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My dog's hearing is bad after ear drops. Will it return to normal?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Shih Tzu | Male | neutered | 17 lbs

Hi so my dog's ears have been itching so my mom decided to put these ear drops a vet gave to her a while ago and after putting them in his ears his hearing isn't too good. We took him to the vet and the vet was no help at all she just told us to clean his ears with a solution she gave us. My dog can only her sometimes but he's confused to where it's coming from sometimes. They say it might be temporary, but we don't know. He is a poodle mixed with shitzu. He doesn't seem confused and hes normal.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Amber W

Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

Published on September 22nd, 2017

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!

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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