Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / February 2008

In January of last year, when Khan (9 year old GSD/Malamute mix) was on
Zeniquin for UTI, he had an episode where his teeth chattered
uncontrollably.  Kind of like when you're too cold and your teeth are doing
their own thing.  Well, it happened again yesterday evening, and we don't
have any medication to pin it on this time around.

As we normally do on weekdays, we went to the dog park yesterday afternoon.
Khan was his usual self, running, wrestling and playing, and generally
having a good time.  I noticed, when he got into the car on our way back
that his teeth were clacking together, rather loudly, every time he opened
his mouth.  Once we got home, I pried open his mouth, and checked on his
teeth and inside the mouth to see if maybe something got stuck in there.
His jaw vibrated in my hands the whole time I had his mouth open.  He went
up to the water bowl to drink, but didn't, and I gave him a few kibble to
see if he could chew and swallow, which he did (although he was crunching
the food just fine, his teeth were chattering in between).  A little later,
he drank some water.  About an hour after it started, the teeth chattering
stopped, and he was back to his usual self.

The vet on call seemed to think that it might be some sort of seizure
disorder, although she didn't know of any that would manifest itself in just
this way.  For now, she said that we keep a journal so we can remember
exactly what happened, and see if this happens with greater frequency.  Also
suggested a neuro consult/MRI if this keeps happening or the episodes get
worse.

Any ideas on which particular haystack to start poking about in would be
most welcome.

Suja