Fly catching dog

Wexy86

Hi folks

Have any of ye come across a dog that keeps going to catch flies but there are no flies?? The poor dog is wrecked and I'd say its mentally draining on him :-( it could be every 10 seconds or every 10 minutes, he looks into the air and then jumps up as if he is trying to catch them.
the dog is doing is the last few days, brought him vet today and the vet gave a steroid shot, a few days steroids tablets and if no improvement there will be bloods and scan on Thursday to try help diagnose. My vet did mention that the dog may end up on medication similar to epilepsy tabs. The vet asked about a change is behaviours/surroundings, if he got a fright etc but we can't think of any triggers.

Just wondering did anyone's dog go through the same thing and did they grow out of it or what treatment worked? My heart breaks looking at the distress in him.

VonVix

You don't happen to have a Cavalier, do you? I believe there's actually a 'condition' called Fly Catcher's Syndrome, where a dog snaps at the air when there is nothing there. http://cavalierhealth.org/flycatchers.htm

Wexy86

VonVix wrote: »

You don't happen to have a Cavalier, do you

No he's a little terrier mix. Thanks for the link, I've sent this onto the vet to see if it helps!!

DBB

Yes, it's a recognised symptom of a neurological condition op... One of which is far more prevalent in Cavaliers than other breeds, but all of the flat-faced toy breeds have some tendency towards it too.
Any other symptoms, like scratching his head or ears a lot? Pressing his head against walls? Staring at nothing? Tail-chasing?

Wexy86

DBB wrote: »

Any other symptoms, like scratching his head or ears a lot? Pressing his head against walls? Staring at nothing? Tail-chasing?

No there's none of this, well maybe a bit of starting at nothing but a few seconds later he goes in for the fly catch. If he looks down it seems to stop but when his eyes drift anyway upwards he starting the catching/jumping motion.

Are neurological issues within dogs treatable from your experience?

DBB

That said, with sudden onset like that, your dog may have an infection or inflammation somewhere in the nervous system that's mimicking a neurological condition... Hopefully the steroids will address this by bringing down inflammation.
Sometimes, a bad reaction to food can cause it too.
Make sure not to pay too much attention when the dog does it, because believe it or not, sometimes these unusual behaviours persist even after the dog has recovered, at least in part because the dog has learned it's a great earth get attention!
Good luck op, hopefully this is just a passing problem.

mad muffin

Could it be floaters?

fishoutofwater

Mine (springer) used to do this a lot but now that you mention it I havent seen him do it for months.

He does have some of the other repetitive behaviours mentioned.... paw licking being the most prolific (with no identifiable physical cause after 2 years of trying to figure it out). Most of his oddities have eased the longer he's been with us and he's otherwise a happy little chappy... just a little bit odd at times!

Wexy86

mad muffin wrote: »

Could it be floaters?

Don't think so - thought that at first but had the vet and groomer rule it out.

Wexy86

He was place on meds similar to what you'd give for epilepsy for 10 days today, vet says if this works he'll reduce down the dosage little by little and hopefully once he's weaned him off the behaviour should be stopped, fingers crossed!

I've noticed the last few days that when he's distracted it doesn't happen like when he's out walking or when he gets free of the house(he's usually just a downstairs dog so upstairs is a novelty).

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions, will keep ye updated

ShaShaBear

We actually went to see about this with Opie as he started jumping and snapping at air, mostly when he was outside. Turns out he was snapping at the steam of the kettle, smoke from the fire and the steam coming from the outside boiler :P
Bit of a special case! But hopefully the meds work in any case!