# Full-Body Spasms



## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

It actually looks like she's getting shocked repeatedly. But with none of the startle response that would come from an actual shock.


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## Raindrops (Mar 24, 2019)

Oh no. That's very worrying. I have never heard of anything like it. I hope somebody has an idea of what it could be. I'm glad that she at least doesn't seem bothered by it. Hopefully that's a good sign.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

It's very puzzling and concerning but I keep coming back to the fact that she's otherwise acting very normally even as this is happening. 

Is it still happening, and at the same rate? Is there a chance that it is an extended hiccup episode?


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

I'm looking thru hiccuping threads on PF. First hit gave this suggestion:


Mahlon said:


> One thing that works well for me, is I usually stand her up or have her sit up, and point her nose towards the ceiling and she usually gets a burp out and they are all gone lol.


Another suggests rubbing her chest.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

It must be causing her some discomfort, because she can't fall asleep. This is her usual bedtime, but it keeps jerking her awake. Torture. 

I had to stop googling. It was all scaring me too much. (Myoclonus??) 

As long as she's eating, drinking, peeing, pooping, playing, and not panting/showing any sort of pain, I'm not going to rush to the emergency vet. We'll call her usual vet when they they open at 8am.

Poor Peggy. I hate not being able to help her. She's been such a sweet nurse dog to me the past few days. She doesn't understand why I'm not covering her crate for the night. 



Rose n Poos said:


> It's very puzzling and concerning but I keep coming back to the fact that she's otherwise acting very normally even as this is happening.
> 
> Is it still happening, and at the same rate? Is there a chance that it is an extended hiccup episode?


It's still happening, maybe a little further apart. She's trying to fall asleep now.

I pressed my ear to her ribcage to listen for any sort of faint hiccup sound. Nothing. 

My husband got video to show our vet.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Rose n Poos said:


> I'm looking thru hiccuping threads on PF. First hit gave this suggestion:
> 
> 
> Another suggests rubbing her chest.


Oh good! I've been rubbing her chest and shoulders in case it's a muscle spasm from banging herself on the table earlier. She did just do a nice big burp and then retreated into the back of her crate. I can't see or hear any movement now. I left her collar on so the jingling of her tags would be audible.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Here's hoping for a quiet night 🙏


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Thank you, Rose. I'm just making a bed for myself on the couch near her crate.

She's officially sleeping now and it finally seems to have stopped. I'm 99% sure. I don't want to keep checking and disturbing her.

If it was hiccups, it's not like any I've seen before. The jerking motion was similar, but not the frequency. Especially not the rapid ones, one after another after another, just a second or two apart.

But if it _is_ GI-related, I wonder if it could be the diaper from the other day. Could that cause some sort of spasm that a burp would fix??

All I know right now is WOW. I love this dog so much. I'd have done anything to make that stop.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

You're in the right place for folks to understand sleeping on a couch by her crate .


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Rose n Poos said:


> You're in the right place for folks to understand sleeping on a couch by her crate .


 I'm so very grateful for you all and your understanding.

I forced my very worried husband to go to bed because he has a long day tomorrow, and he just sleepily reemerged from the bedroom, squinting against the light, and muttered "I don't know what I'll do if anything ever happens to her" before shuffling back to bed.

These poodles of ours are so precious.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

That sounds quite terrifying - I do hope she sleeps well and all is well in the morning, and that the vet can give you some reassuring answers. I won't ask whether you slept - I know you will just have dozed with one eye and one ear alert.


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## FloofyPoodle (May 12, 2020)

Just woke up and saw this. My half-asleep brain can’t think of anything right now other than maybe a torn muscle. Hope you, Peggy and your husband get some rest and all is well in the morning. Will check in with you after work.


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## Spottytoes (Jul 28, 2020)

I’m just waking up and seeing this as well. I hope you all were able to get some sleep and that Peggy wakes up perfectly well. So scary....I always wish our dogs could talk when they are sick, uncomfortable or in pain.


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

Ditto... hoping it resolved.


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

This wasn't reverse sneezing by any chance?


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Hope Peggy is ok, that's terrifying. 

Annie occasionally does full body jerky hiccups while deeply asleep - I was terrified it was a seizure,but she stops when I wake her up. Still, every time she does it, I still google "signs of dog seizure" etc. 

These dogs of ours sure are precious, hope you got some sleep too.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

I just saw this post. This is scary, I’m sorry it’s happening. Did you film her to show the vet ? If not, try to do it if it comes back (let’s hope not). It looks neurological to me and I would want to have it checked, just in case.

Sending good vibes your way.

ETA : would there be a relation with Peggy eating part of her diaper ? Some chemical going to her brain and causing the twitching ? Probably not, but mention it to your vet.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I'm just reading this today and I'm hoping she had a good night sleep and is back to normal. This is worrying and if it continues I know you will take Peggy to the vet.


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## AbBen (May 31, 2020)

Thinking about you all today. Hope all is well.


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

I hope all of you are recovered and feeling better today.


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## SMSP (Apr 5, 2018)

Hope Peggy is OK.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Concerned before, worried now. Keeping you all close in my thoughts.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Sorry for the delayed update, everyone. Just extremely sleepy over here. I woke Peggy up in the middle of the night to properly check on her. She looked at me like, "Morning already??" and let out a long airy burp as she went to find a toy. No further spasms. (It was another big burp earlier in the night that seemed to mark the end of them.)

Normal pee and poo and drinking, and she keeps bringing me the toys that usually get stuffed with yummy things.

I've been exhaustively googling "silent hiccups" and have come across similar stories, which ended up being nothing noteworthy. But it seems that if it happens again tonight, we could be looking at some sort of seizure disorder. The worrying part is that it happened as she was falling asleep—a common trigger.

Then again, the burps don't seem like a coincidence. And she was playing with her Kong Wobbler last night for a _long_ time before it started. Maybe she was gulping air.

My husband seems to think we should just keep an eye on her rather than going to the vet. I agree it doesn't seem like an emergency, but I'm going to bump up her annual checkup to next week. Was supposed to be in September.


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

Glad to hear that it seems to be just one of those things and that she is ok.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

If you keep Gas X or something like on hand, check with your vet but I think it couldn't hurt to give her some if she does this again, based on the burping seeming to give some relief. 

I don't remember right now if her occasional GI issues have her on anything like famotidine/Pepcid or the like? 

I just keep coming back to your description of Peggy acting otherwise very Peggy normal.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Rose n Poos said:


> If you keep Gas X or something like on hand, check with your vet but I think it couldn't hurt to give her some if she does this again, based on the burping seeming to give some relief.
> 
> I don't remember right now if her occasional GI issues have her on anything like famotidine/Pepcid or the like?
> 
> I just keep coming back to your description of Peggy acting otherwise very Peggy normal.


Yep, that's what kept me (mostly) calm last night, the way she did not seem mentally affected at all. But it was hard seeing her not able to fall asleep when she first wanted to.

She's never really had GI issues until recently, when she and a couple of her classmates got sick. The diarrhea resolved on its own, though, with just some support from a probiotic. 

I wonder if the probiotic could be causing some bloating? That's a scary thought, actually. I had to stop probiotics myself for that very reason.

I'll talk to the vet about Gas-X and maybe taper off the probiotic.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Our vet suggested beano for gas with Lily who tends to be somewhat gas prone. And Robin you will understand my dilemma with that naughty eater today. She ate half of sock last night. She seems fine as she generally does when she eats inappropriate things, but my concern is how hard to work on getting it to pass since we have rally trials tomorrow and Sunday. If she expels it in the ring it is an automatic excused/NQ.


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## FloofyPoodle (May 12, 2020)

The fact that she remained responsive and unconcerned makes me think it’s unlikely to be a seizure disorder. Fully body spasms like that tend to be severe seizures as far as those are concerned, from what I understand. I, too, think that, based on the burps relieving the issue, she got some gas buildup from something and was uncomfortable from that, and the spasms were caused by pain (poor Peggy!). Just consider yourself lucky the gas didn’t come out the other end... Glad things turned out okay.


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

Robin, did it look like this?


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

lily cd re said:


> Our vet suggested beano for gas with Lily who tends to be somewhat gas prone. And Robin you will understand my dilemma with that naughty eater today. She ate half of sock last night. She seems fine as she generally does when she eats inappropriate things, but my concern is how hard to work on getting it to pass since we have rally trials tomorrow and Sunday. If she expels it in the ring it is an automatic excused/NQ.


My apologies for having a little laugh at that. I'll be hoping the sock makes its reappearance at an appropriate time!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

PeggyTheParti said:


> My apologies for having a little laugh at that. I'll be hoping the sock makes its reappearance at an appropriate time!


You are not the only one hoping for it to reappear today or early tomorrow! You can giggle about ti too.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Liz said:


> Robin, did it look like this?


Nope. Her breathing was in no way affected or timed to the spasms. They were totally silent and didn't interfere with her eating or drinking.


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## Dogs4Life (May 27, 2018)

Hoping all is well with your sweet girl. That sounds very scary.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Dogs4Life said:


> Hoping all is well with your sweet girl. That sounds very scary.


Thank you. We're a little apprehensive heading into tonight, but hoping it was just a weird one-time thing. She certainly seems fine today.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Hope she continues well, and it was just hiccups. I had a scary experience walking my neighbour's Border terrier when she suddenly started having muscle spasms in her back - seems there is an inherited disease in Borders called Canine epileptoid cramping syndrome (CECS) that causes it. In her case it was, as far as I know, just the one episode - she is now 17, so it obviously didn't affect her badly!


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

fjm said:


> Hope she continues well, and it was just hiccups. I had a scary experience walking my neighbour's Border terrier when she suddenly started having muscle spasms in her back - seems there is an inherited disease in Borders called Canine epileptoid cramping syndrome (CECS) that causes it. In her case it was, as far as I know, just the one episode - she is now 17, so it obviously didn't affect her badly!


Scary! 

I'm not entirely convinced it was GI-related (she used to get lots of puppy hiccups) but it didn't happen again last night so I'm very happy. I'll be giving it a few more nights before trying the Kong Wobbler again. Peggy thinks this is very unfair.


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## ShamrockPoodle (Jan 22, 2017)

Hope Peggy is feeling better!


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## FloofyPoodle (May 12, 2020)

Glad she is doing good!


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

Did it look like this ? Merlin did this once and never again.


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