Most of us have experienced a headache at some point in our lives. In fact, more than 50 percent of people worldwide have some form of headache disorder. But what about our dogs? Can dogs get headaches?
There’s very little known about headaches in animals, and that goes for our dogs too. Because animals are nonverbal, we need to rely on outward signs to tell us if a dog might have a headache or if there is some other medical problem. The only true research on headaches in dogs dates back to 2013, in a study done at the Royal Veterinary College Small Animal Referral Hospital in Great Britain.
The 2013 Study of Dog Headaches
The 2013 study focused on a 5-year-old female Cocker Spaniel who presented with a long history of sudden, recurring episodes of vocalization (whining, whimpering, barking) and apparent fear. Just before the vocalizations began, the dog would appear fearful, quiet, and would hide under furniture; once she started whimpering in apparent pain, she would hold her head low, become sensitive to light and sound, and refuse to eat or drink. After each episode, she would remain quiet for 1–2 days and then return to an apparently normal condition.
Eventually, veterinarians came to suspect a migraine-like disorder and prescribed the drug topiramate, first approved in 1996 as an anticonvulsant, but later found to be effective in treating migraines. The dog showed marked improvement in both symptoms and duration. In the end, the study authors had to admit that “To [our] knowledge . . . the current review of literature does not confirm the existence of migraines in dogs. The dog presented here has shown a combination of unusual clinical signs, which could be suggestive of a migraine or another severe headache disorder.”
Research and Veterinary Insights On Headaches in Dogs
Since that 2013 study, scientific research on canine headaches has been essentially nonexistent. While there have been some studies on headaches in laboratory animals such as mice and rats, those animal models don’t compare well to canines, simply because of the significant physiological and genetic differences between the species.
The majority of post-2013 research on head pain in dogs focuses on secondary headaches: that is, pain that’s a symptom of an underlying condition. This is where the diagnostic challenge lies, notwithstanding innovations in the tools veterinarians can use to quantify and classify pain. The fact remains that headaches fall into the category of difficult-to-diagnose pain. Despite this, science and insights from veterinarians suggest that dogs might indeed suffer from headaches.
Causes of Possible Headaches in Dogs
Dehydration and Heat
We humans can get headaches while outside in hot weather and as a result of dehydration. The presumption is that the same could be true of dogs. Both dehydration and heat can cause the brain to shrink in volume, which causes pain: lack of fluids reduces brain volume and can even damage the brain cells directly. Dehydration and overheating can also affect cognitive function such as alertness and memory.
Dental Issues
As with humans, dogs can develop dental problems, which can create pain in the jaw and head.
Ear and Sinus Infections
Ear or sinus infections can lead to pain and pressure that may be similar to headaches.
Head Trauma
Blunt force injury to a dog’s head—falling, being hit by something hard, a car accident—could cause a concussion or, in the worst case, traumatic brain injury. Any kind of head injury, even if it’s asymptomatic, calls for immediate veterinary care.
Allergies
Allergic reactions to everything from dust and mold to food to medications have the potential to cause headaches.
Neurological Disorders
Conditions affecting the brain, such as tumors, infections like meningitis or encephalitis, neuropathy, or stroke, can result in symptoms similar to headaches.
Signs of Possible Headaches in Dogs
Humans and dogs share many of the same health disorders and often the signs are similar. However, while we humans can verbalize where our pain is located, to determine the locus of a dog’s pain in the absence of an obvious injury like a broken leg or condition such as arthritis, veterinarians need to rely on observing the dog’s behavior and ruling out underlying causes. Caregivers can play an important role in this, since they are most familiar with the dog’s behavior and will know when something isn’t right.
Symptoms of possible headaches in dogs include:
- Seeking out dark, quiet spaces
- Loss of appetite
- No interest in playing or interacting
- Glassy or slitted eyes
- Pressing their head against a wall or other solid object
- Sensitivity to light and/or sound
- Lethargy
- Vocalization (whining, moaning, whimpering)
- Irritability
The difficulty arises in that along with being ambiguous, these symptoms aren’t necessarily specific to headaches. Rather, they could be the result of a multitude of other conditions. If a dog is exhibiting any of these signs, it’s safe to assume they’re not feeling well, which may or may not include having a headache.
While the 2013 case remains the standard for the prospect of migraines in dogs, subsequent investigation strongly supports the likelihood of dogs experiencing head pain. This has had three major outcomes: it has validated the similarities in canine and human neurology; it has encouraged the development of better measures to recognize subtle, chronic, and neuropathic pain signs (including headache-like behaviors) in dogs; and it has led to the identification and treatment of specific neurological and structural pain in different dog breeds.
Treating Possible Headaches in Dogs
If you suspect your dog is having headaches, the first step is to consult your veterinarian in order to rule out any underlying condition. Secondly, never give your dog human pain medications like aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, naproxen, and other human NSAIDs, which can be toxic and even lethal to dogs. Finally, if your vet prescribes a pain medication—the most common include gabapentin, carprofen, and meloxicam—be sure to strictly follow the dosing instructions.
Don’t disregard things that you can do to make your dog more comfortable like providing a soft bed in a cool, darkened, quiet spot, and making sure there’s plenty of fresh water nearby. Most dog headaches—like our humans ones—seem to resolve on their own, so simply give your pooch time to recover.
In the end, we can only hope that researchers will start focusing more on head pain in dogs and that eventually they’ll be able to provide a definitive answer to the question, “Do dogs get headaches?”
