My dog is suddenly not hearing well and seems less alert. Why?

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. 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.

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, 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.

Hi! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I recommend that you have him evaluated by your veterinarian so that it can be determined if perhaps he still has some remaining inflammation/infection in the inner parts of the ear that could be causing that. Also, they can evaluate his cranial nerves to make sure that it is not primarily a neurologic issue. Good luck!

Hi and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is not abnormal for there to be some hearing loss in older pets. Hearing loss can happen as an age related change much the same way it happens in people as they age. Not responding to her name when called or not responding to other auditory cues (bag of treats or can of food being opened in another room) or commands (sit, stay, come), can be signs that she has some hearing deficits. There are a few other causes of hearing loss in pets such as chronic ear infections or a perforated ear drum. I would make sure Tazo is checked out with her veterinarian as well to make sure nothing else is going on that may be causing the hearing loss. I hope this helps!

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Bandit. It could be sitting next to your husband while he was shooting has affected his hearing. I would monitor him tonight, and if he's still this way in the morning, have him seen by a vet. I hope this helps!