WildFlower Posted April 22, 2012 Report Share Posted April 22, 2012 Hello. My mom has a three year old female (spayed) border collie that has developed an odd behavior over the last couple of months that we are now wondering if it is a medical issue.... Holly started barking and growling at the cieling in my mom's bedroom before she goes to bed. I suggested that perhaps she had a racoon or something living in her attic and that Holly could hear it moving around. However, she did it once at my house a few weeks later. She tends to do it when my mom is reading with the lamp beside her bed on but doesn't do it if the room is dark. Then this weekend Holly seemed to be shaking her head frequently. So my mom took her to the vet on Saturday and they checked hers (which were fine) and my mom brought up the cieling issue. The vet suggested that it could be fly biting and/or the early signs of some sort of epilepsy? I looked fly biting up and I just don't think it fits quite right since she does growl and hasn't licked her legs as described in the link below... To me (and I am not an expert or a vet) it seems like it may have something to do with her eyes. Since we have only seen her to do this around bedtime but not in a completely dark room. (So her eyes would be dialated.) http://www.canine-epilepsy.net/flybite/flybite.html Do any of you have any other suggestions or experiene with something like this? Thanks so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted April 22, 2012 Report Share Posted April 22, 2012 Is your mom inadvertently creating shadows or reflections on the ceiling that she's reacting to? J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCSerendipity Posted April 22, 2012 Report Share Posted April 22, 2012 do either of you have a ceiling fan w/light assembly kit? My husband and I do, ours has a sort of strobe-like flicker to it when the light and fan are both turned on. If strobe lights can cause a seizure in humans, then why not a dog? ... most fans come with three settings, so all the more oppurtunites to scramble brain waves. Hope your mom's pup feels better soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildFlower Posted April 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2012 The ceiling fan light is off and the fan hasn't been running. When she does it, she only has the lamp on the night stand on to read by. She can't think of anything that would be creating any sort of a reflection or shadow. She has this behavior mostly in the bedroom but has done it in both her living room and my living room too. Again it seems to happen mostly in the evening. Otherwise, Holly is and has been a healthy girl. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 One think I would consider is if your mother wears a watch or another kind of jewelry that might cast tiny "sparkles" on the ceiling at times. Holly could have noticed this at some time and still be looking for the sparkles even at times of day when they might not be there. We used to have a "rainbow maker" in the living room window, and found that one of the cats was obsessing over the dots of light that it was casting on the living room carpet, kind of like having Tinkerbelle living in our house, and the cat trying to figure out how to catch and consume her... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachdogz Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 One think I would consider is if your mother wears a watch or another kind of jewelry that might cast tiny "sparkles" on the ceiling at times. I also thought of the watch (or ring) thing....or something similar to the following: Shortly after I got my first rescue, Kylie, I was standing in the kitchen and she started looking up past me and barking. It was so weird, I truly had thoughts running through my head that she could see ghosts and that we had one (because she was focused on something beside or behind me.) A few minutes later the mystery was solved when a teeny (and I do mean teeny) bug was spotted walking across the ceiling from the direction she was staring at. It's amazing just what they can see....and I've since learned that Kylie is a bug-hunter. Now when my dogs do something peculiar like this, I have come to learn there IS a reason....I just have to investigate and find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryP Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 My bet is that something is creating a light on the ceiling (the lamp, or as others have said, a watch or ring) that she is reacting to. I had a foster dog a while back that was obsessed with lights on the ceiling. He would usually stare at the corner in my kitchen around the same time every evening because the light coming through the window and some plants were creating some lights and shadows there. I even had to put a strip of tape over the top of my dishwasher door because every time I opened the dishwasher, he'd run in and obsess about the light strip that traveled across the ceiling. The top of the door was chrome and the light coming through the window would reflect off of it and create a strip of light on the ceiling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCSerendipity Posted April 24, 2012 Report Share Posted April 24, 2012 I also thought of the watch (or ring) thing....or something similar to the following: Shortly after I got my first rescue, Kylie, I was standing in the kitchen and she started looking up past me and barking. It was so weird, I truly had thoughts running through my head that she could see ghosts and that we had one (because she was focused on something beside or behind me.) A few minutes later the mystery was solved when a teeny (and I do mean teeny) bug was spotted walking across the ceiling from the direction she was staring at. It's amazing just what they can see....and I've since learned that Kylie is a bug-hunter. Now when my dogs do something peculiar like this, I have come to learn there IS a reason....I just have to investigate and find it. Emmett ate every last one of our orange "lady bugs!" We have been trying to get rid of those things for six years; he moves in and eats every last one in 4 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crawford Dogs Posted April 24, 2012 Report Share Posted April 24, 2012 I would look for shadows, light/shadows moving on wall/ceiling, "glints" off metal, etc. I had a similar experience with my now 5 yr old Border Collie when she arrived as a rescue. She spent her time growling and generally weirding everyone out. Finally I discovered that she was obsessed with shadows, moving light, moving ceiling fans, flies, and even spiders. I certainly hope that in your case it isn't something scary like epilepsy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildFlower Posted April 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2012 Thanks for all of you replies. I will talk with my mom and see if she can try crating Holly at night for a while and see if that eliminates the behavior - by not allowing her to "look up" for or at whatever it is that she is seeing. If anyone else has any input, please share! Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aremihc Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 Thanks for all of you replies. I will talk with my mom and see if she can try crating Holly at night for a while and see if that eliminates the behavior - by not allowing her to "look up" for or at whatever it is that she is seeing. If anyone else has any input, please share! Thanks again! I lost a 10 month old pup to seizures last year (came on suddenly and couldn't get them under control even with intravenous meds...) and the first sign was "fly biting." I can tell you that what you describe is NOT what I experienced. The best way I can describe "fly biting" is eating a stink bug. That's what it looked like Cali had done, and that's what I first thought it was. Complete freeze of her body, and snapping jaws, twitching tilted head as if she was getting a foul taste out. Your's sounds more behavioral and less epileptic from my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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