Body Jerking, like hicups, but not hicups? (food, seizures, ears)
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If it only occurs while sleeping that is simply a form of hypnic myoclonia. However, if these convulsive spasms occur while the animal is awake then you need to have your animal tested for heartworms.
I've never heard of spasms being a symptom of heartworms. Could you please provide your source for that information. I'd be interested to see it.
I've never heard of spasms being a symptom of heartworms. Could you please provide your source for that information. I'd be interested to see it.
Personal experience of seeing a dog with heart worms. A persistent cough will usually result in a gagging reflex effect since a dog with heartworms will eventually begin to cough up blood during stage III of the infestation. I just took it that the person might not be accurately perceiving between the two but coughing is considered a spasm based upon the duration of the coughing. As you know the animal coughs since the heartworms restrict it ability to breath normally.
I was going to say Degenerative Myelopathy but the person didn't describe one symptom associated with it.
My dog had what sounds like something very similar. Early in the morning, she would wake up with what I could describe as full body hiccups. She was awake and aware and seemed freaked out but not necessarily in pain. We took her to the emergency vet the first time and they couldn't figure it out and we had our vet come by the second time and changed her food. They started to happen regularly and I was getting really concerned about the evolution of it. We decided to try CBD oil. She has been taking it for over a year now every evening with peanut butter. She has not had an episode since. She uses Pet Relief. Would highly recommend it.
My vet researched for a long time and decided it was Myoclonic Seizures. See below. Hope this helps someone!
Myoclonic Seizures
With this type of seizure, your dog’s muscles will contract rapidly, and their pelvic muscles and facial muscles may jerk or twitch. This type of dog seizure is most often seen in younger dogs suffering from idiopathic or symptomatic epilepsy.
ok so we showed the neurologist the video of him twitching, had an mri of his brain, xray of his chest and a spinal tap to look for meningitis (or however thats spelled). all of the test came back normal... so the neurologist said its probably a mild seizure disorder... kinda lame to not have a real answer though. she said its either a seizure disorder or a muscle disorder. both of them are pretty much "untestable". if its a muscle disorder she said theres really nothing you can do. if seizures the meds are worse then mild seizures so again no treatment. wish i had more info to post on here... thank god for pet insurance haha. i hope this helps whoever reads this but i know its not much. on the plus side goku hasnt had any more episodes of whatever this is since the first 3 days. i hope someone figures out whatever this is since i think weve gone through all the options available.
We’re going through the same exact experience as several of you on this thread. Our 1.5 year old dog has been dealing with minor localized seizures for about 4 months now. It comes on at different times and lasts between 5 minutes to 1 hour. Her mood and appetite doesn’t change whatsoever during the episodes. She still is as energetic as she normally is - she still acts like a puppy. However, if it happens in the middle of the night she tries to change her position (we believe) in hopes to make it stop. We took her to the vet, had them look at several videos of her episodes and they did her bloodwork but her tests came back normal. Our DR has no idea why this is happening and neither did the 2 other vets that we took her to. She has also seen 2 neurologists and had a bile acid test performed a few weeks ago. Her test came back normal so she had an MRI and spinal tap a few days ago. Our doctor called us today and said that all of her tests came back normal again. So we are still uncertain as to what is causing the jolts but of course we’re still concerned. All the neurologist said was to keep a journal of the episodes. He believes they are minor localized seizures that do not need medication at this time. We did some reading on CBD oil and have been giving her a dose almost every day. She hasn’t been experiencing as many episodes ever since she’s been on CBD but the doctor said that, that could purely be a coincidence. Who knows. But thank god for pet insurance.
Last edited by Treegs; 10-02-2019 at 09:34 PM..
Reason: Added more info
My did these exact same things. Shes's a 14 year old Yorkie. It got worse when she stayed up all night, confused, disoriented, wandering around, even whining. The next night I gave her some time release melatonin (just a sliver as she is 3.7 lbs) and it stopped completely. She sleeps through the night every night now. I think its doggie dementia. They get realy anxious, clingy, distraught when you're leaving. I also give her a little inositol in the day (for anxiety - it works amazingly!!!!). She also gets a half of the NOW brand sunflower lecithin with choline when I give her the inositol. P.s. they make melatonin for dogs, but I prefer the time release because it works all night. I also discovered that inositol is an ingredient in some dog food. I really hope this helps. Its torture to see your baby suffer --- this regime has been a miracle for my little Heather.
......... How much inositol did you give your yorkie? How muchNOW brand sunflower lecithin with choline did you give her? My basset hound is 14 & has back trouble & gets these jerking movements. He doesn't even pay attention to them but I think you & the others could be right thinking it's dementia and/or back (disk) trouble. Thanks for so much helpful info.
I was sitting on the couch with my old fella when I thought he had the hiccups, but noticed his eye and head twitching as well as his body jerking like a hiccup. He also seemed confused. The twitches came about every minute or two at first then gradually became less frequent. He also had trouble walking. I had to leave the room and he followed me, but with difficulty. But I sat with him and slept on the couch with him to comfort him. This morning he was fine. I'm going to do more research on the subject, but would be really interested to find out what your vet said.
...... I'd love to hear an update, if you found out anything. Thanks
We’re going through the same exact experience as several of you on this thread. Our 1.5 year old dog has been dealing with minor localized seizures for about 4 months now. It comes on at different times and lasts between 5 minutes to 1 hour. Her mood and appetite doesn’t change whatsoever during the episodes. She still is as energetic as she normally is - she still acts like a puppy. However, if it happens in the middle of the night she tries to change her position (we believe) in hopes to make it stop. We took her to the vet, had them look at several videos of her episodes and they did her bloodwork but her tests came back normal. Our DR has no idea why this is happening and neither did the 2 other vets that we took her to. She has also seen 2 neurologists and had a bile acid test performed a few weeks ago. Her test came back normal so she had an MRI and spinal tap a few days ago. Our doctor called us today and said that all of her tests came back normal again. So we are still uncertain as to what is causing the jolts but of course we’re still concerned. All the neurologist said was to keep a journal of the episodes. He believes they are minor localized seizures that do not need medication at this time. We did some reading on CBD oil and have been giving her a dose almost every day. She hasn’t been experiencing as many episodes ever since she’s been on CBD but the doctor said that, that could purely be a coincidence. Who knows. But thank god for pet insurance.
Hello I know it is a while since you posted and the world has got other things on its mind right now but my old dog - 13.5 years has had exactly the same symptoms for about 4 months Like you loads of tests - all negative. it seems to be happening even more now but only when he is on his side; he also wheezes a bit. He is fine, walks couple of miles every day, eats his food and every thing normal. This is a real mystery and there is nothing on Google at all about this (save for puppy hiccups) except this thread - so any info gratefully received. Keep well
Our 7 year old dog has the same "hiccup like" motion every once in a while, very curious why.
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Same experience as us
