Expert: Renee Bartis - 5/9/2007

Question
my dog is a 3 year old husky/chow.  I noticed last year she did a teeth chattering thing once or twice. But since this past December she has been getting progressively worse.  Now she is doing it night and day.  At night she sleeps on my bed and she is doing it so hard that it wakes me up. At times she salivates too. And she spends a lot of time under the bed.   I really don't think she has anything to be nervous about, my house is pretty quiet. i am concerned if she is having muscle spasms and are they from MEDS she may of had when she had mange or something.  

Answer
Gina, thanks for your question.

This is quite perplexing and concerning.

If I understand you correctly, she seems to be behaving in this manner a good part of the day and night, also that she has gotten progressively worse over the last several months.

It sounds as if she may be having some sort of seizures, but she would need to be vet checked to be sure.
Seizures can take many forms and involuntary muscular contractions, salivation, nervousness, and air-snapping can all be signs of certain types of seizures. There are, however, medications that can help to control the seizure activity (if that is what this is) and dogs can live long normal lives while taking it.

What causes a dog to have seizures is not known in some cases and these cases are said to be "Idiopathic". Certain drugs and medications (as you stated) can trigger seizure activity, but I don't believe that it would be a long term condition from a short term exposure (but anything is possible).

I would recommend you have her vetted. Ask them to test her T3 & T4 levels (these are thyroid checks) and low or high levels can trigger many other problems. Dogs with thyroid problems can be said to be immune-compromised and thus, prone to many other health concerns (allergies, Cushings, diabetes, renal problems, etc). It's a good thing to know, especially when other immune type problems are (or may be) occurring. Also tell them (or show them if you can get video of it) about her teeth chattering and strange behavior. They will also want to run a blood test to determine the level of phenobarbitol present. This will tell them if she is indeed having some seizures, as the test will show a low level in the blood.


Please let me know how it goes.