days ear drops treatment it came back after a few days so I went to the Vet. He looked into the ear with an inside camera but there was nothing found. But he keeps shaking it. It's not like that he does it every other minute but still more often. What the hell could that be?


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## Larry Krohn (Nov 18, 2010)

My Rotty had that problem a lot a few years ago. He was getting inner ear infections, actually had two ruptured eardrums at one point. If the vet does not look for it deep it wont be found. Once I put him on a grain free diet he never got another infection.


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## Christopher Smith (Jun 20, 2008)

Sounds like an ear infection or tooth problem. Does the ear smell funky?


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Christopher Smith said:


> Sounds like an ear infection or tooth problem. Does the ear smell funky?


I agree.

No head tilting or unstable gait, right?


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## Kara Fitzpatrick (Dec 2, 2009)

is it a shake or almost like shivering? 
some dogs get "Idiopathic head tremors"
Elsa does it sometimes when she is exhausted... almost looking like her head is shivering badly. 
Some people give Vitamin B to reduce it I've heard. 

here are some videos of it... does your dog do this?: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z0APckqhEs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nucc0rajrPI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vktkL4BO4Ls&feature=related 

I would still get him checked out by a vet... just to make sure there is not a problem.


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## Tammy St. Louis (Feb 17, 2010)

student in my class had this , i was sure the dog had a ear infection but didnt look 

took it to the vet , and vet said dog had a allergic reaction to food, ?
she had changed treats, to garbage stuff, 
took the treats away and went back to her ususal treats , dog is back to normal


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## Carlos Machado (Dec 28, 2008)

Years ago I had Rottweiler that got ear infections all the time the meds stoped working. I kept switching foods tilll I found one that didn't give her a reaction one of the cheapest on the market I was feeding better food before but had to feed her alpo for the rest of her life she was healthy till her last days. This was before grain free food was avalible but some dogs are alergic to different things an ex had a dog that if it ate the smallest bit of chicken she would paw her face and bite her paws and would scrach herself up pretty good. So I would buy new food and swich it untill you find one that doesn't give your dog a reaction.


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## Gina Pasieka (Apr 25, 2010)

Dogs can get infections/fluid beyond the ear drum which can be difficult to see by normal means. If the shaking continues, I would recommend actually seeing a dermatologist. Unfortunately sometimes a small hole in the tympanic membrane must be made to get a sample and treat them appropriately. Sometimes even a CT is used to look into the inner ear and bulla. Your vet could consider a good oral antibiotic like marbofloxacin for a few weeks as an empirical treatment, as ear drops will not work with inner ear infections.


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## Marina Schmidt (Jun 11, 2009)

@Kara: No, luckily it doesn't look like this. He shakes it as if he got wet, but only the head, not the whole body. 

I checked his ears again yesterday, the smell is ok, but I found them to be a bit greasy, so I cleaned them. I wondered if the ear drops I gave him made the infection first somewhat better so the vet couldn't see something when he checked him and now it's fully back? 

I also checked his mouth, his teeth look pretty good as he's on a raw diet (so grain allergies can't it be as well), but since I'm not a vet or dentist I can't say for sure. 

As I know toothache can hurt in the ears as well I had this following idea - two years ago he had an accident where he got a stick hurting his throat when someone else threw one for him ( :evil: ). He suffered from a hole in his tongue (very deep in the throat), the right tonsil had to be removed 'cause it was damaged too much plus many little wounds in the throat by a ton of splinters. So could it be that the scars hurt or kinda itch him? He also doesn't like to eat to hard bones anymore since then, so maybe he feels uncomfortable in his throat.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Gina Pasieka said:


> Dogs can get infections/fluid beyond the ear drum which can be difficult to see by normal means.* If the shaking continues, I would recommend actually seeing a dermatologist.* Unfortunately sometimes a small hole in the tympanic membrane must be made to get a sample and treat them appropriately. Sometimes even a CT is used to look into the inner ear and bulla. Your vet could consider a good oral antibiotic like marbofloxacin for a few weeks as an empirical treatment, as ear drops will not work with inner ear infections.


Me too.


For a very recent example, a dog in our club is just recovering from a "superbug" (MRSA) infection deep in the ear that was only diagnosed and properly treated when she got the dog to a derm vet.


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