Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Head Shaking

by Jana Rade

You might have noticed that when talking about symptoms, sometimes a qualifying word is included, such as excessive panting, excessive drinking, excessive head shaking. That is because these are normal behaviors and whether or not there is a problem is a question of degree.

Dogs will shake their heads in response to any irritation, such as pain, an itch, a tickle or a bug bite.

If your dog is shaking their head persistently, you need to pay attention and look for a cause.

On our summer walks, JD will shake his head quite often, to fend off bugs. Deer flies in particular seem to like him. I think they know they can drive him nuts. Jasmine was much less concerned about them, she was a bush dog at heart. It was me who was following her around and chasing them off. She didn't seem to care.

The other day, on the way from the farm, JD kept shaking his head.

This was cause for concern and we were going to check his ears when we got home. He kept shaking and shaking ... and then we saw an ant waltz out of his ear. There was our culprit. The shaking stopped.

When an especially mean stray tick got on Jasmine's ear, her instinct was to shake her head. 

(Stray tick because it was one of the only two we ever found at the ranch.)

The bite was painful for Jasmine though, so every time she started to shake her head she'd cry a little, stop and hold her head down, tilted towards the affected ear.

This immediately alerted us to a problem and we found and removed the invader.

When your dog starts shaking their head like that, examine the ears, eyes, head, neck and skin carefully. Pay particularly close attention to the ears.

Some culprits are obvious and easy to deal with. Some require attention of your veterinarian.

A common cause of head shaking is otitis, inflammation of the ear canal. Grass awns, ear mites and other things might be at play but, allergies are also very common causes of ear inflammation.

An inflamed ear makes a great playground for bacteria or yeast. Infection often follows.

If there is redness, swelling, discharge or bad odor to the ears, it's time to see your veterinarian. If pain is involved, see your veterinarian right away. If you have a reason to suspect a foxtail, also don't delay. Those nasty little things can travel throughout your dog's body and cause serious damage.

Some breeds are also susceptible to ear vasculitis, which is inflammation of the blood vessels in the ear flap.

This condition typically comes with thickening of the ear margins, which eventually ulcerate and crust over.

Dogs with balance issues, be it from trauma, stroke, inner ear infection or vestibular syndrome, might shake their heads in an attempt to relieve their symptoms.

Not only is excessive head shaking a symptom of a problem, it can actually be a cause for one as well.

Sometimes a dog can shake their head so much that it will cause the blood vessels in the ear flap to rupture, resulting in a hematoma.

This will look like a swelling of the ear flap. It really is a pocket of blood and it will cause your dog to shake their head even more. Ear hematomas require veterinary attention if they are to heal without permanent disfigurement.

All this refers to voluntary head shaking.

This is what we typically picture as a head shake. There are such  things as involuntary head tremors, which are another story all together.

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Further reading:
Head shaking - an ear of an issue!
Why Does My Dog . . . Shake His Head All of the Time?
My Dog is Shaking His Head


Related articles:
Symptoms: Recognition, Acknowledgement And Denial
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Panting
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Drinking
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Bad Odor 
Symptoms to Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Drooling  
What Can Your Dog's Gums And Tongue Tell You? 
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Coughing

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Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Coughing

by Jana Rade

Unlike some of the signs of illness that can be subtle or creep up on you, coughing isn’t exactly an easily missed symptom.

A dog is either coughing or they're not.

Sometimes, a dog will cough a few times and that is the end of it. Our guys might cough a couple times when drinking from a bottle and not getting the water down quite right. Inhaled irritants and food particles or even pressure from a tight collar can all cause a bout of coughing.

When there are only a few coughs, following a clear cause, I never worry about it.

Once Jasmine started coughing after a bark-off session with a new dog in the neighborhood. Her rules were clear. Come out and meet up with me when I’m walking outside, or come through the front door like everybody else. Sneaking around the yard is not proper behavior and you’ll get told. So he got told.

At first we thought she had irritated her throat with all that barking. 

But it wasn’t going away. I never liked taking chances with Jasmine and so we ended up at the vets that afternoon. It turned out that her lymph nodes were swollen and she was running a bit of a fever. The vet checked her out and said that it’s either lymphoma or infection and that we should try antibiotics first to see what happens. Uh-huh? You don’t spring words like lymphoma at people at random! And other than the coughing there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her?!

However, trying the antibiotics first made sense to us and so we did that. Fortunately, the cough cleared right up and all was good.

When your dog coughs persistently, don’t take chances, see a vet. 

Coughing accompanied by labored breathing, lethargy or bloody sputum is a potential emergency and should be treated immediately.

So what could cause your dog to cough? 

Coughing is a reflex caused by an irritation in the airways. There is actually quite a long list of possible reasons why your dog might be coughing

• Respiratory infections (bacterial, viral or fungal)
• Inflammatory or immune conditions (e.g., chronic bronchitis or allergies)
• Parasites
• Heart disease
• Tracheal collapse
• Foreign bodies (e.g., inhaled grass seed or chunks of food)
• Cancer
• Fluid accumulation in or around the lungs including blood, pus, or chyle (a fatty fluid)

Kennel cough is a well known and common cause of coughing.

Kennel cough is caused by viral and/or bacterial infections (sometimes in combination). This results in a deep, dry, hacking cough that sometimes ends with a gagging sound. Kennel cough often gets worse with exercise or excitement.

In contrast, a high, weak gagging cough suggests tonsillitis and sore throat. 

If your dog is coughing from tonsillitis, they may also swallow a lot and lick their lips.

Canine distemper starts with runny nose and eyes, fever, lack of appetite, and, you guessed it, coughing  But is seen almost exclusively in young dogs that are not up to date on their vaccines.

Chronic bronchitis is characterized by chronic inflammation of the bronchi or smaller airways. 

To be diagnosed with chronic bronchitis, a dog has to have been coughing for two months or longer and other possible causes of coughing need to be ruled out. The typical cough is harsh and dry, followed by retching and gagging. If left unchecked, it can lead to irreversible damage of the airways.

Pneumonia is a serious illness that requires immediate medical attention. 

It can be caused by viral, bacterial, fungal or parasitic infection. Your dog can get pneumonia as a complication of chronic bronchitis, collapsing trachea or foreign bodies. Aspiration pneumonia results from inhalation of foreign matter, particularly gastric contents. With pneumonia, cough is accompanied by fever, depression and rapid breathing. The cough is often moist and bubbling.

Parasites, like heartworms, lungworms, and the larvae of some intestinal parasites, can also cause coughing.

Congestive heart failure (CHF) causes fluid to accumulate in (pulmonary congestion) or around (pleural effusion) the lungs.

Result, quite obviously, is a cough. An enlarged heart can also lead to coughing. Your dog can cough for prolonged periods of time, particularly at night while he’s resting. 

There are other conditions that can cause pleural effusion, such as liver disease, kidney failure, pancreatitis, lung tumors, and it can be a complication of bacterial pneumonia. Coughing is accompanied by rapid, labored breathing and your dog’s mucus membranes may appear blue.

Collapsing trachea is a condition during which the wall of the trachea (windpipe) narrows as your dog inhales.

It is quite obvious why that would make your dog cough. The principal symptom of collapsing trachea is a characteristic goose-honk cough.

As much as we hate to think about it, cancer can also cause coughing, particularly in middle aged to older dogs. Tumors may originate in the lungs (primary lung cancer) or spread (metastasize) from other parts of the body. Lymph nodes in the chest may enlarge with lymphoma and press on a dog’s airways causing coughing.

As you can see, a cough should by no means be underestimated. 

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Related articles:
Symptoms: Recognition, Acknowledgement And Denial
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Panting
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Drinking
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Bad Odor 
Symptoms to Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Drooling  
What Can Your Dog's Gums And Tongue Tell You? 
The Kennel Cough Cock Up: Kupo's Story
Kolchak And Kennel Cough
Stress And Crowded Places Might Mean Kennel Cough

Further reading:
Coughing in Dogs: Causes and Treatments
11 Reasons Your Dog Is Coughing

Read More