Sleeping with eyes rolled back in dogs

Sleeping with eyes rolled back in dogs usually presents two phenomena. The first is when a dog exhibits behaviors such as rolling back its eyes or twitching its mouth while sleeping, sometimes even barking. These are all normal phenomena and may be caused by the dog dreaming or instinctive reactions generated by reflex. The second is to distinguish from the late stages of canine distemper, where the dog exhibits eye-rolling and trembling symptoms whether sleeping or awake. Therefore, if a dog exhibits eye-rolling when not sleeping, it may be sick and needs to be checked and treated at a pet hospital promptly.

Normal phenomenon

Usually, a dog's eyelids will tremble before it falls asleep normally, but once it enters a deep sleep, the trembling will stop. This can lead to the dog rolling back its eyes while sleeping. For dogs, this is a biological instinct to block light. It's similar to when a person is sound asleep and you gently open their eyelids, you'll see their eyes are rolled back. Only sleeping humans or animals exhibit this behavior.

Disease causes

Of course, a dog rolling back its eyes may also indicate other abnormal conditions. For example, if a dog has an eye disease, it may exhibit abnormal eye-rolling while sleeping. Or if the dog has contracted parvovirus or distemper, these diseases can also cause a dog to roll back its eyes while sleeping.

Precautions

Owners should note that normal dogs rolling back their eyes will not have other abnormal symptoms. However, dogs with rolled-back eyes due to sickness will exhibit other symptoms as well, such as running nose, twitching, tears running down the corners of the eyes, and abnormally excessive eye discharge. If these symptoms are noticed, owners should take them seriously and take the dog to a pet hospital for examination and treatment immediately.