Dog keeps shaking its head || Is anything wrong with your dog?
First of all, check out whether your dog shakes his head persistently or not? If yes, then you need to be concerned about it. Dogs normally shake their heads to take irritants out from their ears.
There is something more if he does it many times in a day without any visible reason. Dogs hearing loss is a big problem for his owner. They hear three times more than humans!
The frequent head-shaking of your dog can be due to major reasons. In this article, I will make you more aware of your dog’s irregular head-shaking behavior. So let’s scroll down and check out this writing about your dog’s shaking head problem.
The dog keeps shaking head
Dogs after taking bath and swimming always shake their heads. But a continuous head shaking is problematic and your dog needs to visit a vet.
The heading shaking problem can be easily diagnosed and treated if you take your pup on time to the veterinarian. But in case, you take longer to visit a veterinarian, the case may become severe.
Some various signs and symptoms may arise in your dog. Some of them are mentioned below:
Hearing loss
Swelling
Redness
Ear discharge
Sudden loss of sense of direction
Fruity odor
Spots
Dried blood
Dog scratching ear and shaking head at night
If you see the dog is scratching his ear and shaking his head so it might be due to any external body.
This foreign body may have severe harm to your dogs if you take it on a lighter note. Some of the serious issues are mentioned below:
Bacterial/yeast/fungal infection
Inflammation of ear canal
Skin allergies
Ear polyps
Aural Hematoma
1. Bacterial/yeast/fungal infection:
Various bacterial infections affect the middle, outer and inner ear. The shape of the ear canal, as well as ear pinna, tends to trap germs.
Most common symptoms include yellow or brown discharge, redness, and swelling of the ear. You have to treat your dog immediately as it may cause permanent hearing loss.
Fungal and yeast infections Like Aspergillus or Malasezzia are found very little. They may create a bad odor and even cause hair loss in your dog. So, if you check on these symptoms in your pet, it’s a fungal or yeast infection.
Treatment
If only ears are affected so they can be treated with simple ear washing and antibiotic drops. But when these infections have impacted more areas like skin so injectable or tablet medication is required.
2. Inflammation of ear canal
Otitis externa is also known as inflammation of the ear canal is found in 20% of dogs. The suffering dog scratches his ears, holds ears in an unusual position, and shakes his head frequently. The situation becomes worse as his ear pains when touched.
Treatment
The treatment is simple if the inflammation is external only. In many cases, veterinarians choose to collect the ear discharge sample to check under a microscope. Later veterinarian medicates the dog accordingly.
3. Skin allergies
Skin allergy affects the ear canal as they are lined by skin. The skin allergy can be diagnosed by using swabs followed by biopsy samples and skin scrapes. The collected sample is sent for analysis to the laboratory.
Treatment
The treatment of skin allergy includes shampoos, antibiotics, vaccines, low allergy diets, and many other drugs are prescribed by a veterinarian.
4. Ear polyps
These are known to be growths of different sizes that occur in the internal ear canal. The otoscope is used for the diagnosis. They are usually non-cancerous but for confirmation, they can be analyzed in a laboratory. Polys usually do not cause any problem in your dog but there is some irritation they may be removed.
Treatment
They can be removed by surgery. If the case is severe, removal of part or whole ear canal is an option.
5. Aural Hematoma
This is the collection of blood in the cartilage of the ear. It is due to the continuous scratching and heading shaking of your dog.
The major symptom includes the visible appearance of aura hematoma on the inner surface of the pinna. The scar tissue thickens with time and results in cauliflower contracture.
Treatment
Aural hematomas are a disorder that only requires surgery to repair. There is no mediation other than surgery.
The surgery is performed to remove the hematoma and prevent its re-occurrence. It is also performed to keep the natural appearance of the ears.
