3 y/o rottie with trembling/teeth chattering

[Mav226]

Has anyone had any experience with anything of this nature? Any suggestions?

I have a 3 y/o former barn dog who is now a suburban lady since we moved 2 years ago. I have had her since she was 8 weeks old.

About a month ago I noticed that at times we could hear her teeth chattering. It is an involuntary chatter similar to what a person would sound like who fell into icy water. This never happens when she is excited or panting. It is always when she is relaxed and just hanging out around the house. These episodes last from under a minute to around 15 minutes. She does not appear to go in and out of consciousness. Her facial muscles don't appear to be doing anything strange.

Last week I noticed her hind end trembling while she was standing. It stopped after about 15 minutes. A few days later, her right hind was shaking in her sleep. Not a twitch like dogs sometimes do, but actually shaking. It was very similar looking to the hands of a person who has parkinson's disease. This went on for over an hour (I didn't wake her up).

Went to the vet who did a neurological exam. Everything appeared normal. Vet ran about $400 of blood tests. Negative for infections and parasites. The only things out of whack were that her liver numbers, sodium, and cholesterol were all slightly above normal. Although the vet mentioned these, she did not feel as though they were 'scary' problems. Negative for toxoplasmosis. Negative for most tick carried diseases, although we are still waiting on results from a few. Vet noticed slight pain in her left elbow and her hips. She has been on Synovi glucosamine/MSM for about a year. I have asked 3 vets (at 2 different clinics) about a hundred times to put her on Adequan, but they each say she "isn't that bad" yet. No lameness recently.

The girl in question is 92 lbs. and is eating a diet of Solid Gold Wolf King dog food. She is allergic to EVERYTHING and gets zero in the way of treats. She is up to date on all vaccines with the exception of lyme (which they don't give now that we've moved to S.C.).

Vet said our next step is to give it a few weeks and then get a referral to a neurologist.

I swear, I meant to mail that stupid canine health insurance paperwork back weeks ago. I just didn't have a .42 cent stamp. Now it's a pre-existing condition. WHY couldn't I have just taken my lazy butt to the post office...

Any suggestions? Experience? I'm really concerned.

[Jaegermonster]

It really does sound like some sort of a mild seizure or reaction to something. I would see if you can get into the neurologist.

I had a cat once who did that chatter thing, and he ended up being slightly epileptic.

I don't get the "it's not that bad" about the Adequan. So we want to wait til she's in pain and can't move? Sheesh. I would insist on it if you think she needs it.
I just started an older aussie on an awesome joint supplement, they will send you a free sample for your dog, it probably turned the clock back a good 5 years on my old aussie
www.glcdirect.com

[Bluey]

Can you video what your dog is doing, put it on Youtube and have your vet contact VIN, the vet internet group and have several neurologist look at it?
We did that with my dog, that had spells of shaking a leg out funny and they thought it was mild seizures, we put her on phenobarbital and she quit, so it probably was seizures.

Yor vet can even try that, if it keeps happening and see if that stops those tremors.
Then you may have your answer.:yes:

[JSwan]

I had a basset that did that. But he also had occasional head tremors. He had very mild epilepsy. I only witnessed one grand mal seizure - but many petit mal. They varied. Sometimes it was involuntary jerking motions, or head tremors, or chattering.

Not saying your dog has that - only that mine did.

He was never bad enough for medication, and he was a happy dog and died at the ripe old age of 16.

[Horsegal984]

I second the video taping the episodes. Even if you don't post it and get it looked at on VIN, it can be TREMENDOUSLY helpful for both your vet and the neurologist to acutally be able to see what happens. It's incredabely fustrating to have kind of vague symptoms and even worse when they're not present at the time of exam! Pictures and videos are definately your (and our!) friend!

And to answer your questions, it does sound like petit mal seizures, and your Rottie is at the right age for ideopathic epilipsey to start showing. Some dogs with petit mal seizures remain pretty aware of their surroundings, and some do not. Just varies from dog to dog.

Katherine
Vet Tech

[txladybug]

I would also wonder if the dog maybe ate something toxic?

[Mav226]

I would also wonder if the dog maybe ate something toxic?


You know, it's funny you should mention that. I got an e-mail from the ASPCA a few days ago about how dogs can be poisoned by Sago Palms: http://www.aspca.org/news/national/03-20-09.html#1

I'm fairly certain we have two in our back yard. Ours are a lot bigger than the ones in the picture though, so maybe it's a different plant? The symptoms don't seem to include the trembling: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/plants/sago-palm.html

She doesn't seem to eat the plants at this time of year, but in the summer does sometimes eat the orange fruit-like things that fall off of it.

She went through something really scary last year where she looked (to me) to have a serious neurological problem. She couldn't walk (at all). I had to move her from the back yard to the car in a wheelbarrow. When she could walk, she would walk up the steps, but not down. She wouldn't walk over the garden hose, and seemed a little disoriented. The vet thought it may be poisoning due to her flea control product. I spoke with the company, the ASPCA poison control center, and the FDA and they all seemed to rule out the flea product issue. This issue went away 3 days later as mysteriously as it came on.

Do you think I should mention to the vets about the palm trees in our back yard?

[Mav226]

Hmmm, just realized the ones in the front yard (she would have no access to these) are Sago Palms. The ones in the back are some other type of palm. Much taller (maybe 8 feet?) with a broader leaf.

I did notice when googling additional info about the Sago that it can cause seizures--but again, she has no access to the front yard...

[Boomer]

My aussie teeth chatters when laying around. But she also has epilepsy, so she has anything from grand mal seizures to "petit" seizures: her ears will suddenly flick rapidly forwards and backwards for 30 seconds.

She started having seizures at 2 y.o. and no cause determined - so she has idiopathic/primary epilepsy. She's also on grain-free kibble and AEDs.

[txladybug]

Update on your Rottie?

[Mav226]

Teeth are still chattering, but not as much. I haven't seen her hind end shaking much.

The vet didn't know what caused it. At the time she said maybe it was related to the weather, full moon, or something similar. ???

It's a mystery. I guess if it starts up again we'll get her in to see a neurologist.

[PiaffePlease]

My dog does this too. We havent gotten any insight in to it. If you get a diagnosis, please post about it.

[pintopiaffe]

completely late on this... is it weather related at all?

My yellow dog would shiver uncontrollably if she could hear thunder--even when I couldn't. It was awful. She would also do it at heat lightning--which I wouldn't even notice as it's off on the horizon...

out there... but I remembered this as we had our first T-storm the other night without her, and while I miss her, I did NOT miss all 90lbs of her trying to climb on top of my head for 40 minutes... :sadsmile:

[Mav226]

It may be weather related, but it's definitely not thunder/storm related. Until recently, we hadn't seen any sort of rain/storms for a while. We've had nasty ones for the past week, which she slept right through :) No chattering this week. Go figure.

I know she's not cold---we're in S.C. and she has the rottie coat.

I guess we're going to have to continue keeping her 'chatter log' and discuss it with the vet when we see her next.

Sigh.

[MunchkinsMom]

Humm. . . I had a dog that did that, usually when she got excited, like when I was handing out the dog biscuits. It didn't start until she was older (about age 9-10) and in her last months (age 13) the vet discovered she had two displaced discs in her neck (not sure what might have caused that, she was never leashed or tied).

[Mav226]

Munchkin's Mom--thanks for your input!

I have been meaning to get her to a chiro because all of these problems started after having 11 puppies about a year ago. The vet thought it was unrelated, but I'm not sure.

I've been having a heck of a time trying to find one though. :(

She pulls/jerks very hard on her leash and it is entirely possible that she messed something up that way too.