When I decided that I wanted to introduce more pet health related posts to the blog this year I think Sherman and Leroy misunderstood me.
I didn’t want to talk about their pet health related issues, I just wanted to talk about pet health related issues in general.
Obviously our communication barriers were down there because these two will not give me a break!
Here’s the latest My Brown Newfies drama:
Leroy has a ruptured ear drum in his right ear.
He’s been suffering from an ear infection for I don’t even know how long now, several months at least. We’ve been monitoring it and treating it forever it seems. Sometimes it’s just a yeast infection, sometimes it’s bacteria and sometimes its both.
We’ve sent out ear cultures and we’ve adjusted ear medication and ear cleaners as needed.
It gets better and then it comes back.
This last infection got pretty bad and despite a new treatment it didn’t show any signs of improving. His ear had a thick dark discharge, ulcers and smelled like sour milk. He was mildly painful. Painful only when you touched the base of the ear and because of the all the discharge in his ear the vet was unable to visualize his whole canal. We tried cleaning the ear several times only to have it fill back up with discharge the next day.
Our next option was to flush his ear under sedation. Sedation was needed so that the vet could really get in there and flush out the ear, not an easy task with a 150 pound dog who does not want his ear being filled with saline and then sucked out.
In the picture below Leroy was sedated with an injectable medications but then had to be given gas because he was resisting the sedation and we needed him to be very still.
The flushing went really well and the vet was able to get a lot of debris out of the canal to the point where she could actually visualize the whole canal. What she didn’t see was the tympanic membrane, also known as the eardrum.
The tympanic membrane is a thin membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear. The tympanic membrane receives vibrating sound waves and transmits them to the bone in the ear, hence the ear drum. The most common cause of a tear or hole in the tympanic membrane is an ear infection. Other causes can be an injury to the ear or side of the the head and changes in pressure.
Since the middle part of the ear contains several nerves there are a lot of issues that can arise from a dog with a ruptured tympanic membrane such as a hearing loss, head tilt, nystagmus, facial paralysis, and incoordination.
Luckily, Leroy had none of that.
Along with the ruptured tympanic membrane we also found out through a pending ear culture that Leroy’s ear infection this time was pseudomonas otitis, basically a bacterial infection that is one of the most common, and difficult to treat ear infections in dogs because it is resistant to many drugs.
Of course it is and of course my dog has it.
After consulting with a dermatologist, our vet has come up with a game plan that will take time and diligence on both of our parts to battle the pseudomonas. The ear drum will eventually heal itself as long as we can get the infection under control.
Treatment will entail several weeks of topical ear medication and weekly ear cleaning with a special cleaner for this type of infection and several follow-up exams with the vet.
Leroy’s ears are specifically difficult to treat because his ears are so big and heavy that they weigh down the canal making it difficult to get the ear medication deep down where it needs to go.
Since Leroy’s ear infections have been going on for quite some time now and has ended up in this state the dermatologist suggested that there may be an underlying cause for the persistent infections, such as a food allergy, so at her recommendation, when we get the infection under control, we will be switching to a different food containing a totally different protein than what he is on now………………. and that is a story for a different day.
XOXO,
Jen-determined to kick some pseudomonas ass
Darren
Sunday 26th of February 2017
Hi, I have a question regarding your treatment as we are having some issues with our own dog. We are currently using Baytril, but I am curious about your success with Tobramycin. Some of the internet literature suggests that Tobramycin is not safe for a ruptured ear drum, do you know if this is the case or have any comment from your experience? Love your dog posts. Thanks
Jen
Monday 27th of February 2017
I believe that Tobramycin has a steroid in it which is said to not be safe with dogs that have a ruptured ear drum because it can cause deafness. When Leroy's eardrum was ruptured we did not use any topical with a steroid in it
Kathleen maddox
Tuesday 20th of October 2015
Hi had a question ,, when you say leroy had a torn eardrum . How was vet able to use topical things since everything im reading about for my cat frankie ear says if ear drum is ruptured you cant put any liquids in ear to keep dry or use any drops because it can be toxic to ear and damage? So im stuck with frankie he has so much wax and debris but i cant clear it cause they cant see all of his eardrum . And vets dont want to put him under for ear clean because of his age and illnesses
Jen
Tuesday 20th of October 2015
From what I remember and what I learned as a vet tech you want to stay away from ear medications that have a steroid in them as that can cause deafness with a ruptured ear drum. We used a medication that did not have a steroid in it.
Kim
Wednesday 15th of January 2014
Hi, I seem to be in the midst of similar problems with my dog, cleaner/drops to no avail, ear flush, insertion of an antibiotic "wick", on removal of this I was told by vet the eardrum had ruptured, tablet antibiotics/steroids, now more ear drops - to be used in both ears (initially only one ear infected), now lesser amounts of discharge from BOTH ears, slightly redenned and radiating heat! During adolescence my dog had digestive issues thought to be due to food intolerances. I've fed her anti allergenic dog food since this time - (James wellbeloved) which seem to be working well - no occurrence of previous symptoms...
New food?? Any further advice appreciated! ...concerned as leaflet for current ear drops suggests they should only be given when eardrum fully repaired, the vet had a quick look with a handheld instrument whilst dog squirming furiously, was only told of the rupture around three weeks ago and was told around x5 weeks to repair by same vet...I've read that using other than saline solutions can result in deafness! ..one very worried owner in need of any advice..
Teresa
Friday 3rd of May 2013
I posted a month ago about my girl's ear problems. She, too, was diagnosed with a ruptured ear drum and bad infection. We've gone through so many cleaners and topical antibiotics but she now seems to be improving. We've been using the TrizEDTA flush for the last few months - every day for 6 weeks and now just every other day. Her last topical was a Baytril concoction that seemed to work on some of the bacteria. We are now (last 2 weeks) using amakacin and Dexamethasone opthalmic drops twice a day. Lana isn't too happy with the amakacin since it needs to be refrigerated. Imagine what that must feel like in her ear! Our last culture (5th one in 6 months!) showed only one bacteria so I'm hoping this latest treatment will target it successfully. I agree with what you said though Jen, diligence is key!
Regarding food allergies, I think every dermatologist will point at food as a culprit. I don't tend to agree and refused to put Lana on a oat and kangaroo prescription diet. I did cut out chicken and turkey since it is possible she may have poultry allergies. She is an Irish Setter and they are known to have wheat gluten intolerance so she is also grain free. Since I feed my dogs raw, that doesn't seem to be an issue. She seems to be doing fine with beef and loves her meals even more these days.
Good luck to Leroy! I hope to be reading that he is finished with treatment soon!
Jen
Sunday 5th of May 2013
Hi Teresa. So sorry to here about your girls ear troubles! The Baytril mix worked well for Leroy too but a bit, it got rid of the bacteria but then he had yeast. Treated that and the bacteria came back so we went with the Tobramycin which is what we are on in the beginning but we increased the dose, and, (knock on wood) that has been key. The Dex and the amakacin is interesting and one I will have to keep remember just in case! I don't think Leroy would be too found of the coldness either as he is just about done with me messing with his ears! Wow! 5 cultures! We've done 3 and then I stopped because the medicine is finally working.
The whole diet thing is off too me too since Leroy was on a fish based diet, grain free. So when we were told that maybe he had an allergy to fish and to switch his food I was like, um almost all dog food has some sort of fish in it! Even the vet prescribed allergy diets! The kangaroo and oats was one of the few that didn't which is why I was highly thinking of raw-because of the cost of the kangaroo food (expensive) but then found the duck food with no fish and thought we would give it a try, but he hasn't been on a strict food trial, I've given him boiled chicken, etc and he has been fine and I'm sure if we went on a raw diet he would be fine with fish...........but I still have to get to that point:)
Thanks so much for stopping by and best of luck with the ears
Leigh
Thursday 2nd of May 2013
I found your blog via Google and was so appreciative to find out that you are dealing with the same issues that I am. We rescued our lab-mix Pepper about 6 months ago and have gone through just about every step as you: antibiotics, steroids, TrizEDTA flush, sedated ear flush where they discovered a ruptured ear drum, more & more TrizEDTA daily ear cleanings, a switch about 2 months ago to grain-free food and we are still dealing with the treatments and her pain/itching. She wakes us up at night crying out and shaking her head, so we then give her a Benadryl which seems to help. I don't like keeping her constantly medicated and am becoming extremely frustrated with the process and lack of healing. It looks like it has been about 3 months since you first posted about this issue and a month since the last response: please tell me Leroy is better! Are you still dealing with it? Sorry so lengthy!!
Jen
Thursday 2nd of May 2013
Hi Leigh!
I'm so sorry to read about Pepper's ear troubles! Uggh! I know exactly how frustrating it can be!
Here is where we stand with Leroy's ear infection right now: Both ears have much improved, but we are not out of the woods just yet! We switched Leroy's food from fish to duck as the vet thought that he could have a food allergy. (he's been on that food for about 2 full months now, I think) I'm not convinced that he does have a food allergy but we were willing to give it a try, so far so good! but we also changed up his ear medication again because the baytril/synotic did not seem to be working all that well and we went with Tobramycin. I started by putting 1.0cc of that that in his ears once a day for several weeks and then started to wean him off, 1/2cc once a day and then every other day and now we are on 1/2 cc 3 times a week. I am still using the TrizEDTA flush, but only a little once a week. I pour the solution on a cotton ball and wipe the ears instead of pouring it in the ear. Leroy's ears look the best that they have looked in a long time and his ear drum has healed. This was a lot of trial and error for us. Finding what worked and what didn't and sometimes we had set backs but being diligent with it was key. We still have a little longer to go but the good news is that we finally got the infection under control which was our biggest concern. I'll be doing another update shortly and hopefully by then we will be done treating!! Best of luck with Pepper's ear infections, it's a long road and I've learned that persistence pays off!!