Rubbing Head

[drawlins27]

Head pressing is much different from when they rub their face on something. Lily head presses due to her neurological problems so I'm pretty familiar with it. Head pressing is just that. They will push their head up against a hard object like a wall or furniture. Sometimes they will do it in the corner of the room. Sometimes they might also bang their head repeatedly on the hard object.

I think that rubbing their face might be due to allergies. Maybe it itches or maybe their face is wet because their eyes are watery. I think that they also sometimes do it to rub a certain scent onto themselves.

[magsy17]

My female Malt use to do this when she was younger. She suffered from hypoglycemia and everytime her sugar went down she would rub her head on the rug. She stopped doing this once her sugar stabalized. She was LS tested and was negative.

[KathyinCali]

She only does it on the carpet and she isn't just plain pressing, more she is rubbing both sides of her head. I made an appointment just to be sure but it could well be allergies. She's been on RC puppy until now and now that she is old enough to switch we are going to switch her food. So far she will not eat Canadie

[drawlins27]

Originally Posted by KathyinCali

She only does it on the carpet and she isn't just plain pressing, more she is rubbing both sides of her head. I made an appointment just to be sure but it could well be allergies. She's been on RC puppy until now and now that she is old enough to switch we are going to switch her food. So far she will not eat Canadie

I forgot to add that it could also be due to a problem with her teeth or gums. She would rub her face on the carpet if her gums or teeth were aching. Have your vet take a look at that as well.

[drawlins27]

I just remembered something when you mentioned the RC puppy!

Just the other day, I saw a breeder on here mention that when she put her puppies on this, they developed food allergies and were tearing up their hair from scratching. This is what I feed Dixie and lately she has been pawing at her face. I think I'm going to switch her to something else and see if that helps!

[remus]

Rocky does it all the time. After shower most of the time. He acts like a big good, just stares at the ceiling, makes cute sounds, then jumps up as if the lightening hit him and grabs hist toys.
I think its his way of expressing how happy he is to be alive and in a good home.

Now if only I could learn to be so happy to be alive everyday I would be on top of the world. but nooooooooooooo....materialism is the king of lives!!!!!!!!!1

[Bnot]

Mine do this too, and I kinda think its the "eye booger" thing.

I'll wash their face at night, and seems they don't do it much after that.

Both of mine do that a lot right after a bath too..when I'm blow drying them.

Could it be water getting on the face beard when drinking?

[Ellie May]

I put Ellie on Royal Canin Hepatic LS 14 for a liver problem. She was on it for a few days and started scratching like crazy. We pulled that food and switched. After an anti-inflammatory shot and about a week later she was okay. She is still quite itchy but that is when it started. I have head quite a few complaints about RC.

[KathyinCali]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

I put Ellie on Royal Canin Hepatic LS 14 for a liver problem. She was on it for a few days and started scratching like crazy. We pulled that food and switched. After an anti-inflammatory shot and about a week later she was okay. She is still quite itchy but that is when it started. I have head quite a few complaints about RC.

I've heard RC has some allergy issues. I'm going to just have to start trying her on different foods...

[drawlins27]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

I put Ellie on Royal Canin Hepatic LS 14 for a liver problem. She was on it for a few days and started scratching like crazy. We pulled that food and switched. After an anti-inflammatory shot and about a week later she was okay. She is still quite itchy but that is when it started. I have head quite a few complaints about RC.

What food did you switch to? Lily is on that for MVD, I would love to switch but the options are so limited and I don't like Hill's SD.

[Ellie May]

Well, the princess gets homecooked. I did not want to go with L/D either (besides it still has corn product in it and that was probably Ellie's problem iwith the RC), so the vet said we could just homecook. We started using Dr. Dodd's diet but replaced the fish with egg. Ellie did quite well with it but I wanted to get a nutritionist involved. She analyzed that recipe for me and it is too low in zinc, iodine, copper, manganese and iron. The calcium is also not quite right. I know though that severely liver compromised dogs can't have high levels of manganese, iron..., so that would explain the deficiency. Anyway, she created us a recipe that is about 24% on a dry matter basis (which is way too high for most dogs with MVD), so I really can't help you. Ellie doesn't have a diagnosis yet and doesn't have HE symptoms, so she can have higher protein. I would recommend using Dr. Dodds and figuring out the vitamins/minerals yourself to make sure it's balanced.