Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 6/21/2007

Question
Today, 6/20/07 I took my German shepard in to have his left ear cleaned.. lots of *gunk* in there. They cleaned it. one hour later after I got home, the dog has a hard time walking, almost falling down. I took him back, they said maybe what they cleaned it with got to his inner ear. Gave him a cortisone shot and some of the same pills for a few days.  I never had his ears cleaned before, but he was scratching at this one, and he never had this not being able to walk before.  Any ideas what is going on here? What I should do?  I truely hate to see him like this, he's always very very active. They used I believe cotton balls and some kind of liquid.

Answer
This is most likely a middle and inner ear infection.  It is common in Shepherds.  It could also be a ruptured eardrum from the ear cleaning procedure. It takes time for these to go away, but there is a drug called meclizine that may help the unsteadiness.  In addition, the vet needs to flush out the tympanic bulla and put antibiotics into it.  That will require anesthesia.  If your vet doesn't know how to treat middle ear disease, then find someone who does.