Hi - I have recently sold a puppy and a week after she went to her new her she started doing a strange head wobbling. After alot of research it looks to be idiopathic head bobbing syndrome. I have a couple of questions. How much of this has a hereditary component and are there any things that can help it.
Although I know they exist, I have never seen a dog with idiopathic head bobbing. But I have seen it in dressage horses. In horses it seems to occur when horses are asked to work. I believe the theory with horses (which may not apply to dogs) is that nerves and blood vessels in the head are stimulated by a rise in high blood pressure stimulated by beginning work. This rise in blood pressure and an activation of the nervous system stimulates an automatic head shaking that is normally used for moving flies. Head shaking can be a fairly serious problems for a horse because the head shaking can be so violent that damage is done to the blood vessels and nervous system of the head. I have seen horses begin to bleed from their noses.
Don't know if this helps any. But you might want to look at the literature on head shaking in horses.
Friend's pup was diagnosed with same and it turned out to be a severe ear infection. Dog is fine and never any problems again.
I was going to suggest the same thing. Ears would be my first guess.
Perhaps a specialist, a dermatologist that has a good scope to see all the way down & clear out an infected or waxy ear. It can be watched on a monitor as it's done.
I have had this before, and on asking a veterinary neurologist, he provided me with a link to a Veterinary information website, I think it's called VIN.
This idiopathic Head Bobbing Syndrome is actually classified as a movement disorder and NOT a seizure disorder. It may completely disappear, as my dog's did as he matured. It first showed up after anesthesia, and he had subsequent acute allergic reactions to antibiotics and insect and tick bites until he was more mature. So was it an allergic reaction or ?
A veterinarian should rule out an ear infection, allergy, hypothyroidism, etc. before the default diagnosis of idiopathic head bobbing syndrome, and certainly do not even consider euthanasia for this diagnosis.
"Idiopathic" refers to the fact that the cause is not known at this time. "syndrome" means it is classified as a condition and not a disease.
Is it hereditary? Possibly, since I have heard of this running in certain lines. The post on VIN I saw years ago said it has been reported in certain breeds (most commonly English bulldogs, but also other breeds, including Labradors).
Hope that helps.
