# dog shivering



## deetu (Dec 19, 2004)

Last Wednesday night I realized my three year old Shih Tzu was shivering. Her temp was 101.6 so I put her under the covers with us and she seemed to settle down. 
The next day she was shivering on and off. Temp was 102.3. It wasn't overly cool out and she isn't cut short. 

The next morning she was still shivering so I took her to the vet. At the vet's office, her temp was 104 but she said that could be because of the excitement. Vet listened to her heart and lungs. (and cleaned her anal glands at my request) We did a stool test, a Lyme test, and total blood test. Everything came back normal. Vet said she looks like a totally healthy dog. 
Two weeks before this, she was sick with vomiting and a little diaharra that the vet looked at too. I think it may have been a little boric acid from baiting ant traps but not sure. Some ground goat and rice and babying her and she was fine. 
She is an inside dog, using wee wee pads so if she goes outside, we are right with her. 
She is eating and drinking normal. I feed her a prepared raw diet (Nature's Variety) that I cook (I pick out the bones since someone on this board mentioned it to me) which the vet said was fine and she is staying in good weight and health with it. She is peeping and pooping fine. 
Maybe, maybe a little litargic. She doesn't want to walk far from our house.

The only thing different is that on Wednesday night, we started moving things in the living room. Thursday, we spent the day emptying the living room totally and a guy came in to buff and refinish the woodfloor. Ayla and I spent the day in the finished basement. The next day was at the vet. 
We can say that she was upset with us moving things around, not understanding what was going on because after the vet she was shivering less but in bed this morning she was shivering like crazy again, even after putting her under the covers. Her temp is 102 and she seems fine again. 
Oh yea, she had to have her heartworm pill (interceptor)late because of the vomiting but vet said that was okay too... no die off or anything like that. She got the pill on the 15th and started shivering on the 17th.

Is there anything that anyone can suggest as to what the cause could be? The shivering this morning was strange...if it was the furniture, did she suddenly remember that she was upset that it was moved? Did she have a bad dream?

Oh, and prayers are so welcomed right now


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Lack of minerals? When you pick out the bones you are also picking out the magnesium, calcium, etc. Feed the food to her raw, with bones, or you might as well feed kibble.

Could also be toxicity from the floor finish, she's right there next to it. She may need something to help her detox. Try making a parsley drink for her. Bring water to a boil, then pour it over parsley greens. Let steep. Throw out the greens, freeze the tea in an ice cube tray and give her one ice cube per day. This will support the kidneys. Perhaps some else will have another suggestion.


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## Willowynd (Mar 27, 2005)

I agree with Maura...she needs her calcium/phosphorus and if your picking out the bones then she is not getting the proper balance. If you refuse to give her the food as it was intended to be fed (raw with the bones) then feed her a quality grain free kibble. 
104 degrees is a fever- normal is 101-102.5 (the higher range of normal expected in excitement). I would have my dogs in a tub at that temp. Fevers do cause shivering. Personally, I would be putting the dog on antibiotics as I would be suspecting an illness that is just starting but has not gotten to the point of affecting WBC yet. Calcium imbalance will also cause shivering and seizures. So to be on the safe side, I would treat both changing her diet to the raw with bones or kibble and until she has a chance to recover from the imbalance, if she starts shivering, I would give her half a tums and see if that helped. If that stopped the shivers, then you can be pretty sure the issue is calcium related and the diet change should help soon. I would still give at least amoxicillin dosed per weight as well, just to be sure since she is getting a fever.


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## Step (Aug 4, 2005)

At first I thought your little girl might be looking for more attention... that is until I read.........



> Oh yea, she had to have her heartworm pill (interceptor)late because of the vomiting but vet said that was okay too... no die off or anything like that. She got the pill on the 15th and started shivering on the 17th


.

Your Vet said "No die off or anything like that" !!!!???? 

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Interceptor contains: Milbemycin Oxime, which is thought to interfere with the parasite's nerve transmission, causing death of immature heartworms (larvae) and adult intestinal worms.
_____________________________________-

I have a little one who shivers when she's very cold during the winter, scared beyond reasoning (thunder storms) or when she's in a lot of pain, which thankfully hasn't been too often.. 

Your girl has been shivering on and off from within 48 hrs. of taking this medication on the heals of being sick from possible boric acid poisoning.. and thats before you had your floors done. I'd get her to a competent Vet ASAP who knows more about toxic compounds than your present Vet obviously does.


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## deetu (Dec 19, 2004)

I'm sorry I didn't make it clear.
She started shivering BEFORE the floors were getting done, just when we started moving stuff around the night before. She and I were also downstairs during the whole thing so we didn't inhale it (last time it smelled so bad I lived in the basement with her for a week) and she was shivering on and off during the time BEFORE the chemical was even applied.

I saw the assoiciate vet for the shivering, she was the one who said that the heartworm pills have leeway so there wouldn't be any die off causing the problem. Ayla had been getting her heartworm regularly before I waited until the 15th to give it to her so her stomach had a rest. Vet also said that the Lyme test they did would have showed Heartworm if she had any. 

She has many food allergies (poultry, beef, corn, wheat) so it is hard to find a food that is good for her AND that she"ll eat. I used to feed Merrick Wilderness until they changed the formula and she no longer liked it. I have gone through so many different brands that she will not touch. I will give her Wellness Simple Solutions Rice and Venison as a treat (noticed they have changed it to rice first now so I will only offer it as a treat) 

She is very affectionate to me and has a beard that the food would get stuck in so I will not feed it raw. I cannot remove every single bone out of the food but get the big ones. I cannot see that I am removing all the calcium out of the food by doing so.
I talked about the cooked raw diet with my regular vet whom I totally trust. (She is one of the only vets that I know who will tell a person to change the animal's diet if it has skin or ear problems.) She said that we are avoiding the samanella problems a lot of people are having by feeding it cooked and laughed in a good way that I was willing to take out the big bones. She said the bones were for the calcium and that it wouldn't be a problem to pick out the big ones. Ayla has done really well on it, putting on weight and eating everything. I did mix some of their kibble in with it but there seemed to be TOO many vitamins and minerals in their ingredients that it made me uncomfortable feeding it. 

I kept taking her temperature at home when she was shivering and it was always between 101-102.3 so she wasn't running a fever. It was only higher at the vets office.

The idea of giving Tums sounds good. I'll try that. She is 14 pounds so would 1/2 be Tums too much?

She seems fine again now. Her little feet are moving while she is dreaming but no shivering.

UPDATE:
Called the vet this morning and blood test that was done included calcuim levels. They were fine.


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## deetu (Dec 19, 2004)

Okay, this may shed a little something different on the situation.

Ayla pooped normal. Later on at night, she had a weird, mucusy poop. I asked my husband what she had for dinner that night (we alternate between, rabbit, venison and lamb) and he said he wasn't home. It was then that I realized I hadn't fed her.

Now, I've seen colitis in dogs before and that is what the poo looked like. So now I'm thinking the shivering was just because we moved things around. And the mucus poo was because she was upset that I forgot to feed her.

What do you think?


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Could be that the moving things around made her nervous...which could explain both symptoms...especially since she hadn't ate. 

Our dog Tom shivers when he is hurt, scared, nervous or cold - to the point that his teeth chatter! He never did this until he was severely injured when the mail lady ran over him. None of our other dogs have ever shivered like Tom does.

Honestly, I think she was just stressed over things being moved around and not being fed.


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## deetu (Dec 19, 2004)

The 17th the shivering started...stopped the 19th...started again the 23rd...stopped that morning.

Yesterday I forgot to feed her and she had the mucusy poo.

I knew when I was orginially typing this problem it sounded a little confusing so I can see how it can be confusing to others. 
I'm sorry about that but don't know how else to explain it. I tried to rewrite it better but when I reread it, I thought it sounded sarcastic... it's tough when people don't hear your voice. Have to remember to stick the  in there


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## TwoAcresAndAGoat (Jul 19, 2003)

I know that shivering is a sign of pain in animals. When I see one of my animals shivering this is the first thing is suspect.


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