Pet Ear Infections And Preventing Deafness

One of the really common causes of hearing loss in both cats and dogs would be chronic ear infections and some of the causes of chronic ear infections would be underlying allergies is a very common one, whether they be to food or something in your pet's environment. Certainly dogs that do a lot of swimming or get frequent baths are at higher risk of developing ear infections. And some dogs, because of the way their anatomy is may be predisposed to ear infections as well whether they have a lot hair growing down their ear canal or it's already very narrowed and what we would call Stenotic ear canal. Things you might notice in your pet if they have an ear infection would be them potentially shaking their head. A lot of cats and dogs both will scratch at their ears. A lot of times in cats people report that they're seeing blood on the outside of their cat's ear from all the scratching. You might not actually notice your pet scratching their ears and they might do it a little bit more subtly by dragging their head either on the carpet or on some furniture. Abnormal discharge or an abnormal order coming from their ears and also in dogs or cats where the infection is actually penetrated through the ear canal into the middle or inner ear. You might also notice a tilt to their head as well as potentially some abnormal movements of their eyes, and in some of these cats and dogs if they're really badly affected and their balance is thrown off they may go off their food and they may also be vomiting. Chronic ear infections can lead to deafness through a variety of mechanisms but one of the main ways that the ears respond is they tend to get thicker, they lay down scar tissue and that's going to prevent air from flowing in circulating through the ears which is going to set up this vicious cycle of the continued ear infection that's gonna be much more difficult to eradicate. And that it also increases the chances that an infection will actually erode into the ear drum and penetrate inside of the middle or the inner ear where it can directly affect the hearing apparatus for your pet and lead to deafness. Not every ear infection is the same and they can be caused by anything from bacteria or yeast or mites. You do want to make sure that you know what you're dealing with before you reach for that bottle of medication that might be left over from the previous infection because it may not be effective in treating the current infection and you may also wind up causing some hearing loss in your pet as a result of that. Because if their ear drum isn't intact and you put down an antibiotic, a medication or cleaner that can cause damage to the actual nerve that conducts the hearing, you've basically just caused hearing loss in your pet. You might be tempted to just walk into the pet store and grab something over-the-counter to start cleaning or medicating your pet's ears. And while that might seem like an attractive option because you're going to save the cost of an exam and diagnostics at your veterinarian, it's not uncommon for that to wind up costing people more money in the long run as well as prolonging pain and suffering and infections for their pets. So in an ear that's chronically infected that can't be treated medically anymore, often times the only option is to resort to surgery, and while that can be very effective and often times is the best course of action because it will eradicate your pet's source of pain and infection it's also not inexpensive and without its own complications. So it really is very important that at the first sign of an ear infection you work with your veterinarian to start diagnosing and treating that appropriately. If there's problems in eradicating an infection, look at the option of undergoing anesthesia to have it maybe cultured or flushed and also maybe involving a dermatologist in the work up. Equally important as once it's been diagnosed, it's very important that you manager appropriately with your veterinarian and following their instructions for both cleaning and medicating for the duration of their treatment. When that treatment is over and they recommend coming back in for a re-check on their pet's ears, it's very important that you actually do that re-check because it's not uncommon for signs of the infection to have abated over the course of treatment but then for there to still be an infection going on deeper down. It is very important to keep on the lookout for these signs that I've described and then to get your pet in promptly to the veterinarian to have it evaluated and do the follow-up as recommended.