My parents had German Shepherd that has always seemed prone to ear infections.
I was house sitting the German Shepherd while my parents were away. Another ear infection was flaring up.
The ear infection was causing the dog to tilt his head and slowly shake it. I took the dog to the emergency vet on duty Sunday evening, who diagnosed a middle ear canal infection. This vet didn’t seem overly concerned about the dog.
I had witnessed a few vet techs cleaning out the ear; one vet tech held the muzzled dog in a tight embrace so that he could not get away. The other vet tech was wiping inside the ear with some little towelettes.
Meanwhile, the German Shepherd cried out in pain. The young vet, who had lackluster bedside manner, gave me a bottle of soap, antibiotics and pills.
When my parents returned, the ear infection seemed to be clearing up, in that the head tilt had disappeared by the day after I had taken the German Shepherd in.
But the dog was still scratching, though less, and the inside of his ear looked horrible, as always.
It was crusty and brown, not fleshy and pink like the other. Furthermore, getting the eardrops into his ear was an almost impossible task.
I had to muzzle the German Shepherd, and he kept walking away from me when he saw me raise the bottles.
He’d snarl like I’d never heard him before. He even tried to take a few nips.
My brother is a chemist and was shocked that one of the bottles was a soap that contained acetic acid. He said this was probably causing the dog searing pain.
My parents decided to try a completely new veterinary hospital, a vet specializing in dog ear infections.
They dropped the German Shepherd off there and an hour later, received a phone call from the vet.
The dog had a raging ear infection deep in the ear canal. His eardrum was ruptured.
- The infection was about one-quarter-inch away from his brain.
- There was severe inflammation.
The quack vet at the other clinic never said any such thing. This new vet said the German Shepherd had to be anesthetized so that he could get deep inside his ear and clean everything out.
Next time I visited my parents, there were half a dozen prescription bottles on the counter.
The dog had to take 15 pills a DAY, plus get eardrops daily — they took the dog every day to the clinic so that the vet could administer the drops.
About a week later, the ear looked practically brand new; nice and pink and fleshy, whereas, prior to that, it was chronically brown and crusty.
We believe that the German Shepherd never had recurring ear infections.
Rather, he had just one ear infection, and the first veterinary hospital failed to take care of the problem.
They just merely treated the symptoms, so that the infection was never eradicated.
There was always bacteria there, and once the feeble treatment stopped, the bacterial colony would have an opportunity to grow huge again, causing the dog to scratch relentlessly at his infected ear, and hiss in pain.
Trust your instincts. My mother had visited the first vet shortly after I had done so, and was totally put off by the vet’s blasé, indifferent demeanor. The vet had been the same with me as well.
If your dog has a “recurring” ear infection, consider that it’s been the same infection all along, and that the current treating vets are doing a quack job.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
