involuntary head bobbing

Florence our 16mnth old began to have head bobbing on thursday night which did not stop but she did not loose consiousness. We ended up taking her to the out of hours vet who kept her overnight for observation. They have said that this could be epilepsy and have stated her on phenobarbitone. I was wondering if anyone has heard of these symptoms or has a dog with epilepsy. We are really worried about her and are concerned about giving her this medication if its not really necessary. I would br grateful for any information or advice anyone could give us.

Sorry I've never experienced this with any of mine.

I can only offer that many dogs manage well with this condition once diagnosed. It's early days and sometimes vets treat the obvious symptoms to be safe. Hopefully if anyone has experienced this they will have more to offer you.

I hope things are not as bad as it seems at the moment - please let us know how Florence gets on

Thanks we just want to make sure that it is epilepsy and not anything more serious. The vet has suggested an MRI scan but we have to check with our insurance company that they will cover it as it costs £1000!!
We hve already spent £700 for all the treatment on Thursday we are just hoping they will pay htat

Hi Caroline

Sorry to hear about Florence. I have never had a dog with epilepsy nor experienced these symptoms but I know Epilepsy can be managed once it been confirmed as the issue.

I imagine taking the phenobarbitone will help pinpoint her condition? I assume if this continues when she is on the drugs then this will rule out epilepsy?

I think the MRI scan would be a good idea, much better than long term meds in my opinion and you know what you are dealing with much earlier. Hopefully it will be covered by your insurance, do you know what type of policy you have?

We took out a life cover policy which was the gold standard but the vet has told us that the company we are insured with is not the best which has concerned us but we will just have to wait and see

If you have the Gold standard then she should be covered for life and I would imagine a min of £5k per year so I don't think you have anything to worry about there.

You could ask your insurers if they will pay the vet direct, it may be an option if you pay the vets the excess and then the insurers pay the rest?

Have you had a claim with them before?

sorry to hear that you dog is poorly, I dont have any experience of this, I think the MRI is a good idea and as Jo says with the gold standard cover everthing should be fine, please keep us posted as to how florence is.

We have never had to make a claim for either of them before, i think we will have the MRI scan. I just cannot believe the cost of all the test but the vet has said the logterm medication can effect her liver so if she doesnt need them it seems a shame. Iwill keep you all informed.

Insurance can be a mine field, sadly I have made loads of claims so if I can help you in any way give me a shout.

Hope all goes well at the vets

From the reviews i have read about our insurance company i may need all the help i can get so i might be calling for assistance! The vet is filling in the form so i will keep my fingers crossed.

Who are you with Caroline?

equine and livestock according to the reviews they are difficult to deal with .

Never heard of them Caroline.

If you are unsure of them I would keep a record of all correspondence and any conversations you have with them and full name of who you spoke to just in case they are difficult at any point of the claim.

Not all insurance companies will pay the vets direct and sometimes it can be the vets who will not allow it. I would check with your vet if he is happy with this and then see what the insurance say if that is the route you want to go down, £1000 is a lot of money to find up front.

You only know how good an insurance company is when you claim. I have Chloe with Petplan and I can't fault their claims process, however they are very expensive. Reubs is with M&S and I had great difficulty when I put my first claim through for allergies and after a bit of a battle with them and having to ask my vet to write a letter then they agreed to cover his allergies. Everyone I spoke to was really positive about M&S so I suppose you never know.

They do both pay back pretty quickly, normally within about 2 weeks

The vet said that petplan were reliable so i think we will see how we go and if we have too many problems we will change paddys insurance to them as for florence if she has epilepsy we may have to stick with E and L. I will let you know how we get on but we just want what is best for our little Flossie

Sorry to hear about Flossie.

Have not experienced this myself with a dog.

I hope you all get on okay, please keep us updated with what is happening x

Hi I am so sorry to hear this news

Has Florence been brought via a Breeder? Has Florence been tested and cleared for L2 HGA or more importantly if not have both her parents - if you dont know ask the breeder honey.

It may well be epilepsy as your vet suggests but it may also be L2 HGA if she is not clear xx It may also not be this - but needed to mention it

Hugs keep us posted xx

I was gunna mention this Suzie, L2 HGA is common in Staffys. If your dog isnt tested this could be a possibility. You could ask your vet to check for this http://www.aht.org.uk/genetics_l2hga.html

My daughter's staffie has epilepsey he is on medication and has to have regular blood tests every 3 months to make sure he is on the right strength he has had 1 or 2 small fits now and again but apart from that he has been fine,he started with his legs would shake at first then he had quite a big fit and thats when they found out it was epilepsey.
Good luck at the vets but try not to worry,

Hope everything goes well with Flossie (love the name) and that you find out what it is

I'll be thinking about you and good luck with E&L insurance

thanks for all your concern, as for the breeder i doubt if we would get a honest answer from him, it seems that he wasnt as reliable or honest as we hoped. I will speak to vet about L2 HGA. Will keep you all informed