Why Yelping and Shaking Occurs in Dogs
It is not normal for your dog to be yelping and shaking. When you notice this behavior, you need to examine your dog and determine if it was fear that caused the behavior or if it was a medical condition that needs to be assessed by your veterinarian.
Pain
Pain can cause your dog to yelp and shake. Your dog may be feeling pain in any part of their body but generalized pain in their neck or abdomen is especially frightening for your dog. Dogs that have been babied and are softer in nature will be more apt to yelp and shake when they are feeling pain. Certain breeds, such as Staffordshire Bull Terriers and Labradors are notoriously stoic and will not show pain often.
Anxiety
Dogs that are naturally softer in temperament will be more prone to anxiety issues including yelping and shaking when they feel anxious. Many times anxiety will stem from some type of environmental factor. When your dog’s environment returns back to normal the anxiety will lessen.
Poisoning
Dogs that are suffering from poisoning can yelp and shake because they are scared and feeling extremely sick. If you suspect your dog has ingested poison of any kind, you need to immediately contact your veterinarian for an emergency visit. Common toxins that dogs get into include chocolate, xylitol and nicotine.
Fear or Trauma
Many people assume that anxiety and fear are the same thing, however, a dog can be anxious without being actually fearful. Fear can stem from a past trauma or experience that has stayed with them and they will begin yelping and shaking when they are confronted with something that triggers the memory of their past trauma or experience. Some dogs, for example, may yelp and tremble when on the vets tablet as they are fearful of an injection.
Joint or Muscle Problems
Joint and muscle problems are painful. These conditions, such as arthritis, degenerative myelopathy or degenerative joint disease will cause your dog to yelp or shake when they move or attempt to get up. Your veterinarian will work with you to set up a pain management plan for your dog.
Seizure activity
When a dog has a seizure they may have a partial or full tonic-clonic seizure. Some dogs may only have mild tremors of the jaw while others may lay on their side, paddle and vocalise. A dog who has had a fit should be seen by a vet for investigation, to determine what is going on and if treatment may be required.
Although whining at night may have many other more benign causes, there’s always the chance it’s happening because your dog hurts or is sick. Therefore, you should rule out this possibility completely with your vet before continuing to diagnose the source of the whining.
You may want to enroll your dog in a behavioral class so the two of you can work together on this issue. You might also consider hiring a dog trainer to focus solely on the whining problem and work one-on-one to solve the problem instead. Either way, more training may be the solution.
Dogs who are allowed to continue whining at night throughout their lives without the proper behavioral training will continue to do so as they get older. A lack of training may be the only reason why it may seem like your dog is still whining at night for no reason.
Although it can be hard to ignore a whining puppy and you may feel guilty for doing so, it’s important to refrain from reacting when she whines. This will give her positive reinforcement by making her think she’s going to get attention for whining, so the problem will never stop. Instead, ignore her until she’s quiet, and then give her a treat for behaving.
This may be a problem your veterinarian can help you with as well, so schedule an appointment if you think stomach pain and digestive trouble may be the problem.
How To Treat Mild Pain at Home
I’m happy to say the vast majority of dogs I see yelping in pain randomly are in the mild to moderate category. Most dogs recover from the worst of the symptoms in a matter of days, sometimes a bit longer. It’s pretty unusual to have to send a dog to a veterinary neurologist for surgery.
It goes without saying–that you should have your dog examined by your vet and follow their advice. But for people who have already done that and just need a few tips and reassurance, here are the most important things you can do to stop your dog from yelping and start feeling better:
When I say strict rest, I mean no running, no jumping, no stair-climbing, no ball-chasing, no tug-of-war, no roughhousing with people or other pets.
A dog with back pain should be sitting or laying down most of the time for one to two weeks after her symptoms started. Take her outside on a leash so he doesn’t get a bad idea to start running around.
It’s a good idea to walk all dogs with back pain using a harness instead of a neck collar.
If you must pick your dog up, support the front and back part of her body with your hands so her body doesn’t hang freely.
Your dog may prefer cold over heat. A good way to make a cold pack is to wrap a bag of frozen vegetables or something similar in a towel and hold it over the painful area for five to ten minutes a couple of times a day.
14 Critical Signs Your Dog Is Begging For Help
Does your dog ever cry out in pain and you don’t know why? As an emergency vet, this presenting complaint is pretty common and often times, clients are baffled as to why this is occurring. It can be very distressing to puppy parents to hear their dogs acting this way so I thought I would review this problem so you can help your painful pet. Let me tell you a story… About 6 weeks ago, Carter Howard, an 11 year old cookie crumb of a pug, began showing signs of pain. He was yelping when he was picked up, he would randomly cry or yelp, sometimes when he was moving and other times when he was just laying still.
When examined, Carter was found to have pain in his mid spine area and possibly his neck. This is the most common cause of sudden pain in dogs. In most cases, there is probably some chronic pain that they don’t really tell us about or complain about but when they have sudden, sharp pain, they cry out. This happens due to impingement of nerves or the spinal cord.
Occasionally other causes such as gall bladder disease or intestinal problems can cause this but this is uncommon.
Carter had x rays and blood tests and was given medication and rest for his problem. He was doing ok but hadn’t gotten back to his normal self. Carter then began to show a more serious change. He was more painful and he knuckling over on his right front leg. This indicated pressure on the spinal cord in his neck.
An MRI was performed and one of his intervertebral disks was ruptured and was putting a large amount of pressure on the spinal cord. Surgery was performed to remove the ruptured disk and relieve the pressure. Carter recovered great, was walking the next day and now 2 weeks later, and is almost back to his normal self.
Previous to this episode, Carter had intermittent pain symptoms and he was treated with anti inflammatory medication, joint supplements, laser therapy and rest. These treatments helped make him feel better but didn’t erase or cure the underlying problem.
There are some dogs that can be managed conservatively without surgery. In these cases, it is important to avoid trauma to the back or neck. This can include using ramps or stairs to get on and off beds, reducing the amount of jumping and using joint supplements.
Most dogs with back trouble will get better with time and pain management (including physical therapy) but there are some dogs that will need surgery to recover the ability to walk. When there is too much pressure on the spinal cord, permanent damage can occur. IF your dog ever is dragging its legs or having difficulty getting up, she should be seen by a vet right away.
If your dog ever cries out in pain for no apparent reason, it is most likely due to back or neck pain. The keys to healing are time, rest and if necessary, surgery.