Jack Russell Terrier legs shaking

Question
Hello!  I have a JRT who is 10 years old.  He started this "leg shaking" about 3 or so years ago.  All 4 legs shake sometimes.  Not normally at the same time.  The Vet says it could be arthiritis.  I am not sure.  He is on a Gluco-C natural daily supplement.  I don't notice any difference.  This shaking is like a tremor or muscle jumping type of thing.  He does not act like he is having a seizure or anything like that.  he is fully aware of when it happens.  He can be sitting, standing or even sleeping and his leg will just start shaking.  he often switches the weight on his leg to eliviate the shaking only to have another leg shake instead.  So then he starts walking around or lays down.  He moans often when laying down.  I worry about if he is in pain and what I can do to help eliviate it.  Should I put him on something stronger for arthiritis?  What do you think it is caused from?  I have read some other people say about their JRT and how there eyes glaze over and shake.  Bentley does not do that.  He shows no signs of a seizure when this happens.  It happens very often.  Much of the time a leg or more legs are shaking throughout the day.  

Answer
Hi

I can't diagnose this over the internet, but I can give you some more avenues to try.

I would call his breeder and find out if this is common in any of his lines (if so that dog shouldn't be bred IMO, but sometimes this shows up after a few litters grow up) Most JRTs are still going strong well into thier teens.

I would either have that vet x ray a joint or two to see if it is arthritis.  If you vet isn't taking this seriously, and isnt' doing thier best to help you find the cause, I would seek out an alternate opinion from another vet.

I have never seen this with athritis but I am not a vet either =o)  It could be a seizure, they don't always have a glassy look, and a single leg can shake in a seizure. Once again talking to the breeder could shed some light on this too.

You could try stronger pain killers, if that made it go away then you know pain is an issue.  If they make no difference then there is little to no pain to deal with.  You could try  a supplement with chrondotin and glucosamine as well as your C.

Let us know how it turns out.  

~Kerri