German Shepherd's Skull has changed Shape - Page 1

Hi Everyone,

One of my friends pointed to this site for some information about my German Shepherd, a 10 year old femail (Amber).
Over the past 12 moomths we have noticed that she now has a prominent ridge line on her cranium.
The ridge seems to be solid bone (no cysts), she is in no pain from it that we tell, you can stroke her and she's happy enough.

Has anyone else witnessed this or can shed some light on it for me? I really dont want to go to the vets and ask them to look at my Cone-headed' dog!

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Can you share a picture?

There is a natural ridge-line to the top of the skull, 1/2 way between the ears.  It could just be that having got to age ten, your bitch has started to lose a bit of weight and/or muscle-tone, and thus the ridge is more evident to the touch.

Of course, you have not said which way the bump runs - if it is ACROSS  the skull rather than along it, I have no idea what
that would be and suggest you risk embarrassment and show it to a vet.

Hope it turns out to be nothing to worry about, good luck.

A loss of muscle tone such that the skull is showing can be an ominous sign.  Perhaps if she is 10 and you would not treat her if she did have a serious illness like cancer, you should just watch it, make sure you don't notice things like heavy rapid breathing, unusually ravenous appetite and excessive thirst.  If so you need to tak her in for blood work to see if she has diabetes (fairly common in older dogs) or kidney disease, both of which can be treated by medication and diet to at least prolong her life and make the quality of her life easier.  At that age, though, she should probably have some baseline blood work done to see how her kidneys, thyroid and pancreas are doing. 

Its very likely normal...the occipetal protuberance. A picture would help.

My 7 year old male has developed this over the last few months, he was very ill, and after taking him to two different vet specialists, they finally diagnosed him with bacterial menengitis, was put on steroids and antibiotics for weeks. He is now back to normal, but during the course of his illness, he lost alot of weight and muscle mass, hence developing his "cone head".  But I'm just glad as heck we got him well!

This thread is worthless without pictures.