My dog has hearing loss & head shaking after ear drops. Vet visit?

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!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. I would recommend having Dexter examined by a veterinarian to get a good ear exam in order to determine if anything is stuck in the ear canal or if there is an infection that needs to be treated. I would not advise trying to stick anything into the ear at home or trying to remove anything yourself as you could potentially damage the ear drum. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is likely due to an ear infection. I recommend that you have Macy evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. Your veterinarian would be able to check what type of infection is present and treat accordingly. Usually this resolves with topical therapy when the appropriate product is used which requires a visit to your veterinarian. Good luck and have a good day!

Hello. Yes, it is most likely that the gentamicin has induced the deafness in your dog. Most times this is reversible, but in some cases the deafness is permanent. I would not use any more gentamycin. Most ear infections are due to underlying allergies, so the first thing to do is have a culture done to see if antibiotics are even warranted ( may have to wait at least several days after stopping medications to obtain the culture ). I would also start a low dose with a decreasing dosage of steroids to decrease inflammation in the ears & start an anti-allergy medication such as Apoquel or Cytopoint to see if the ears can be kept at least more comfortable without the use of topical ear medications. Hopefully, some hearing may return, but it certainly will not as long as the gentamycin is being used. Good luck & thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Yes, it sounds like something is bothering her. Dogs have very long ear canals so what you can see just by holding up the ear flap and looking down there is not even 10% of the ear. It is best to take her to the vet so they can look down into the ear with an otoscope to see if there is something down there.

Certainly head shaking can be the sign of an ear infection, however dogs typically get infections in the external ear, which are very easy to detect and diagnose with an ear exam and a cytology (examination of the debris from the ear under the microscope). Foreign objects lodged in the ear canal (small sticks and pieces of landscaping bark can do this) can cause head shaking as well. If Bodhi needs to be sedated for your vet to get a good look in the ear, the fact that he has an enlarged heart doesn't necessarily make this impossible. Many dogs with heart problems can be anesthetized safely, if the veterinarian is competent in using anesthetic drugs, and the vital signs are carefully monitored during the procedure. Other considerations in Bodhi's case could be that perhaps he has an infection in the middle ear. These can cause hearing loss, and are usually pretty obvious on examination of the ear, as the ear drum is typically ruptured. Sometimes x-rays can help to make this diagnosis too. It sounds like Bodhi does need a thorough exam of the ear canal, and this make take a bit of sedation or even general anesthesia. While he's under his mouth can also be thoroughly examined to look for problems in the mouth as well.

Hi Lynette! Unfortunately no, there is nothing OTC to help with Sadie's ears. It sounds like she could have an ear infection, and that can be caused by ear mites, yeast, or bacteria, and the cause of it needs to be diagnosed so the problem can be treated correctly. In addition, before using any medication, the ear drum needs to be visualized to make sure it's intact. If you use medication without checking the ear drum and the ear drum has ruptured, you make the problem much more serious. I would call your vet to ask them to call you if there is a last minute cancellation so you can have Sadie seen by the vet sooner. I hope this helps!