Labrador Shaking His Head

[Brad93]

Our 2 year old labrador has developed an odd affliction and i'm wondering if anyone here has had something similar with their dog?

For about the last four weeks or possibly slightly longer, the dog has been shaking his head a lot.

I first noticed it when he had been barking in the garden - so i'd stand there and he would give a few frustrated "let's play" barks and then shake his head. Bark a few times again and shake his head. 

It's the classic flapping/thumping of the ears like when they shake themselves off when they get out of the water, but only his head is shaking. 

Anyways thought nothing off it maybe an ear irritation. However there has been no ear scratching, no smells, no discharge. 

Two weeks went by and he was doing it a lot more frequently and also now it was occurring even when not barking, usually when he gets up, he shakes his head, or randomly you just hear his ears thumping and he is just wandering around.

Two weeks ago we saw the vet nurse as part of his vaccinations/worming plan, she looked at his ears and couldn't see anything wrong.

We have tried a few doses of dog ear cleaning solution but that doesn't seem to have made any difference.

The head shaking has continued so on Tuesday I took him to the vets again, saw an actual vet and he had a look with an Otoscope but again couldn't see any signs of infection or foreign body. He noticed some slight inflammation in the left ear so has prescribed a 9 day course of steroid tablets to bring down the inflammation. £65 for 10 minute consult and 12 odd tablets.

The only other option he gave was to swab the ears and send away for testing for bacteria but he said there's no discharge to swab in the ear canal. This was about £100 on top of the consult.

At a bit of a loss as what to do next. Horrible to think that there's something irritating him that we can't fix.

At the same time there's only so much money you can give the robbers down at the veterinary centre. He had £1000 spent on him last year (70% covered by insurance luckily) for a bit of grit in his eye they couldn't get out without putting him under. 

 

 

 

 

He is four days into his course of steroids and so far i haven't seen any improvement. 

[mossy835]

i have a lab a doodle and he has benn shaking his head for some time its like black tar in his ears,been to the vets a few time for it he is insured and one bill was £300,the last time i payed £135 for the access,another vet said does he go in water i said yes,he gave me a spray to put in the ears. it is better but not cleard up.

 

 

 

[bruno22rf]

First line of defence for me would be Thornit - about a tenner from the bay of plenty depending on how much you buy (you only need a tiny amount) - dip the handle of an upside down  teaspoon in the powder and sprinkle it all over the inside of your Dogs ears. Worth a try and honestly saved me hundreds of £'s in Vet fees. I believe that it's a compound that releases an anti bacterial gas as it gets warm.

[holloway]

make sure his flea treatment is up to date to rule out ear mites ,(probably vet would have seen if there were any) but it could be missed ,i always put a few drops under the ear just to make sure.

[JKD]

Have you given him a touch/feel inspection round his ears, neck, back of head area ? Carefully but with finger pressure. Is his head down a bit ? Tail drooping a bit ? [Signs of not being well, as you know].

Just thinking about basic things, other than what may seem obvious 🙂

[oowee]

Just had the same with my Cocker. Another grass seed deep in the ear. 

[Jim Neal]

I'd be inclined to say it's a grass seed from what you've described, but if a decent vet has had a proper look with the right tool and found nothing, it's difficult to tell them they're wrong.  Was the dog sedated during the procedure?  In my experience they have to sedate the dog because otherwise its instinctive reaction to resist the procedure can hamper results greatly.

My experience is all with spaniels though, and they are absolute magnets for grass seeds.

[rimfire4969]

Thornit powder is fantastic stuff. I use it at the very first sign of ear irritation.

[marsh man]

I would had said the three things that have already been mentioned , grass seed or a fine piece straw that have been blown out the back of the combine , mites or a small flea and possibly a water infection which could have been caused by the Blue / Green Algae .

If the vet have ruled these out then could it be weather related with the recent hot weather , whatever it is then I hope your dog soon get over it .     MM

[JKD]

@Brad93 Any news on this fella ? Hope all is OK.

[smokingdragon]

Our retriever / std poodle used to shake her head particularly after barking and she'd been to the vets and he couldn't see anything. We gave her Nexgard spectra for 2 months in a row in case it was mites and all the issues stopped 🙂, so must have been mites