Freaking out - Finn (UPDATE)

 Good luck, Finny! ((hugs))

Not sure I understand what the bashing is all about when mere possibilities are being offerred.

Georgie, I'll be thinking of you and Finn as you guys work through this.  **Hugs**

AgileGSD

My boss's Boxer has "Idiopathic Head Tremor Syndrome" and has occasional episodes of head tremors. That's exactly what Finn's twitching looks like to me. Head tremors are most common in Bulldogs, Boxers and Dobes but can affect other breeds and mixes too (search on Google or Youtube and you will see lots and lots of different breeds with head tremors). Some people seem to feel that it is related to a sudden drop in blood sugar and/or calcium. Others feel it is environmental or stress related. While it does seem seizure-like, anti-seizure drugs haven't proven effective in reducing the number or severity of the tremors.

I would agree that it does look like Idiopathic Head Tremors.  Cher has/had idiopathic head tremors as a puppy.  She seems to have outgrown it, but I know numerous dobes & boxers who live normal lives with it.  Her tremors looked very similar to what Finn is doing in the video.  Cher's teeth would also chatter during her episodes.  She was totally functional during the tremors, & the prospect of a treat or asking her to perform a behavior usually stopped the episode.

We're sending Finn good thoughts!

So, the vet called us this morning.  All of Finn's bloodwork came back normal!!  We have his annual checkup next wednesday, so I am going to talk to her about the idiopathic head twitching and see what she thinks.  She did say she suspects it could have been a petit mal seizure.  She wants us to just monitor him for a few months and keep track of when it happens (if it happens) again. 

So, for now we are just monitoring his behavior.  He seems completely normal to me.  Playing like his crazy self with Chief, doing obedience training with me...everything seems normal.

Thanks everyone for your advice and well wishes.  I will keep you updated!

Good thoughts and healing vibes for Finn (and Tink).  Hope you figure out the source....hopefully it was a one time thing!

How's he doing today?  Anymore episodes?

ETA:  I posted the same time as you did!  LOL  Good to hear the bloodwork is normal.  Let's just hope now it was a one time incident.

HUGS

That's good that the bloodwork looked normal and that he's feeling like his crazy self. lol  Continued good vibes.

Yay for normal bloodwork !!  My cat did this once.  Scared the crap outta me.  The tremors were a bit more intense than Finn's video....but that was the one and only time it happened. 

Georgie, I'm glad to read Finn's bloodwork is normal and that your vet sounds willing to work with you to find a solution without rushing into anything.

Best wishes continued for you both.

Ok, this might be out there but....Apollo did something very similar to this the first few days I owned him, like 3+ times, maybe (can't remember it was over 4yrs ago). When I got him into the vet I told them I thought he was having a seizure. My vet went straight for his ears and asked if I had bathed him recently, which I had (like 4x because he was nasty coming from that shelter!) and it turned out he had water in his ears, way down deep. Apollo wasn't shaking his head like a normal dog would when they had water in their ears, he was doing the head shaking in your video, it just didn't last as long nor was it as intense. Just a thought. Hoping Finn is OK.  

Awww, Finny.  I have no ideas just goot thoughts for one of my favorite boys with big ears.  Please give him some lovins from me.

 When I saw the video and saw him immediately respond to your voice, I thought, nope, not seizure. I"m no DVM of course but Kota has had petite mal seizures and he was not able to respond to voice at all.  Just my impression for what it's worth.

I'm glad the bloodwork came back normal. I too had kota on a seizure journal for two or three years and when he had two in a week, that's when we decided to put him on a very small dose of pheno and that has kept him seizure free since being on it.  The dose is so small that his bloodwork always comes back as a very low showing of the drug, and since he's seizure free, we stick with the low dose.

Give Finn some scritches for me, love his big ears!

Glad the blood work came back normal!

Sammy has had similar episodes where he tilts his head from side to side, usually lasting no more than 30 seconds but at a slightly slower pace than Finn, where it looks like he isn't controlling is head but it doesn't seem to concern him.  We've asked the vet, etc, and not come up with anything either.  We assumed it was related to us switching to a heavier lead (it has a traffic handle and a pretty strong/heavy clasp) and that might have been pressing on something in his neck?  Stopping use hasn't stopped the head twitches but they've decreased in frequency. 

Hopefully you're able to get some answers.  Good thoughts.

I am very happy the bloodwork came back ok and that he seems to be doing fine.  Hoping it was a one time episode or as someone suggested water in the ear.  Keep us posted!

Well, it happened again this morning.  He was lying next to me while I was putting on makeup and I looked down and he was already twitching.  I called him over to me and he came.  I asked him for a sit and then paw, which he did, however he did seem a little more bothered by it this time.

His annual checkup was yesterday and I got to talk to my regular vet about it a little more.  She said we will just keep an eye on things.  She wants me to keep track of when they happen and what is going on when they happen.  She suggested he could be epileptic, but doesn't want to jump to anything right away.  She also thought it was a good sign that he didn't have one after his visit to them last Friday, so it likely isn't stress related. (Which I sort of figured anyway since he was completely relaxed the first time it happened.)

So I guess for now I just keep an eye on him and hope this doesn't get worse.

So, he responded but it didn't stop - does it stop w/cookies or food or some other exciting thing like a game or a walk? 

We had a dog at the rescue who was on phenobarbitol for Doberman Head Bobbing, but the vet couldn't conclusively decide that the pheno was helping or not.  She would have phases where she could be distracted out of it with cookies.  Some triggers seemed to be visitors (she stayed in the main front room and could watch the comings/going of everyone, including the strangers/vistors, and she was a fairly "protective" girl -ie, this is her property, back off stranger!  But it didn't happen every time, and strangers weren't the only trigger - in fact it may not have actually been "a" trigger at all, we were only guessing.  It was all fairly mysterious.

Cookies/food did help bring her out of it some portion of time.  A game w/a toy/stuffed animal also sometimes helped.  Sometimes getting her outside for a walk.  Sometimes none of the above.  She went for accupuncture and that actually did seem to help.  She also sometimes got canine massage therapy.