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Old December 5th, 2019, 10:52 AM
pcumming pcumming is offline
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Question Dogs ear twitches quite often... Been to vet recently...

Dogs ear twitches quite often... Been to vet recently...

Just took dog to vet, female, beagle mix, spayed, 8 1/2 years old--Sophie.
Only issues she ever had was an occasional UTI and ear infection due to the floppy ears of beagles (and mixes).

Over the last few weeks I noticed a recurring but slight ear twitch in both ears. No scratching, no rubbing on carpet. Does not occur during sleeping or laying fully down with head on floor/bed, etc..

Only occurs when she is sitting, looking at me, ie: in more active states. There has been no head trauma or injuries or dog fights.

It is just a twitch of the ear-one ear or the other. Could occur 10 times in 20 minutes. No head tilt. No moaning/sound of pain.
No loss of coordination, balance or any other sign. The twitch is 1/2 second. There is no coughing or sneezing but this is not to say there could be an allergic basis to this ear twitch. Don't know. Vet did not think so.

There is no discharge in her ears, no cuts, no mites.

Took her to vet today-

Before I took her to vet I looked in her ears thoroughly, rinsed them with an OTIC cleanser. I applied Otomax drops 2x a day for 3 days.


**Vet today saw no infection nor cuts nor mites. She scoped the ears. Inner ear were proper color. Did blood-work. White cells she said were a hair higher than average but of no concern. Liver enzyme (excuse if jargon is incorrect) and other levels including electrolytes seemed perfectly normal. Do not think she tested Thyroid-not sure.
I know of nothing she ate that would be poisonous or any kind of insect bite.

Dog will certainly go on walks, urinate normally, poop as usual, interact with other dogs but is not playing as much as she does (with me) and is a bit lethargic. But then again we (particularly me) was gone for 16 days and at my step daughters and she may be readjusting to our coming back.

I looked up idiopathic tremors but who knows...


Where she has an ear twitch "she is not out of it" like I would expect a seizure to be. Again lasts 1/2 second--the twitch in one or both ears. Dog shows no loss of attentiveness, motor control. It is almost like the blink of an eye but an ear twitch which can happen 20 times in an hour. And again does not occur in sleep or when she is laying down with head down.

So vet thought perhaps it could be seizure related--she did not say epilepsy. Put dog on Zonisamide (Zonegran®) and vet will call in about 4 days to see if that helped. Else I could take dog to a canine Neurologist.


Thoughts??


Thank you very much
Respectfully
Peter
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