# Dog gone deaf. Please help.



## JD_91 (Nov 20, 2010)

Hello,

I have a 9 year old Boston Terrier, extremely healthy, and well taken care of. He was fine 2 days ago, and didn't show a single sign of any health or hearing problems.

He has been having pain around his ears, and is yelping very loudly in pain. I figured it was an ear infection, so I got ear drops and gave it to him to help with that. 

Today I tried calling his name, clapping my hands/fingers, shaking the bag of treats, all the things he has been responding to for years and years, he can no longer hear anything, out of either ear. No matter how loud or close I get to him. This is not normal for this dog.

This is very worrisome, I am waiting for a cancellation at the local vet office, but I want to know if anyone has seen this before. I've had dogs my whole life, over 10+ dogs, some have died of old age, some have moved on to other homes, my family rescues dogs. I have never seen this before, I have seen dogs loose hearing over time at old age but not instantly.

How can a dog randomly go deaf, hear one day the next not? Can an extreme ear infection cause this? and if the ear infection can cause that, if it's only in 1 ear, should he hear out of the other? I am not certain if the infection is in both, but I am have been treating both with ear drops.

Thanks, for reading.


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

A severe ear infection can cause deafness, yes. If your dog had an middle or inner each infection your cleaning his ears would have done nothing for it as those infections can become very serious and require veterinary treatment to heal.


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## CoverTune (Mar 11, 2007)

The only thing I can think of that may cause deafness so abruptly, is if the ear drums ruptured. If that's the case, they may be able to heal with proper treatment, but they may not.

Definitely needs help from a vet.


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## JD_91 (Nov 20, 2010)

Thanks for your responses.

I have an appointment monday to see the vet, it was the earliest I could get in. It seems like the pain has gone but he still can't hear, this worries me. He may be deaf permanently. Hopefully not.


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

JD_91 said:


> Thanks for your responses.
> 
> I have an appointment monday to see the vet, it was the earliest I could get in. It seems like the pain has gone but he still can't hear, this worries me. He may be deaf permanently. Hopefully not.


Please update us after you see the vet. Hopefully it can be corrected at least to some degree, but if not don't be worried. Dogs are very resilient.


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## JD_91 (Nov 20, 2010)

The vet couldn't find anything wrong with him. A little redness in the ears and that's about it. Multiple veterinarians took a look because they found it odd that he just went deaf randomly. So they just told me to wait, and if the pain came back, or other things start to appear to contact them. Hopefully his hearing comes back. I just don't understand what could have happened.

Thanks for the support. I'll keep you updated.


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## adelle168 (Nov 23, 2010)

That sounds terrible, I hope you dog recovers soon. I think it could be some kind of insect bite or infection. My neighbor's german shepard once had similar problems, but not as serious.


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## JD_91 (Nov 20, 2010)

Good news guys! He has gained some hearing. Not much but if I am loud he can hear some of what I say. Hopefully more comes back.

Update you later. I'll put a picture of him soon, when I get time.


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

Glad to hear it. Did the vet prescribe any thing for the irritation?


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## yourdogsbar (Oct 31, 2010)

I think that in really severe cases ear infections can cause deafness. As a child I was prone to ear infections and I had a ruptured ear drum in my left ear. My hearing isn't as good in that ear anymore, but it's still OK. But if you got the ear drops for him, then that makes me think it could be something else.


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## lulusmom (Nov 12, 2008)

JD_91 said:


> How can a dog randomly go deaf, hear one day the next not? Can an extreme ear infection cause this? and if the ear infection can cause that, if it's only in 1 ear, should he hear out of the other? I am not certain if the infection is in both, but I am have been treating both with ear drops.


Since you haven't seen the vet yet, I am assuming that you are using an over the counter ear drop at the moment so my comments may not be relevant to your dog but the information is good to know for future reference. 

Prescription ear drops containing gentamicin can cause sudden deafness and it can be temporary or permanent. I am a member of a canine diabetes and cushing's forums and at least six dogs that I know have lost their hearing. Total and partial hearing loss was permanent in all cases and most, if not all, pet owners were never informed of this side effect by their vets. These dogs were all at higher risk simply because they were either older or had a chronic disease. All you have to do is google gentamicin and you'll see the warning, one of which is "Do not use in animals who require their hearing to perform their work (military dogs, police dogs, seeing eye dogs, hearing dogs, etc.) as the hearing or vestibular (balance) impairment may not be reversible." I don't know about you but my dogs are not service/working dogs but it would be no less catastrophic to me if my dogs went totally and permanently deaf and/or they ended up with permanent vestibular problems.


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