Experience I am the author of "Small Animal Ear Diseases; An Illustrated Guide" published by W.B. Saunders. I have over 25 years of clinical experience with a special interest in dermatologic conditions and ear diseases.
Organizations American Academy of Veterinary Dermatology
Publications Veterinary Forum
Veterinary Medicine
Waltham Focus
Question Hello! Thank you for volunteering for this site. I have a question about my 3 year old husky/lab/shepherd mix named Nash. About 4 months ago I noticed that he was shaking his head a lot. He was also having other medical problems (rash, diarrhea, vomiting, excessive licking) so I took him to the vet. I had mentioned the head shaking to the vet and he looked in Nash's ears but he said there was nothing there and I think that he might have thought that I was kind of being a hypochondriac for my dog. He had seasonal allergies and a yeast infection on his skin so I treated him with benadryll for the allergy and let the yeast infection clear on it's own without antibiotics by feeding him a healthier diet of stew and yogurt. The allergies and the head shaking cleared up about 3 weeks after they started and I returned him to his regular diet of Iams. I am not trying to imply the two things are related. I can't remember when I stopped noticing the head shaking it just kind of cleared up one day and I didn't think about it anymore.
He recently started to shake his head again a lot. He seems to do it all times of the day for no apparent reason. As he winds down for the evening so do his "tics" but they don't completely stop during the night either. I haven't changed his diet or done anything differently that I can think of. I tried taking his collar off of him for a while but that didn't help. His ears and eyes are clear and his nose is normal and I don't see any obvious signs for illness. He is still energetic and hyper and I don't see any other reason to worry. It just looks uncomfortable for him and if this is something I can help him with I would like to. Should I take him to the vet again or is this a normal behavior that I am exaggerating?
Answer If you changed the diet and the head shaking stopped for a while, he may be a food alergic dog. Many dogs with food allergies will have itchy ears as the opnly sign of the allergies. Ask your vet to provide a hypoallergenic diet for the dog. Even if the ears are clean all the way down to the eardrum, ask the vet for a shot of a steroid to see if that takes the itching away. If it does, then there is some type of allergy other than foods. Benadryl really does not help dog allergies because the dog doesn't really have that much histamine in their skin.
