Head shaking/ear scratching

[rytek1]

Hi all. I have been lurking on this forum ever since my wife and I got our new puppy at 10 weeks old. Genghis Khan is now 16 weeks old and I have a question I hope you all can help me with. When we saw Genghis at the breeder he would shake his head from time to time. The breeder gave us a dose of antibiotics just in case he had an infection. We administered all of the antibiotic and that did not stop the head shake. When we took him to the Vet our first visit we mentioned the head shaking. The Vet has checked him out on 3 visits now and has found nothing in his ear. Just a little dirt which we got a rinse solution for. He mainly shakes his head when he first wakes up. But during the day he will shake his head sometime as well. Sometimes he will scratch with his hind leg. Could the food we have been feeding him be the cause? We have had him on what our breeder had him on and recommends. It is Life's Abundance.
He also gets 100% dried beef liver for training/treats and 100% dried chicken for training/treats. What other reason could there be for his head shake?

[Shelby427]

My first thought is that he's itchy. He may be itchy due to the food you're feeding. Try another premium food and keep him on it for at least 4 weeks and see if that helps. Or he could be a dog that has allergies. Could be a number of reasons...try changing the food first.

[mjfish]

Life's Abundance is a very good food, but does have grain in it. You could try switching to California Natural, which has very few ingredients to help rule out an intolerance to the protein (chicken). You could also try Orijen Puppy, which is a grain-free food.

Is the head shaking constant or just every once in a while? My dogs both shake their heads or scratch throughout the day, but that doesn't mean there is something wrong. Just like your ears itch from time to time, theirs do too, hence the head shake or scratch. However, if it is more constant, then you could try another food to see if that helps.

You could also have your vet do a RAST test for alergies, and something might come up on that to help guide you.

[rytek1]

The head shaking is just from time to time. His coat is nice, no dry skin. Every once in a while he will scratch at his collar which I assume is normal. At 4months he was 38 lbs. He sure is food motivated. We feed him a cup at 0500, a cup at noon and a cup at 1700. But the times I observe him shake his head the most is when he wakes up in the morning. You would think if it was his food it would be right after he ate? But when he wakesup that is the time he has gone the longest without food.

[lengel]

Does your vet see any wax buildup in your pup's ears? I have a dog who has had chronic (and by that I mean constant) ear infections since we got her. She does, in fact, have allergies, but mostly to dust mites. In addition to that, she gets ear wax buildup that creates an environment for chronic inflammation and infection. We are now addressing that by destroying the ear wax buildup using enzyme treatments. It's a solution called Zymox and goes a lot farther than the antibiotic treatments out there for getting rid of the core source of the problem.

What your pup does is identical to what our Fran does when there's crud and/or irritation in her ears when they're infected. Antibiotics didn't work for her. They were just temporary solutions.

[Shelby427]

Originally Posted by rytek1

The head shaking is just from time to time. His coat is nice, no dry skin. Every once in a while he will scratch at his collar which I assume is normal. At 4months he was 38 lbs. He sure is food motivated. We feed him a cup at 0500, a cup at noon and a cup at 1700. But the times I observe him shake his head the most is when he wakes up in the morning. You would think if it was his food it would be right after he ate? But when he wakesup that is the time he has gone the longest without food.

No, the food needs time to digest, and if he's allergic to anything, it could happen at any time because he eats the food throughout the day. It wouldn't just happen after eating. Itchiness can occur at any time if it's allergies. I suggest you try changing foods first to see if that is the culprit.