Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 9/22/2005

Question
I have a Cocker Spaniel named Toby who is almost 10 years old.  He's been bothered off and on with ear infections.  Last spring he had another one and lost his hearing.  My vet had me treat him with Synotic drops.  I also have Otomax but I can't remember when exactly that was given.  Toby seemed to get better, and I was just cleaning his ears regularly with some Ear Relief (wash and dry) that I got from Petco.  He was doing so well I completely forgot to clean his ears for about a month after I'd been away for a week.  Then one day I noticed him flopping his ears around and he didn't hear anymore again.  I took him back to the vet, who said his ears looked real good through his scope.  We started the synotic drops and cleaning regimen again, but there was no improvement in his hearing.  He didn't flop his ears around anymore, but he couldn't hear.  My vet then recommended putting Toby under anasthesia and flushing his ears.  To me, that didn't seem logical, since his ears looked clean down to the eardrum, but I went ahead with it since it was recommended.  The result was that the vet could not see any reason why Toby is deaf.  I'm not sure if there is anything else that can be done.  10 doesn't seem that old to me to go deaf, but the vet said it could just be because he's been treated for ear infections too often.  I'd appreciate more answers and direction than my vet has given me.  Can you help?
Thank you,
Carolyn Dorsky  

Answer
Deafness in dogs is difficult to deal with. Dogs can get nerve deafness, which is almost impossible to detect without some sophistocated equipment.  Most dogs do go deaf from chronic middle ear infections that cause either destruction of the bones of the middle ear or the middle ear fills up with something like fluid or tissue. Also, By the way, Otomax causes deafness in a small number of dogs treated.  They have actually printed that in their drug insert.