Tremor syndromes in dogs and cats: an update

Abstract

Tremor syndromes in dogs and cats might include tremors and twitches. Tremors are movement disorders that resemble involuntary rhythmic oscillatory sinusoidal movements of a body part. Twitches are caused by peripheral nerve hyperexcitability and they have variable frequency and amplitude. When twitches are manifested as generalised fasciculations they can mimic tremors. Tremors and twitches are common presenting complaints of dogs and cats in daily veterinary practice, and the clinician should be aware of them and their most common underlying aetiologies. Thorough tremor and twitch assessment is imperative to help the clinician come to a more specific conclusion regarding the nature and origin of these clinical signs. History, occurrence, localisation, direction, distractibility, intentionality, observation of tremor during stances, weight-bearing lifting test, auscultation and palpation of the trembling part and conscious electromyography are important parts of a thorough clinical assessment of tremors and twitches. Further studies are necessary to better characterise yet unknown tremor syndromes in dogs and cats.