My Toy Poodle Shakes His Head

[SamZ]

Hi,

Our toy poodle, Bobby shaked (one year old, white, desexed) his head for few times yesterday morning and we thought this is his new game and should be alright. But last night we saw this is happening continiously and he didn't look fine so we took him to vet immediately and she said MAYBE this is a neurological disease names GME or something like that. She said he probably will need some tests (about 10 and cost 2800) to let us know what is the problem exactly.

Unfortunately, this also happend tonight just few seconds. I thought maybe he has got ear infection so I used one of those ear cleaning drops (aristopet ear cleaner). Now before we take him to his own vet I'm just wondering if anyone had similar case? Actually my wife loves him so much so I hope this is not a serious problem. By the way, we just found 3 fleas in his coat althogh we use both FrontLine and Advocate once a month so I sprayed the backyard and where he sleeps today. I don't know if this can cause any allergies to cause such problem? I mean fleas.

Any information is really appreciated.

Edited May 9, 2010 by SamZ

[pie]

Did the vet look in his ears?

[gareth]

Did the vet look in his ears?

Good question. Could be as simple as a grass seed down there.

[Diva]

There are plenty of minor but irritating problems that can cause a dog to shake his head. I'd hope the vet is ruling out these things before suggesting very expensive investigations. If she doesn't seem to have checked out obvious issues like an infection or grass seed or hematoma I'd probably be getting a second opinion before going down the neurological route. If it is something more serious I wish you luck.

Edited May 9, 2010 by Diva

[becks]

i would be checking the ears first - are they plucked, clean, wax free? Anything in there that shouldn't be?

Is he scratching at one ear or both?

Frontline won't stop fleas jumping onto the dog, just kill them once they are on the dog and this can take a bit of time, not instant death! So seeing a flea is not unusual.

Flea allergies tend to be based around the lower back/tail area.

[persephone]

When you say he shakes his head-- is it the shake with ears flapping..a side-to side shake. or is it that his head sort of bobs up & down- a bit like he is trying to nod "yes" ?

[mish13]

My fingers are crossed for you that its just an ear infection that can be treated. Are you double dosing your dog with Frontline & Advocate flea treatments? I would be asking the vet about that, I would be worried I was hurting my dog.

[Zug Zug]

Yep - check the ears. That would always be my first thought with a poodle. Definitely makes them shake their heads.

[W Sibs]

My first thought was ears. Charlie does that when his ear is irritable.. I clean his ears out and he is usually fine after that. Does your poodle try to scratch it's ears too?

[Dante]

My Chi was doing this a while back. Vet gave me some ear drops but there was no improvement. Turned out to be retained baby teeth causing the issue. Had them removed and the problem went away.

[SamZ]

Thank you very much for the replies. It seems that it was just an ear infection/issue because now he is fine after I cleaned his ears last night with those ear cleaner drops. BUT what is interesting to me is treatment route which was suggested by Mrs. Vet, costing $2800, she even didn't check my dog ears so what I can say! She could simply see we are panic so ...

Anyway, world is full of different people, what we can do.

Now what I should do about the fleas? Today we vacumed all around the house, beds, floors, eveywhere. Plus I sprayed outdoor (our small backyard) and indoor using Rudducks FLEA-DI. And last night, I put Advocate on back of his neck (I usually do it once a month).

So what else I need to do? does this Rudducks FLEA-DI work?

Thanks for any idea,

Sam

Edited May 10, 2010 by SamZ

[Fit for a King]

Sam - an ear infection will not just leave as the ear has been cleaned. he may need antibiotic drops. I would go to another vet and ask to have the ears thoroughly checked.....

[gareth]

Thank you very much for the replies. It seems that it was just an ear infection/issue because now he is fine after I cleaned his ears last night with those ear cleaner drops. BUT what is interesting to me is treatment route which was suggested by Mrs. Vet, costing $2800, she even didn't check my dog ears so what I can say! She could simply see we are panic so ...

Anyway, world is full of different people, what we can do.

You can go back to that clinic and ask to see the boss. If the boss was the one you saw originally, ask to see a different vet and explain that the first vet quoted you $2800 without looking down your dog's ears and without giving you a possible diagnosis.

[VJB]

My dog seemed to have an allergic reaction to Advantix, which resulted in lots of head shaking, ear flapping for the few days after it was applied. I didn't figure this out for a few months though, as I didn't connect the application of flea treatment to the ear flapping initially. It would only last a few days, then she'd be back to normal, and I did have the vet down twice to check her ears, but we found nothing on those occasions.

So, I would definitely get your dogs ears checked. Ears can be painful if there are problems left untreated. And maybe have a discussion with the vet about the possibility of allergic reaction to flea treatment.