Ear Infection?

[Guest greypack]

Aaaaargh! I am out of town until Saturday with my grey. The closest vet that I am sure is grey savvy around here is almost 40 minutes away. ( I checked the greytalk vetlist, which is not helpful for this area).

 

Last night, I noticed that my grey is shaking his ears a lot. I looked at them, they are completely clean and pink. There is no redness or anything, as far deep as you can see. No recent baths. Only thing I see is a tiny hair(fur) that is stuck against the wall of the canal...and might be tickling him, which is too far in for me to go after. I doubt this is the problem.

 

Would you get some ear wash and see if that takes care of it before seeing the vet? What kind of ear wash?

 

Please don't flame me, but with my med school finals all 3 days away, I MUST cram and as much as possible until Friday!!!! I would like to avoid driving almost 100 miles round trip to a vet (that has never seen us anyhow) if it's a routine thing, but I want to be sure he's not uncomfortable. He is otherwise acting fine. Gosh, I just plain hate to take him anywhere except his trusted vet at home...why did this have to happen now?

 

I don't know of any reason that a grey savvy vet would be needed for a simple ear problem, do you? So maybe, at least at first, I can take him to just the local animal hospital?

If it's anything more involved than a swab of the ear and confirmation that it's an ear infection, I'd take him the 40 minutes....

but there would be no special sighthound requirement for antibiotics or anything related to this, right?

 

Just want to check with you all before I decide what to do here.

[RobinM]

Is he eating OK? Does he seem to be in any discomfort? Is he whining?

 

Could they just be itchy? When you rub his ears, does he encourage you to do that or pull away?

 

It may be just itchy. My Teddy has itchy ears, possibly allergies, was checkout and showed nothing.

[kolarik1]

When Pop had a yeast infection in his ears, his ears were extremely sensitive. If either he scratched his ears or we rubbed them, he would yelp/GSOD, plus he did shake his head quite a bit...once the infection was gone he was much happier, but we just make sure to keep his ears cleaned out really well now.

[Guest greypack]

Is he eating OK? Does he seem to be in any discomfort? Is he whining?

 

Could they just be itchy? When you rub his ears, does he encourage you to do that or pull away?

 

It may be just itchy. My Teddy has itchy ears, possibly allergies, was checkout and showed nothing.

 

Hmm..He is not scratching at them at all.

 

He is no different in the way that he is acting. He eats the same. No whining or anything. He has no abnormal tendency to pull away or ask me to rub them. They don't seem to be sore, and he doesn't dig at them with his paws. Just more shaking his head than usual.

 

He does have allergy problems in the spring now), but it's usually just his eyes.

 

I wiped his ear out with a cloth (mostly superficial, nothing deep in), and there was only the tiniest bit of wax in one spot. Oh, and after that, he is holding his head to one side more, and holding that ear back more than the other.

 

 

[Hawthorn]

I'd say that's almost certainly an ear infection.

 

Personally, I wouldn't put anything down the ears without seeing a vet, just in case the eardrum is perforated.

 

I should think the local animal hospital could be trusted to look down the ears and prescribe some ear drops - you can always follow up with your own vet once you're home.

 

 

 

[CaliforniaGreys]

Is there any odor from his ears? And is he titlting his head?

[Guest boondog]

I'd say that's almost certainly an ear infection.

 

Personally, I wouldn't put anything down the ears without seeing a vet, just in case the eardrum is perforated.

 

I should think the local animal hospital could be trusted to look down the ears and prescribe some ear drops - you can always follow up with your own vet once you're home.

 

 

I agree.

[Guest greypack]

thanks all.

 

he has an appointment at 6:00 at the animal hospital. They at first said they couldn't see him until Wed, and wanted me to take him somewhere else, but after I wheezed a bit about him being a greyhound, she agreed to squeeze me in tonight!

 

cbudshome- no odor, but as I said in an earlier post, he's holding his head more to one side and holding that ear back more.

 

wish us luck!!

[RobinM]

Good luck and GOOD LUCK on your exams.

[Guest greypack]

Good luck and GOOD LUCK on your exams.

 

thanks and THANKS!!!!

[CaliforniaGreys]

thanks all.

 

he has an appointment at 6:00 at the animal hospital. They at first said they couldn't see him until Wed, and wanted me to take him somewhere else, but after I wheezed a bit about him being a greyhound, she agreed to squeeze me in tonight!

 

cbudshome- no odor, but as I said in an earlier post, he's holding his head more to one side and holding that ear back more.

 

wish us luck!!

Wishing you the very best of luck. Good for you getting him in. If he's tilting, it's hurting and he needs to be seen. Let us know how you both make out.

Edited May 19, 2008 by cbudshome

[Guest greypack]

Well,

 

The vet looked into one ear, without incident, and it showed no signs of irritation or infection.

 

Then, he attempted to look into the other ear, but the poor little guy screamed and jerked his head to snap at the vet.

 

Here comes the muzzle.

 

Multiple more attempts to see inside the ear were all horrifying for anyone standing outside the exam room door. Poor pupper SCREAMED bloody murder, shook, hyperventilated, and after a moment of this, slowly let his shaking rear end give out. Now, as a grey owner for a few years, I have been subjected to the GSOD many many times, to which I am immune. But this was very, very different. Long, continuous, chubaca-like screams at the top of his lungs for 5 minutes straight until the vet finally pulled his otoscope out.

 

I felt so bad. And when the vet finally gave up, I asked him if he got a good look and he said that he got an OK one.

 

He noted that there was again no redness or sign of swelling or infection in this ear, but both ears had a little bit of clear liquid glistening in them, so he asked if I put anything in them that looked like that. I did not.

 

 

He said that he is mystified as to why my dog acted in such a way. He gave me antibiotics to put in the ear and also oral amoxicillin. He said that he doesn't really think that it's an internal or external ear infection as he is having no balance problems (internal) and the ear canal looks clear (external).

 

However, he said that antibiotics would be the next logical step before doing more testing....

 

Today my pupper has red contusions from the otoscope exam in that ear...I'm sure b/c the little guy was struggling since he was convinced that the vet was trying to kill him by poking his brain through the ear.

 

My only complaint is that after the vet finished his exam, he just walked away and wrote it all up and talked to me about the plan while my dog's body temp is a million degrees (He said "wow, he's hot, let's get a temperature" after a few moments of the attempted otoscope exam. I had to explain to him the logic of his continuously quivering muscles produing heat, making him feel hot at this moment) from all of that shaking, and he can't pant AT ALL to cool off, although he is hyperventilating through his nose, b/c the muzzle completely holds his jaws together. I finally had to ask him to take it off.

 

edited to add that also this exam was done on one of those hydraulic metal tables that are lifted into the air after the dog gets on, for the vet's convenience/comfort. so, as he is terrified, hurting, and unable to pant...the vet just leaves him like that with the muzzle on while he carries on a lengthy conversation, fully knowing that the exam is over.

Edited May 21, 2008 by greypack