Can ear infection meds make my dog deaf? Should I keep using them?

Hello, and thanks for your question. Yes, the gentamicin can cause deafness if this medication is used in an ear with a compromised or ruptured ear drum. This is why it's important to see the vet and have them examine the ears prior to starting this (or any) medication. I wouldn't be too worried, however. Yes, deafness is one of the known risks with this medication - but this is a medication we use a LOT in private practice, and the risk of it causing deafness is extraordinarily low. I have never had it happen to any of my patients! If your vet recommended this as the best medication for Briley's ear infection, I would have no hesitation to go ahead and use it. Hope this helps!

I'm sorry that Floppy is having this issue. If Floppy's ear drum had an issue or was ruptured at the time that your mom put the medication in his ear this could have caused hearing loss. It's always very important to have a veterinarian check the ears prior to starting a medication to ensure the ear drums are okay. There are also reactions to certain medications that can cause temporary hearing loss. These reactions cannot be predicted, however with time most often hearing will return. Without knowing the type of medication that was used it's difficult to say if this happened. You may want to contact the company that manufactures the ear medication to report the event and they may be able to offer more advice to you. As long as Floppy is otherwise acting normally and you've flushed the remaining medication out of his ear I would continue to monitor. Hopefully his hearing will gradually return. Obviously in the future I would not recommend using the medication that caused the issue. I hope this helps! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Best wishes to you and Floppy and I'm hoping his hearing returns quickly!

Hello, I'm so sorry you are going through this with Scarlet. I have reviewed the previous exchanges you had with our veterinarians and I do have to agree with both of them and state that seizures as well as respiratory distress, which I can see that you also asked about, are not typical signs of amikacin toxicity. Definitely, deafness and vestibular signs can occur when an aminoglycoside antibiotic such as amikacin is allowed to enter the middle ear, which commonly happens when the tympanic membrane is ruptured. This is why it is so very important to ensure that the eardrum is intact before prescribing and using these preparations. Sometimes the TM cannot be visualized due to the high degree of swelling present in the canal or the amount of debris accompanying the infection, and when the drug is used in these cases this is often how the drug enters the middle ear and does damage. Unfortunately, sometimes we have very little choice in the way of antibiotics we can use to treat serious multi-drug resistant ear infections, such as those caused by bacteria of the pseudomonas species, which is when amikacin is typically used. If the seizures were in fact due to the amikacin, that would be a highly abnormal reaction to the drug as it was prescribed in Scarlet. It would be very important to me, were I her doctor, to rule out other diseases that cause seizures, specifically brain lesions like tumors, before concluding that this was indeed a drug reaction. If no other issues are found that could explain the seizures, I would urge your veterinarian to contact the manufacturer of the preparation and report this as an adverse effect.

Hello. It is unfortunate that Maddie has lost her hearing. This is a problem with some dogs using ear medications. Yes, you should have your vet take a look just to make sure everything is OK. Usually, with time, the hearing does return. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Yes, that would be the assumption. Steroids are very potent anti-inflammatories. So he likely has/had some inflammation in/near the inner ear canal that was causing his hearing loss. It is not something your vet would know just by looking in the ear with an otoscope. This inflammation would be behind the ear drum and a CT scan would have been needed to find it. Hopefully this course of steroids will resolve the issue completely. If you wean him off the steroids and the hearing loss returns then there is something else going on in there, at which point, a CT scan would be recommended.

I am sorry that Scarlet is having seizures. When dogs have chronic ear infections they can become very difficult to treat and we are resorted to using strong antibiotics like Amikacin. However Amikacin injections can cause issues with kidney function and has to be monitored closely. I have used Amikacin for ear infection and applied topically I have never seen a patient have seizures. With an 11 year old dog I would recommend full blood work, x-rays and possible a CT/MRI to rule out disease in the brain or vestibular region that might be causing the seizures. IT is possible the ear infection is secondary to something going on more severe. I hope scarlet makes a speedy recovery

Gentamycin is a common ingredient in ear medications. There is a small risk of damaging the hearing, especially if the ear drum is not intact. When I diagnose an ear infection in a pet, I recommend a two-part treatment. The first is with a cleaner to remove any debris; I like DECHRA DermaPet Malacetic Otic. This is important as ear medications need to contact the skin of the ear and if there is ear wax or other debris in the way, then the medications can't work. After the ears are dry, you can apply the medication. Ears typically need to be treated twice a day for 7-10 days. Cats can commonly get ear mites that may look like an ear infection. If you have not treated Melcho for ear mites, I recommend doing so now. If the ear infection does not resolve after using an ear cleaner and the Dexoryl within a week, then Melcho should see the vet as he could have a resistant bacteria growing, yeast infection, parasites, or even a polyp causing problems deep in his ear. I cannot find a list of ingredients for the Trixie ear drops, so I cannot tell you if they would be helpful.